Technology came to the rescue for a group of 15 Iranian academics who were denied access to an international conference in Dundee – in case they tried to stay and ‘claim benefits’.
The group of university researchers and clinicians had been due to attend the International Society of Addiction Medicine’s annual congress in the city last month. But the Home Office stepped in to deny the academics a travel visa because of the risk they might lodge applications to try and stay in the UK.
Dr Alex Baldachinno, an addiction medicine specialist who organised the conference, at the city’s Caird Hall venue from October 5 to 8, said: “What they wanted to know was ‘are they going to apply for benefits’ because the salaries are very low in Tehran.”
When asked if it was feared they might also try and claim political asylum in the UK, Dr Baldachinno added: “Yes, but it was silly because these were professors and internationally leading addiction medicine specialists. It was 15 academics and clinicians; they even had affiliate membership with American universities. Their abstract was accepted for scientific quality; two people had fellowships.”
Dr Baldachinno, who is Professor of Medicine, Psychiatry and Addictions at St Andrews University, wrote a letter of support and worked with colleagues at Dundee University to seek permission for them to travel.
But he added: “Essentially we were told there was nothing much one could do from this side. It was the decision of the British embassy in Turkey, in Istanbul.” He said Tehran is only able to apply for diplomatic visas for entry into Britain and the British Embassy in Istanbul handles applications on behalf of Iranian nationals, with Home Office oversight.
However, thanks to event organiser Stark Events and a local IT company, the Iranian delegation were able to log on via a simple Skype connection and take part in the conference.
“At one stage I thought the Iranian bit of the broadband wasn’t going to work that well but thankfully we tested the technology and it was great. The Iranian delegates were very thankful to be part of it. I got emails thanking me for the fact we persevered and sad that politics overtook the science, but I didn’t want to get into the politics.”
Although Britain reopened its embassy in Tehran in August – as a sign of warming relations following a détente between the US and Iran over its nuclear programme – sanctions are still to be rolled back.
For his part Dr Baldachinno was instrumental in bringing the annual event to Dundee, putting in a proposal for ISAM to take place for the first time in the UK. He formally lodged the bid for Dundee to be the hosts at the congress two years ago in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, which was unanimously accepted after beating rival bids from India, Abu Dhabi, Rio De Janeiro and Turkey.
Even though some delegates initially thought Dundee was either a suburb of Edinburgh or a ‘town in Canada’, Dr Baldachinno added, the city managed to attract more delegates than Tokyo last year or Kuala Lumpur in 2013, which had 400 and 300 respectively.
“We’ve done really, really well. It was really busy. The largest conference the city had before was a national event for 500 people. This was bigger and it has given a confidence boost to Dundee,” added Dr Baldachinno, who is also an addiction medicine clinician.
Dr Baldachinno also praised the city’s bid not only for its excellent international reputation in the sciences, and an extensive and detailed business plan, but also because it
ran an arts and cultural festival in parallel with the conference.
He added: “We included 200 art students from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design to create 100 exhibits with service users. They used film, photography and animation – which was designed with service users. It was a great addition to the conference, and something very different to the usual world congresses.”
A Home Office spokeswoman said: “We don’t routinely comment on individual cases.”
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