Before beginning the Laidlaw Scholars Programme I thought about learning in a fairly traditional way. As a medical student, much of my education involved acquiring a broad base of knowledge through lectures, reading and revision. There was usually an answer I was working towards, even if reaching it was difficult.
Over the course of the Laidlaw Programme my understanding of learning has broadened. My research project taught me what it meant to explore one specialised area in depth and to work in a setting where the answer was not always known. My Leadership in Action project in Tanzania challenged me in a different way, showing me how much can be learnt outside the lecture theatre through experience, observation and conversation.
Together, these experiences have changed not only how I see academia, but also how I understand leadership. They showed me that one of the most important qualities of a good leader is the ability to remain a learner.
Learning through research
During my first Laidlaw summer I undertook a lab-based microbiology research project focussed on community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.
One of the things I valued most was the opportunity to focus on a much more specialised area than I normally could within my medical degree. Medicine requires an enormous breadth of knowledge, and during term time we moved quickly between different body systems, diseases and treatments. Research allowed me to do the opposite: to take one specific area and understand it in far greater depth. I focussed much of my research summer blog post on this, and it's a theme that has continued to recur through every element of Laidlaw.
This changed the way I saw academia. As a student, it is easy to experience knowledge as something that already exists in textbooks and lectures, waiting to be learnt. My research project showed me that knowledge is continually being questioned, tested and developed.
It also taught me to become more uncomfortable with uncertainty. In taught education, mistakes are often associated with failing. In research, unexpected results or unsuccessful experiments could instead become opportunities to ask why something had happened, reconsider an assumption and adapt my approach.
I began to understand that making a mistake and failing to learn from it are very different things.
This changed how I thought about leadership too. I had previously associated strong leadership with confidence and making the right decisions. My research project taught me that good leadership also involves being able to admit when you are wrong and reconsider your approach.
A leader who is too concerned with appearing correct may be less willing to adapt when something goes wrong. In contrast, a leader who remains curious can learn from mistakes, listen to others and change direction when necessary.
This connects closely to the Laidlaw 3Cs framework. My research project developed my capacities in critical thinking, problem solving and communication, but it also developed character. It required patience, honesty and humility, particularly when results did not fit my expectations.
Developing character for leadership
Completing the Oxford Character Project gave me the opportunity to think more deliberately about the kind of leader I want to become. Until then, I had thought about leadership mainly in terms of skills: being able to communicate well, make decisions or take responsibility. The project encouraged me to think more about the character that sits behind those actions.
It made me reflect on qualities such as humility, integrity and courage, and the idea that these are not fixed traits but things that can be developed through reflection and practice. This complemented what I had learnt through my research project. Becoming more comfortable with mistakes required humility, while being honest about uncertainty required integrity.
It also helped me recognise that leadership is not simply about becoming more capable. It is about developing the judgment to use those capabilities responsibly. This became particularly relevant during my LiA, when I had the opportunity to put these ideas into practice in a completely different environment.
Learning beyond the classroom
My second Laidlaw summer challenged my understanding of learning in a very different way.
I spent six weeks in Mbeya, Tanzania, alongside two other Laidlaw Scholars @Leen Shanwar and @Ishani Badala , volunteering with Mbeya Zonal Referral Hospital. Although I was in a medical environment, some of the most important things I learnt had little resemblance to formal medical education.
There were no lecture theatres or learning outcomes. Instead, I learnt by observing clinicians, speaking with medical students, taking part in community outreach programmes and adapting to a completely new environment.
This made me realise how easy it is to restrict the idea of a teacher to someone in a formal position of authority. In Mbeya, I could learn from a consultant, another student, a patient, a community member or one of the other scholars I was working with.
One of the most meaningful examples of this was a cultural and medical exchange we organised with members of the Tanzania Medical Students’ Association. We shared our experiences of medical school in St Andrews and discussed the NHS and medical education in the UK. The Tanzanian students then shared their experiences of studying medicine and healthcare in Tanzania.
What made the session so valuable was that it was genuinely reciprocal. We were not simply there to explain our system. We were learning from each other.
Before my LiA, I thought that an international experience was an opportunity to learn about another healthcare system. I now think there is an important difference between learning about people and learning from them.
Learning from someone requires greater humility. It means accepting that another person’s experiences may challenge assumptions you did not realise you held.
This experience played an important role in developing my global mindset. It increased my awareness that healthcare systems are shaped by context, including resources, geography, culture and disease burden. It made me more cautious about assuming that an approach that works in one setting can automatically be applied somewhere else.
Leadership as remaining teachable
Perhaps the most important lesson I will take from Laidlaw is that leadership and learning are closely connected.
A leader who believes that leadership means always having the answer may eventually stop listening. A leader who remains reachable can continue to change their mind in response to new evidence, experiences and perspectives.
For me, this brings together the three elements of the 3Cs framework. Curiosity and determination have motivated me to continue asking questions. The programme has developed capacities such as communication, adaptability, critical thinking and collaboration. At the same time, my understanding of character has changed, and I increasingly associate good leadership with humility, integrity and the willingness to recognise the limits of your own knowledge.
These lessons are particularly relevant to medicine. A doctor may have clinical expertise, but a patient has expertise in their own life, values and experiences. Good medical practice requires both.
Continuing to learn as a global citizen
My time in Tanzania changed how I understand global citizenship. I no longer see a global mindset as something that only matters when travelling; it means remaining open to perspectives different from my own and recognising the limits of my knowledge.
As a future doctor I want to carry this into my interactions with patients and colleagues, and to approach any future global health work through collaboration rather than assuming I have the solution. For me, ethical leadership means learning before acting and working with people, rather than simply acting on their behalf.
Laidlaw has ultimately taught me that the strongest leaders never stop being students. Research taught me to become comfortable with uncertainty and learn from mistakes, while my time in Tanzania showed me how much can be learnt through people and experience. Together, these lessons have shaped the kind of doctor, global citizen and leader I hope to become.
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Thank you to the Laidlaw Foundation and Lord Laidlaw for their continued support over the past two years. I am incredibly grateful for the opportunities, experiences and connections the programme has given me, all of which have played an important role in my academic and personal development. I would also like to thank everyone who has supported and guided me throughout my research and Leadership in Action projects.