THEY came from to Scotland from China with a passion for studying science, but two University of Dundee students were celebrating yesterday after finding love.

Yuting Ling, 28, and Kanheng Zhou, 27, married at the city’s registrar’s office after meeting as PhD students studying biomedical engineering at the university’s School of Science and Engineering.

The couple – two of more than 800 Chinese students currently studying at Dundee – said “I do” surrounded by family and friends, many of whom had travelled more than 5500 miles from Shanghai and the nearby city of Nantong. While both are scientists by nature, the bride said a more mysterious force brought them together.

“I didn’t expect to meet my husband in a lab in Dundee but sometimes these things happen,” she said. “If I hadn’t done my PhD then I wouldn’t have met him, so maybe it was fate.”

The happy couple, who are studying for PhDs in biomedical engineering in optical coherence tomography, said that it took around a year for the relationship to get off the ground after initially meeting in class in 2015.

However, they got engaged in December and decided to tie the knot in their adopted home city.

The groom even wore a kilt for his big day, with the couple also incorporating a Celtic handfasting into their wedding ceremony.

He said: “We’re in Scotland and wanted to do something traditional. The people here are very nice and the views are lovely, particularly when you stand up at Dundee Law at night and watch the lights of the city.

“I like photography as well so sometimes we would go for a drive together to see the meteor showers.”

Plans for a honeymoon are currently on hold, with the couple set to spend their first year of marriage on separate sides of the globe.

Kanheng is off to participate in a year-long study exchange programme at the University of Washington in Seattle, in a fortnight. However, he is planning to return to Dundee in time to graduate next summer.