A sociologist who could not read or write until he was 18 years old will soon become a professor at the University of Cambridge.

Jason Arday, 37, will take up the role of professor of sociology of education at the university on March 6. He will become the youngest black person to become a professor at the university.

“When I was contacted by the Faculty of Education about getting the post, I couldn’t believe it,” said the father-of-two in a Daily Mail article.

“I put the phone down, screamed, and then I just sat in the same place for what felt like hours.”

The university currently has five black professors.

In 2021, 155 of more than 23,000 university professors in Britain were black, according to figures from the country’s Higher Education Statistics Agency.

In his current work focusing on neurodivergence and black students, Professor Arday is collaborating with Dr Chantelle Lewis, a sociologist from the University of Oxford.

At the age of three, Prof Arday was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and global development delay, a genetic condition that causes a significant lag in cognitive and physical abilities. 

He was unable to speak until he was 11 years old.

“I remember thinking, if I don’t make it as a football player or a professional snooker player, then I want to save the world,” said Prof Arday, who was quoted in British news reports.

He was born and raised in Clapham, a district in south-west London.

Before he was 11, he used sign language, and much of his childhood was spent with speech and language therapists.

Prof Arday’s family was told that he would likely need lifelong support, but he defied all odds.

His mother played a critical role in developing his self-confidence and introduced him to a wide range of music, hoping that it would aid his conceptualisation of language.

In his late teens, Prof Arday was also supported by his mentor, college tutor and friend Sandro Sandri.

He later studied Physical Education (PE) and Education Studies at the University of Surrey before training as a PE teacher.

When he was 22 years old, Prof Arday decided to pursue postgraduate studies.

It was not easy.

During the day, Prof Arday worked as a PE lecturer in higher education.

His evenings – and often his nights – were spent drafting academic papers and studying sociology.

“When I started writing academic papers, I had no idea what I was doing. I did not have a mentor and no one showed me how to write,” said Prof Arday in a BBC article.

“Everything I submitted got violently rejected. The peer review process was so cruel, it was almost funny, but I treated it as a learning experience and, perversely, began to enjoy it.”

He later acquired two masters qualifications and a PhD in educational studies.

In 2018, Prof Arday had his first paper published and secured a senior lectureship at Roehampton University. He later moved on to Durham University, where he was an associate professor of sociology.

Then in 2021, he became a professor of sociology of education at the University of Glasgow’s School of Education, making him, at the time, one of the youngest professors in Britain.

Prof Arday said that growing up in a relatively disadvantaged area and then working as a school teacher gave him first-hand insight into the systemic inequalities that youngsters belonging to ethnic minorities faced in education.

He has a particular interest in improving the representation of ethnic minorities in higher education.

“My work focuses primarily on how we can open doors to more people from disadvantaged backgrounds and truly democratise higher education,” he said in a BBC article.