The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Refugee turned student tipped for greatness
Education: Forensic dentistry student fled Syria
A refugee who fled Syria could become a leading expert at identifying dead bodies by their teeth – after studying to become a dentist in Dundee.
Rawad Qaq, 27, endured a perilous 22-day journey across the Mediterranean by boat and over land to Germany, before coming to Dundee on a humanitarian scholarship to study a masters in forensic dentistry.
He will graduate with distinction this week from Dundee University and will go on to complete his PhD there, a postdoctoral programme which he hopes will help him introduce forensic dentistry and facial reconstruction in Syria to help identify the victims of the war which forced him to leave three years ago.
Professor Mark Hector, dean of the school of dentistry, said his “academic brilliance” was one of the reasons he had been granted a highly competitive three-year doctorate grant from the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF).
He said: “Rawad is an exemplary student, highly motivated, conscientious, honest, altruistic.
“Judging from the standard of work he has produced for his masters in the school of dentistry I expect that he has the will and ability to become one of the leading experts in forensic dentistry for the identification of the deceased in Europe, if not the world.
“Rawad’s research proposal addresses the identification of human remains in a country where ante-mortem records are unlikely to be available or have been ethical and completely destroyed by war.”
Mr Qaq works a medical interpreter for the NHS, translating Arabic to English for patients in Tayside and Fife.
He hopes that by continuing his studies he will achieve one of his biggest dreams of returning to Syria and helping identify the victims of war.
“You cannot even begin to imagine what it means to graduate with this degree,” he said.
“The education here has been fantastic, it has had a huge impact on me.”