Hi everyone, I’m Hannah Watton, Community Ambassador and Team Support Executive at the Laidlaw Foundation. It’s amazing to see you all here today!  

In addition to your programme, we also support 3 other core programmes.  

We sponsor the Laidlaw Schools Trust or LST, a Multi Academy Trust in the North East of England that has 11 schools – with almost 7000 children from nursery age to sixth form. The Foundation funds a school improvement team and a series of initiatives from digital provision to music, sports and arts, to provide pupils with the same rich curriculum and life chances as more privileged pupils in more affluent communities.  

We also have the Undergraduate Scholarship Programme which consists of 20 partner universities worldwide, which equips undergraduate students with the skills, character and resolve to be integrity-driven leaders ready to tackle complex global challenges. 

Through the Trailblazers Programme we elevate women from underserved communities to access higher education and career success— and this programme runs currently at Trinity College Dublin.   

In her welcome, Susanna mentioned that the way that you can pay it forward is to lift other women as you lead. So, now I’ll be covering the Laidlaw Scholars Network which I think is a great way to do that. This is an online platform created for Laidlaw Scholars and you will receive an invitation to join very soon, so stay tuned for that.  

We have an amazing network of over 2500 scholars worldwide, so including our Women in Business scholars, Trailblazers and undergraduate scholars. 

So, why did we create the Network? We wanted to bring our global community together. It’s a platform designed to help you connect, collaborate meaningfully, and learn from each other.  

The Network has three main aims: 

1. Again, Connections: Build a global network. 

2. Reflection and Introspection: Learn from each other and build collective knowledge. 

3. Track Record: Showcase your learnings and skills for internships, fellowships, and jobs. You can add your profile link to your CV or LinkedIn as an efficient way to do this.

The network is a massive resource for all of you in that by posting about your journey and your leadership and connecting with other scholars, you are setting an example of what leadership can look like and what your journey can look like, effectively inspiring others in their leadership journey. You can also access amazing events, job opportunities and find like-minded people through our directory of people. So we would really urge you to explore and make the most of this resource and network.  

We always stress the importance of scholars creating a complete profile in and basically this just makes it easier for others to see you and connect with you. By “Completed Profile”, we mean: 

1. Profile Picture 

2. About Me section – a short and sweet bio of yourself, this can include your research focus, interests, and personal hobbies 

3. Completed "I am a/an:" sections, indicating: 

• • Programme you’re a part of
  • University
  • Laidlaw Cohort Year

One thing we look forward to each year is our Elevate event, a day dedicated to uplifting and celebrating our Global laidlaw women. Although primarily focused on our Women in Business and Trailblazers, we also invite Laidlaw Women across all our programmes, such as the undergraduates and Laidlaw Schools Trust women leaders. This year, we will be holding the event at the end of October, so stay tuned for further updates on the exact date!