More than 200 people have attended an emotional vigil in Cambridge to remember the life of Jason Arday.

The former Cambridge professor was found dead at an address in Battersea, south London, on Friday afternoon.

Arday, 41, resigned as a professor of sociology of education after allegations of plagiarism and questions about some of his achievements. He had denied the claims, and his family have since said the “campaign of misinformation” was too much for him.

Shahnaaz Khan, a PhD student at the Faculty of Education, said: “Look around you today, talk to someone you don’t know and hold their pain with yours.”

The vigil was organised by Arday’s postdoctoral students and was held on Sunday afternoon.

Kahn added: “Hold your friends close and know that we stand strong because we stand together.

“Now, there is a time for anger, of justifiable anger, and that time will come – but today is not that day.

“Today is about celebrating the life of a brilliant man, Professor Jason Arday.

“Today we share the ways Jason made a difference in our lives and in the lives of those around us.”

She said there would be a “promise to seek justice” for him.

Another student told the crowd: “Racism did this.”

She said: “For so many of us Cambridge was once imagined as an arrival. We worked towards places like this; we believed in the university… there was a hope that, having arrived, we might belong.

“Jason’s death and the cruelty and smear that surrounded him reminds us that, for many, we do not belong. An institution can give you a room and still withhold a home.

“It can give you a title and still question your right to speak.”

Andy Burnham has described Arday’s death as “a tragedy on so many levels”, as he called for a “moment for reflection”.

“It’s not a moment for any rushing to judgement. It’s a moment for reflection, I would say, reflecting on how things came to this,” the prime minister told broadcasters during a visit to Cornwall on Saturday.

Education Secretary Lucy Powell said she was “deeply shocked and saddened” and urged people to “remember there are real people with loved ones involved”.

Further vigils for Arday are set to take place in both Cambridge and London on Monday evening.

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