Introduction
The Laidlaw Scholars Leadership and Research Programme has been a formative experience during my time at Trinity College Dublin. Across the two years of the programme, I was challenged not only as a researcher and a leader, but also as an individual. This reflection considers how Laidlaw has shaped my leadership capacity, my values, my character, my international outlook and ultimately my ambitions for the future.
Leadership Capacity
Laidlaw fostered and improved my leadership skills in two particular ways: first, through LEAD days; second, through the soft skills acquired during both summers.
In terms of the LEAD days, I found it enriching to gain insights on leadership from experts in various fields, mainly because I do not come from an academic background that focusses on these skills. In addition, I appreciated that the professors came from diverse specialisations, from business and management to social and political studies. This meant that some of the sessions were directly relevant to my area of interest. For example, I particularly benefitted from a presentation by Dr Sheila Cannon, Associate Professor in Social Innovation, titled 'Conflict Resolution and Navigating Challenging Situations', in which she outlined the lessons she had learned from her work in peace building and conflict resolution. These are areas I am interested in pursuing, and that fact that I was able to reach out and establish communication with her afterwards strengthened my ability to take independent initiative in the pursuit of academic or professional goals. As always, I found some of these workshops more relevant than others, but I am glad that the structure allowed everyone to take something from each session.
Another vital part of developing my leadership capacity was my first summer of research. In particular, the experience of working (mostly) independently taught me valuable lessons about self-management, discipline and resilience. In addition, collaborating with a supervisor whose expectations about content, input and communication sometimes diverged from mine encouraged me to take initiative to initiate a dialogue, while simultaneously fostering self-reliance, self-confidence and perseverance. My second LiA summer felt like the perfect opportunity to put the insights I had gleaned from the LEAD days and from Summer One into practice. As opposed to the previous year, where I had worked alone, the most valuable lesson that I learned from my central project in Mexico City was the importance of collaboration in co-leadership. I was particularly proud of how our group worked together to delegate work, communicate clearly and maintain a cohesive and supportive atmosphere through challenges. As part of this, I also came to appreciate the importance of playing to each individual's strengths and skills in co-leadership, instead of expecting every person to be able to cover everything.
Laidlaw Values (3Cs Framework)
For me, the residential trip my cohort took to Carlingford Adventure Centre embodied Laidlaw's 3Cs framework: Change Maker Values, Character, and Capacities.
In terms of 'Change Maker Values', the visit highlighted the importance of teamwork and collaboration, particularly through a range of practical group activities such as building shelters, lighting fires and completing an obstacle course. These tasks also required us to be innovative, developing original approaches to overcome challenges and achieve shared goals. In this way, we learned how collective problem-solving could produce more effective and creative outcomes, rather than relying on narrower individual solutions.
This experience similarly strengthened the programme's focus on 'Character'. In particular, we were encouraged to be open-minded in the face of new experiences, resilient when faced with unfamiliar or challenging situations and willing to support each other when things did not run according to plan. Overall, the residential encouraged us to embrace challenges as opportunities for growth, which can even be completed in an enjoyable way!
Finally, the trip developed my 'Capacities' by encouraging me to take on tasks that were outside of my comfort zone. Successfully navigating these unfamiliar activities demonstrated my ability to adapt, learn through experience and approach new challenges with confidence.
Character
A further element of the scholarship programme was regular participation in the online seminars and accompanying tools provided by the Oxford Character Project. Honestly, this was the element of Laidlaw that I felt I took the least from.
I believe that the project's limited impact was due mainly to its attempts to quantify something as intangible as individual character into a concrete framework that could then be 'improved'. This often felt very abstract and removed from the true, complex and intertwined nature of such attributes. I also found the idea that one should constantly strive to 'improve' certain aspects of their character a little unrealistic. I prefer to think that everyone has different strengths and weaknesses, but also that this is not necessarily a bad thing; instead, people should play into their valuable strengths and be recognised for this, rather than being relentlessly pushed to develop in areas that feel unnatural.
On the other hand, the Oxford Character Project did encourage me to reflect on elements of my own attitude, rather than my character. This was valuable as it felt like something that was within my power to change in a positive direction.
Developing a Global Mindset
Global outlook forms a key tenet of the Laidlaw programme. This was therefore inherent to both my research project and my LiA experience.
My research project 'The Challenges Facing Vergangenheitsbewältigung in Modern Germany' was fundamentally international in nature. First, it focussed on a country that I do not have any familial ties to and had, at that point, never lived in. This opened up an entirely new context to me and allowed me to consider a wide variety of new and different perspectives. Because of this, I also came to appreciate the barriers to understanding in an intercultural context, for example language, very specific cultural phenomena and personal factors. This awareness helped me to stay open-minded and to temper my judgements, which I believe to be incredibly important when conducting research in an international context.
Furthermore, my research project examined issues that are deeply relevant throughout the world, including migration, integration, racism and memory culture. Exploring these themes within the specific context of Germany was already a new perspective, but it was also fascinating to consider how these tendencies manifest themselves in other parts of the world, based on the specific factors at play there. Therefore, an awareness of the simultaneous needs for specificity and appreciation of a much larger context was a key take-away.
My LiA in Mexico City also opened my eyes to an entirely new and international perspective. This applies first to the cohort of scholars and programme facilitators. Coming from various places in the UK, Ireland, America, France, Ukraine and, of course, Mexico, we worked together having grown up, studied and lived in incredibly different contexts. This led to very interesting conversations about political and social culture in various places, expanding my perspective in a way that could never otherwise have happened. The same goes for the charity organisations we partnered with, all of which were founded and based in Mexico City. Working alongside them opened my eyes to a professional culture I had never previously experienced and allowed me to consider the values I consider important in a professional setting. Finally, the project I undertook with Genera Territorios epitomised these lessons, granting me insight into the lives of people whose circumstances differed significantly from my own. Through our work, I encountered communities facing challenges such as financial insecurity, machismo and limited access to education, while simultaneously being struck by the innovative ways they were working to address these issues. Overall, I came to appreciate the importance of open-minded intercultural exchange as a means to learn and develop on both sides.
The Future
Heading into a post-Laidlaw future, the main lesson I learned is that I want to pursue a career that centres social impact. This appears particularly important for me at this point in time, as I am about to begin a master’s programme in Peace and Conflict Studies. Often, this course of study is concerned with big, theoretical questions about ending and preventing conflict. However, an underrepresented element is the idea of positive peace, defined as the attitudes, institutions and structures that create and sustain peaceful societies. My LiA experience has motivated me to pursue a career that is focussed on creating these conditions through a human-centered, social approach. For me, this particularly looks like creating a positive impact in different communities facing various issues related to equality, human rights, migration or health, depending on the field I am working in. In this field, it is pivotal to incorporate a global perspective and to lead ethically, skills which I have developed thanks to the Laidlaw programme.
Conclusion
Overall, Laidlaw has significantly shaped my development over the past two years. The experiences the programme has facilitated have strengthened my capacity for leadership, broadened my international outlook and clarified the values I want to bring to my future career. Most importantly, Laidlaw has given me a clearer understanding of the kind of leader I want to become and the social impact I hope to create beyond the programme.