A 32-year-old Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) dental student has narrowly missed out on first place in a national clinical skills competition.

Marc Harrington finished second in the grand final of the annual dental clinical skills competition run by the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (RCSEd).

The winner was 23-year-old University of Birmingham student Edward Newton, with Marc in second place and third place given to 24-year-old University of Central Lancashire student Stewart McLean. The finalists advanced through from the first round which included representatives from each of the ı6 dental schools in the UK.

Professor William Saunders, Dean of the Dental Faculty at the RCSEd, said: “The dental skills competition has proved to be both and exciting and challenging way of ensuring that the highest standards of training are challenged and updated annually, with students benefitting from competing against each other and networking between themselves.”