A lecture theatre at the university's business school will be named after Gordon Aikman

A campaigner student who helped to raise awareness of the crippling disease he battled has been honoured by Edinburgh University.

The university’s George Square lecture theatre is to be renamed in memory of former student Gordon Aikman, who raised more than £600,000 for Motor Neuron Disease (MND) research funding.

Aikman died in February of last year from the neurological condition, having been diagnosed less than three years earlier.

His husband Joe Pike said: “We are all very touched by the university’s very generous decision.

“It seems fitting that Gordon’s work as a campaigner has been recognised after a campaign by the student body he was once an active member of. And how wonderful that the lecture hall Gordon sat in aged 18 as a first year business student, will now bear his name.”

Professor Charlie Jeffery, the university’s senior vice-principal, said: “Gordon Aikman was a tenacious campaigner. By striving to change the quality and funding of care and research, he helped to improve the lives of people living with MND and was an inspiration to many.

“We are delighted to honour his remarkable achievements in this way.”