The Laidlaw Research and Leadership Programme has allowed me to expand my skills and expertise in a way that I could have never imagined. Indeed, I have always been reflective on the state of the world around me and how I wish I could change it, but I never really got the chance to make a difference except on smaller scales like tutoring or starting a philosophy society at my university.

An aspect that I am very passionate about is the climate crisis and sustainability and they were topics that I wished my chemistry degree addressed. This is why I lead the self-proposed research project in the summer of 2024 under Dr Laura Patel’s supervision about the gap that exists in Imperial’s Chemistry Department when it comes to teaching about sustainability. I conducted student surveys and staff interviews. I had to overcome feeling shy about reaching out to several professors and having recorded team calls with them. I was unable to finish collecting as much data as I wanted so I continued working on it during the term time. My research was very useful and successful, and I got to present it in different conferences, but the highlight of it all was that was not where the research stopped but where impact started. In fact, after gathering all that data, my supervisor and I decided to take this a step further and apply for funding through the StudentShapers programme to recruit 5 other students to work with us. This experience really tested my leadership skills as I now not only had to continue my work, but I had to lead others and help them create content that we can add into the curriculum. I oversaw the teamwork and making sure everything was running smoothly, it felt odd to be asked “what should I do now”, but I felt capable and worthy of being in that position. After 7 weeks of collaboration, we designed new lab ideas, tutorials, workshops and assessment that all fit perfectly well with the existing curriculum, and we received positive feedback from the module leads so they were able to actually implement this change already from the autumn term of this academic year (2025-2026).

Another issue that I care about equally or (even more) was the genocide in Gaza. I was hoping to complete my Leadership in Action (LiA) project remotely to help rebuild higher education in Gaza. This started by emailing Professor Zahid Pranjol at the University of Sussex. I saw an article he had written on the topic and was inspired, without the context of the Laidlaw, I would have never had the confidence to just do that. We agreed that we would be collaborating, but then unfortunately the so-called ceasefire at the time of that meeting (January 2025) was broken and I decided not to pursue this as my LiA project, I did however keep in touch with the professor. He randomly got back to me and said he had the idea of publishing an anthology book that would be filled with the voices of university students in Gaza and asked me if I would like to help with organising this and translating some of the texts. I very happily took the idea on board and was so grateful to be given this opportunity. I was in charge of the editing and formatting of the book, being the point of contact for students if they had any questions or wanted to change anything. It was a very emotionally charged project, but I was able to stay level-headed and calm, and I am so proud of all the students who participated and so happy for them to have their words reach the world with their book We Are Still Here having been published.

Both the StudentShapers and the work on the book were happening around the same time in the summer of 2025 and so it was a busy and hectic time but also my most rewarding projects. Indeed, they allowed me to exert my leadership skills outside the Laidlaw context and into the real world in the best way possible.