JK Rowling assists Dublin man in his search for missing PhD

A Dublin man who lost valuable notes for a PhD during a night out has received help from an unlikely source- Harry Potter author JK Rowling.

In a Facebook post uploaded on Wednesday, Trinity College student Jamal Sul appealed to users of the social media platform for help after he left a laptop containing files related to a PhD behind in a taxi home from town on the night of May 5th.

It reads: “I had an unfortunate event on Friday where I went out and celebrated my thesis corrections.

"I met up with two friends and got a taxi outside Iskanders between 3am-3.30am on the 6th May, which was Friday night into Saturday morning. I got into the taxi and headed towards Cherry Orchard but I had fell asleep in the back completely disorientated I hopped out and left my bag.

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No luck

"My bag contains my laptop (Macbook Pro) and notes for my PhD. The laptop contains all my PhD files and is very precious to me. If anyone that knows me can share this in the hopes it might spread the word to find the taxi driver, it's all I can ask for. I have reported it to the gardaí but no luck.

“The taxi driver was really sound on the journey (or so I’m told, since I was asleep in the back), he was an older Irish man with yellowish grey hair driving a dark navy car. Please share to help a man and his PhD out.”

While his efforts at retrieving the lost items have garnered some success on Facebook with over 600 shares so far, Rowling’s unlikely intervention may prove to be particularly helpful after a screenshot of the post she tweeted to her 10 million followers was retweeted over 2,000 times.

Describing Mr Sul’s experience as one of her “worst nightmares,” the Scottish writer urged her followers to retweet his appeal in order to help.

Speaking to The Irish Times, Mr Sul said he has not yet located the elusive taxi driver but that he is “overwhelmed” by the public support so far and refuses to give up hope of being reunited with his work. The latest files were not backed up.

His research centres on the effect of vitamin D and other therapies on people living with multiple sclerosis, a neurological disorder which affects up to 7,000 Irish people.