From Sudan to Barcelona: The Story of Hassan Edries, ISGlobal Researcher

To mark World Refugee Day (June 20), we speak with the Sudanese researcher about his flight from war, his arrival in Europe, and his career in global health.

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

A smile of relief lights up Hassan Edries' face: “This is the first time I’ve told it like this, straight from the heart.” He is referring to his escape from Sudan, a story he has unfolded with a distant gaze. We are saying goodbye after an hour-long conversation at the ISGlobal office in Barcelona where he works, and he thanks me for the chance to express himself: “Nobody had ever talked to me about this before.”

Throughout our chat, he repeatedly mentions the two nights he spent sleeping rough in Port Sudan, waiting to board one of the few buses leaving for Egypt. Two nights out in the open, lying on the ground in a city where thousands of Sudanese were arriving, fleeing the violence that had just erupted in their country. No water, no food, no sockets to charge his phone.

Then came the long bus journey and the chaos at the Egyptian border, followed by two harsh years in Cairo living in fear of deportation, and another long year in Barcelona under the care of the Red Cross until he finally obtained political asylum. Nothing has been easy for him. Yet, it is the days following the outbreak of the war that seem to return to his memory over and over again. He had left behind the city of Wad Madani and the green lands of the Gezira State, where his parents grew tomatoes and other vegetables. From that moment on, everything ahead became a complete question mark—a pure struggle for immediate survival.

Fleeing Sudan

In April 2023, when one of the worst humanitarian crises in recent decades broke out in Sudan, Hassan had just begun his PhD within the framework of the MENA-Migrant Health project, led by ISGlobal and coordinated by researcher Ana Requena. He was interested in public health, a field he had trained in in the capital, Khartoum, before completing a master’s degree in infectious disease control at the University of Gezira in Wad Madani. Eman Elafef, also from Sudan, found herself in the same situation as a doctoral student on the project. She was right beside him in Port Sudan during the escape to Egypt, which Ana had coordinated from Barcelona.

In April 2023, when one of the worst humanitarian crises in recent decades broke out in Sudan, Hassan had just begun his PhD within the framework of the MENA-Migrant Health project, led by ISGlobal

After a long bus journey, they reached the Egyptian border, protected by their mission to collect health data on the migrant population for the project. They managed to enter the country and were given a SIM card, allowing them to finally call Ana, who had been very anxious for days. Hassan is well aware of his good fortune: “I’ve lost track of many of my colleagues from Darfur; I still know nothing about them.”

Hassan cannot emphasize enough how grateful he is for Ana’s dedicated support throughout these years. “She has helped us with our studies, finding a flat, whenever we’ve had health issues, with paperwork… How can you ever repay support like that?”.

The Long Wait

Hassan’s situation has gradually improved since those first tense, sad years in Egypt—far from his family and lost in bureaucratic limbos for many long months. He was able to travel to Spain following the granting, in February 2025, of the visa for which Ana had prepared the paperwork.

But the visa expired shortly after, leading to another wait, first for a residence permit and, ultimately, for political asylum, which was finally granted to him a month ago. He says that on Spanish soil, he has finally felt safe, with access to basic services.

In a few months, he will defend his doctoral thesis at the University of Barcelona, which he has dedicated to HIV and hepatitis B and C in migrant populations. Coming from a transit country crossed for decades by thousands of Eritreans, Ethiopians, and South Sudanese on their way to Libya and Egypt, he has now also become a migrant himself. Every day, he sends out fellowship applications to European countries, “especially Germany and the Netherlands.”

A Future in Suspense

Although the situation has improved in some regions of the country, with the conflict now centered in Darfur, Hassan does not plan to return to Sudan in the coming years. Not only is he unable to, but he does not wish to. The friends he has back home tell him, whenever an internet connection is possible, that the situation remains difficult: supply shortages persist, and meeting basic needs is a struggle. However, Gezira is safe again, he tells me; it has entered a reconstruction phase, and his family is beginning to return home after spending some time in Saudi Arabia.

But not all of his siblings are making the journey back. His twin brother, with whom he shares a very close bond, remains in Saudi Arabia working as an agricultural engineer. Hassan shows me his photo on his mobile phone. He looks very different from him, but Hassan assures me that in high school, nobody could tell them apart except their mother. They had even swapped identities at times! “We shared absolutely everything until we went to university: games, our bedroom, secrets. He knows everything about me, and I know everything about him.”

Hassan does not yet know what the next stage of his life will look like, but if he has to sum up what these years have taught him, it is that achieving your goals requires patience, knowing how to wait. “In the end, you achieve them, but you have to wait. Most people will help you if you respect them.”