In 2014, Lund University chemistry professor Charlotta Turner helped rescue her doctoral student Firas Jumaah and his family after they became trapped by an ISIS offensive in northern Iraq.

Jumaah, a member of the Yazidi minority, had returned to Iraq because he feared for his wife and two young children, who were visiting for a family wedding. ISIS had attacked nearby communities, killing men and enslaving women. As the group advanced and borders closed amid a mass exodus, Jumaah and his family hid in a disused bleach factory. He sent Turner a message asking her to assume he would not finish his doctorate if he did not return within a week.

Turner called Jumaah and, hearing how desperate the situation was, sought help from the university’s security chief, Per Gustafson. He hired a security company that sent armed personnel in two vehicles to take Jumaah, his wife and their children to Erbil Airport. Jumaah said he felt privileged to escape but also felt guilty about leaving his mother and sisters behind. They survived the ISIS occupation.

Back in Sweden, Jumaah completed his PhD and went on to work for a pharmaceutical company in Malmö. His family has almost finished repaying the university for the rescue, which Gustafson described as a unique operation for a university.