My Journey
What first attracted me to the Laidlaw Programme was the development of ethical leadership the programme offered. Fuelled by the passion of changing the approaches of our current governing bodies, and keen to envision myself as an ethical, empathetic and responsible leader, I embarked on a journey to build my own leadership skills.
Collaborative Mindset
In the summer of 2025, I conducted a research project titled ‘The Cooperation Puzzle: What really drives people to cooperate?’ with my project partner Shrey Patel, supervised by Cambridge Economics professor Dr Konstantinos Ioannidis. As evidenced by my research project, I am passionate about collaboration and cooperation. Although we researched this from an economic standpoint, our findings translated into social spheres. I truly believe that working together is crucial for making change. I began the Laidlaw programme with this belief, and the programme has only reiterated it for me. During my LIA at Refugee Legal, collaborating with other volunteers on the same client cases (such as completing pre-fills for members of the same family and splitting research topics when the task was long urgent) allowed us to effectively respond to a client's urgent needs and provide them with ample support. Likewise for my research project, working with another person generated so much more insight, and allowed us to approach the project from all angles, resulting in a broad exploration of the topic. We managed to get maximum coverage, researching in-depth over 20 articles to create our meta-analysis. It is important to exchange ideas with others, as other people can help enhance your original ideas. Most of all, appreciating other people’s perspectives is the key to a collaborative mindset. A real issue arises when others are unable to see other peoples' points of view. This leads to ignorance and can reiterate potentially dangerous beliefs. So, over the course of the programme, a real aim of mine was to learn about how to improve my own collaborative mindset, in order to make the most impact.
Prioritisation and time management
Throughout the Laidlaw Programme, I strongly developed the Prioritisation and time management from the Process capacity. Working on a limited time frame of 6 weeks during both summers challenged me to prioritise the most urgent tasks and fraction my time and input accordingly. Completing my research project, I had to space out my internal deadlines correctly, ensuring ample time to complete the research itself (completing a meta-analysis and an excel spreadsheet of my findings), the report as well as the research poster. Likewise, during my LIA there were many instances where I was balancing several client cases and tasks all at once. I tried to maximise my time and input by beginning new tasks while awaiting responses from previous tasks. Quite predictably, once I received these responses I had already began a new task meaning I had several projects to work on all at once. With practice, this became manageable as I learnt the importance of approaching my tasks in order of priority, and assigning correct time allowances for each one. Although the 6 week limit for my research project and LIA at first appeared a challenge, as I reflect, I realise that it encouraged me to refine my time management skills and prioritisation. It taught me how to be effective with my time to make the strongest impact. This is a valuable skill I will continue to develop in the last year of my degree, and will undoubtedly carry into my future career.
Change maker values
Before beginning the Laidlaw Programme, I was certain that I embraced the Curious and Determined Change Maker Values the most. Over the course of the programme however, I believe I now resonate most with Good. My experience in the Laidlaw Programme has reminded me of my passion to help others and it has inspired me to pursue a job in the non-profit sector once I graduate. 'Doing good' (helping others, making meaningful change and completing work in alignment with my values) is rarely a priority for most individuals nowadays, when it should be at the forefront of one's actions. In a world consumed by monetary profit, competition and personal gain, I am encouraged that the Laidlaw Programme has inspired our cohort with the notion of generating 'good' through your actions, and has urged us to re-evaluate our values. The incredible individuals that I have met in-person at the North America Laidlaw Conference 2025, virtually during OCP sessions and my own cohort of Laidlaw Scholars at Cambridge have reassured me that there at least some people that are passionate about creating positive change and supporting communities in need. This is promising for the future, which sadly feels so unhopeful.
Character
A real takeaway from the Oxford Character Project was the notion of ‘vice’ and ‘virtue’ with character traits. Before the programme, I had never considered that a generally 'positive' character trait (like courage or humanity) could seep into something negative and unproductive, but the OCP opened my eyes to this possibility. It taught me to be conscious about the limits of my character, making sure to not dip into the 'vices' and remain in the 'virtue', but also be reflective if I ever did.
The Characters I most explored throughout my Laidlaw Scholar Journey was Humanity and Accountability. During my LIA at Refugee Legal, I was continuously activating my humanity. A central motivation for me was that I was directly involved in the outcome of someone's future and that I was actively working to help another person. However, I had to be aware that I was not overly concerned or emotionally overwhelmed - a 'vice' of my humanity - even when dealing with sensitive information. Striking this balance with my own empathy took several attempts, but I believe I learned to deal with this effectively by the end of my placement. As for Accountability, it was a real lesson of when and how to own up to mistakes I may have made. Especially when learning the ropes in the first week of my LIA, mistakes were inevitable, but what was more important than becoming defensive and not taking accountability was learning from my mistakes and to communicate them with my supervisors if they ever occurred. Taking responsibility for my actions allowed me to improve, reflect and take the required next first steps to reverse my mistakes.
Concluding thoughts and final reflection
One of the biggest takeaways from my Laidlaw Scholar journey has been that the pursuit of perfection impairs taking action, hindering meaningful outcomes. Frequent, ‘imperfect’ actions often trump infrequent ‘perfect’ ones. Across the programme, I challenged my perfectionism repeatedly as I realised that my perfectionism was an obstacle to my productivity. During my LIA, I came to learn that it was more effective to get stuck into my work faster (making that phone call, completing a follow up, starting the research task) then spend a long time planning how I would achieve this. While preparation is vital, procrastination and delay is not. Knowing that I was at RL for a limited time pushed me even more to make the most of my time and to make the biggest difference I could.
The Laidlaw Programme has taught me to confront the underdeveloped areas of character and identify them in others. The OCP has shifted my mindset entirely, which has been so valuable to my own personal growth. I am so grateful to have received professional, quality coaching and practice to improve my leadership skills and character. When applying for the Laidlaw Programme, I never envisioned that I would be parting with the programme with so much new insight and knowledge. Thank you to everyone who made it possible!