Saeed Kallas is a scholarship student at the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) in The Hague, where he is doing his master’s on Governance of Migration and Diversity. Originally trained as a medical doctor in Syria, Saeed’s path shifted dramatically in the context of war and years of working in development across Syria, Iraq, and the Middle East. With more than a decade of practical experience behind him, he is now studying migration, inclusion, and belonging from an academic perspective, with the help of an Erasmus Trustfonds scholarship.
Can you tell us a bit about your background?
'I'm originally from Syria. I studied medicine and I wanted to specialise in psychiatry because I was very interested in human behaviour. But when I graduated in 2015, the war was ongoing and a lot of my plans changed because of the situation in the country.
After graduation, I started volunteering and doing social work. At first, it was alongside medicine, but very quickly I realised that this work really fulfilled me. Not only psychologically, but also socially. It gave me a much broader view of what I could do in society beyond being a doctor.
I co-founded a developmental project with a colleague. We worked on training women in small project management, gender-based violence awareness, and training young men and women in basic and occupational life skills. Our main target group was people from the city we were working in, as well as internally displaced people, because 2015 was really the peak of internal displacement in Syria. And then one thing led to another. Soon, I found myself working with three organisations at the same time.
After about four years, I realised this was becoming a career. I worked in peacebuilding, youth training, facilitation, economic empowerment, community projects, monitoring and evaluation, documentation, and management. It was very wide, but also very comprehensive. It gave me a holistic overview of the development sector and the different paths within it.'
Was that the moment you decided to leave medicine behind?
'Yes. For the first four years, I did medicine and social work in parallel. But by 2019, I felt I had enough experience in development to really rely on it as my main career. Letting go of medicine was a big decision, but I also felt ready.
In medicine, there are two main goals: increasing the length of life, or improving the quality of life. I was always more interested in improving the quality of life. Development work felt like a continuation of that, just on a broader, societal level.'
At some point you left Syria. Why was that?
Because of compulsory military service. During the war, military service became indefinite. I know people who served in the military for many years. One way to postpone it was by enrolling in a master’s programme. I did my master’s in pathology then, even though I wasn’t truly interested in that degree. Eventually, the only real option left was to leave the country, so I moved to the Kurdish region of Iraq.
There, I worked for six years with a Dutch NGO in economic development, higher education development, access to finance, and capacity building. That period really crystallised my career. In Syria, my work was very broad. In Iraq, I specialised more and worked in a very international, professional environment.
However, I’m originally a very theoretical person. So after ten years of experience, I felt it was the right moment to pause, reflect, and challenge myself intellectually – to put my experience into theory.'
Why did you choose to study at ISS?
'It was actually the only master’s programme I applied to. I liked ISS immediately, the diversity of students and staff, and the focus on development. The master’s on Governance of Migration and Diversity also immediately felt right for me. Migration was something I had worked with for years, but never studied as a topic in itself.
I’ve moved a lot in my life, and inclusion is very personal to me. I’m a minority on multiple levels: I’m Christian in a Muslim-majority society, and I was Syrian in Iraq. Migration studies look at the relationship between individuals and communities, and between people and places. For me, that’s very sincere.
It’s also fascinating for me to see how I present myself in different settings. Because I’m not European, I’m not always considered an international student. If I were Italian, for example, I would say I’m an international student. But because I’m Syrian, I can be easily labelled as a migrant. So that makes me aware that I am perceived differently in different contexts, because of my background. Which is food for thought and very interesting in the context of my master’s.
It’s my first social science degree, so it’s a completely new world. In medicine, things are very clear; one plus one equals two. In social sciences, every school of thought has a different definition, and you have to position yourself. I find that intellectually challenging and very personal and emotional at the same time.'
How important was the Erasmus Trustfonds scholarship for you?
'It was the highlight of my year. I will never forget the day I received the confirmation. I applied for a partial scholarship, and then suddenly it became a full one. It was beyond my expectations!
It gave me the grace to focus on learning instead of worrying about money and working. The Netherlands is expensive compared to Iraq, so without the scholarship, it would have been very difficult.
Besides that, international scholarships like this have a broader, societal function. They bring together people from very different backgrounds and experiences. In my programme, most students are international. I learn as much from my peers as from my professors. It’s very interesting to see what everyone brings to the table. This kind of diversity is essential. Not just for education, but for society as a whole.'
What will you be doing after your master's?
'After years in development, I started questioning whether I was truly making change or just fulfilling donor agendas. Academia gives me a safe space to question, to think critically, and to produce knowledge. Even writing academic papers feels meaningful to me now. But I’m still exploring. I might go back to practice, I might pursue a PhD, or I might end up doing research. I’ve completed about a quarter of the programme so far, and I still see so many possibilities!'
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