How the 4th Industrial Revolution is impacting the livelihoods of fashion workers in East London

I am a soon to be third year BSc Social Sciences student at UCL and this is my second year doing the Laidlaw scholarship.

I think the Laidlaw scholarship has the reputation and respect that recruiters really value, making it a definite positive on my CV.  When I first joined the scholarship, I didn’t expect how close I would get to the other scholars and academics or the amount of research that I was able to do. I feel gaining this research experience is important for my future career and I want other people to benefit from this scholarship as well which is why I have aided some scholars in applying for the program.

Leadership

The Leadership component played an important role in boosting my confidence as it surrounded me with very inspiring people and other scholars. The skills I had going into the program were able to be built on and further develop because the leadership program gave me the theoretical and practical knowledge that I needed. The teamwork and communication skills I learned were important for me as a scholar because I need to be able to explain my ideas and findings to other scholars. The main thing I would tell people thinking about doing the Laidlaw scholarship is that they should definitely do it as it motivates you because you get to work with inspiring people.

Research

This year I worked with not only the institute of global prosperity at UCL but also with the London College of Fashion when exploring how the 4thindustrial revolution is impacting the livelihoods of fashion workers in East London.  The main skills that I learnt from researching was how to read large amounts of information and write them up in an original piece of work that is concise and relevant. My mentors were able to help guide me on the right path and would offer me constant support. The funding from Lord Laidlaw helped to create my research as it allowed me to go to a conference around my topic area and allowed me access to expensive books vital to my research.

Networking

A community did develop and I became close to the other scholars, which was helpful because it can get lonely carrying out research in the summer. Being able to communicate with people with similar topic interests on social media who are also doing research was great support. The scholarship also allows you to network with academics, leaders in the field and researchers.