When Afshin Samali arrived in Ireland almost 40 years ago, he was a 17-year-old refugee from Iran with limited English, apart from knowing the alphabet and a few words.

Now an eminent Professor of Cancer Biology at the University of Galway, he is recognised as one of Ireland’s leading cancer researchers who has made several major discoveries.

The key to Professor Samali’s success story was education. And that’s why he and his wife, Adrienne Gorman, a Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Galway, co-founded the Samali Foundation, a new non-governmental organisation dedicated to removing barriers to third level education for refugees and asylum seekers in Ireland.

Professor Samali’s family fled Iran due to religious persecution when he was aged 15. They spent two years in Pakistan before resettling in Ireland as part of a group of 26 Iranians of Baháʼí faith. His family of six included siblings, an aunt and both parents whose “lives were in danger if we stayed in Iran – they would have been imprisoned or even executed”.

They arrived here in December 1985 and in January, aged 17, he began secondary school in Sligo before progressing to the University of Maynooth and then University College Cork as he pursued a successful career in academia.

“In my home country, members of the Baháʼí are not allowed to go to university or access third level education. I took every opportunity here to develop myself and use every opportunity to give something back to society,” he said.

“Education gave me the opportunity to develop myself, and to be able to contribute back to Irish society at a level I wouldn’t have been able to if I hadn’t access to education,” he added.

Afshin Samali’s story epitomises the ‘Irish dream’ for refugees fleeing war and persecution, and he is a role model for asylum seekers to aspire to.

Through the Samali Foundation – which will be officially launched in Dublin next Tuesday – the Rosscahill resident wants to help refugees in Ireland better themselves and Irish society through education.

With funding from the UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR in Ireland; and co-operation from the Irish Red Cross, Irish Refugee Council and universities, the aim is to provide refugees with better access to third level education.

Pictured: Professor of Cancer Biology at the University of Galway Afshin Samali, with his wife Adrienne Gorman, Professor of Biochemistry at the university and their daughter Maeve. Afshin, who had no English when he came to Ireland as a refugee almost 40 years ago, and Adrienne have set up the Samali Foundation to help other refugees. PHOTO: SEÁN LYDON.