Introduction
When I first applied to the Laidlaw Programme in January 2024, I did not realise how significant an impact it was going to have on my time at university. In my application, I wrote that I wanted to develop into a much more confident leader, hone my research skills, and become a global citizen. I feel that, through the Laidlaw Programme, I have been able to work on each of these goals, and I am truly grateful for the time I have spent on this programme. It has enabled me to conduct research on counter-terrorism law, spend the summer in India, and visit America to speak at the Laidlaw Scholars Conference. Most of all, through the programme, I have met several brilliant scholars, some of whom I have become lifelong friends. My impact report will begin with Summer One, detailing my experience conducting legal research for the first time, before moving on to my reflections on my Leadership in Action project in Summer Two. I will finish with some final reflections, particularly focusing on my time at the conference at Brown University, a true highlight of my time at university. Thank you to all of the Laidlaw team for their support during my time on the programme; I hope this report demonstrates how much I have learnt over the last two years.

Summer One
Embarking on my legal research project, with only one year of law under my belt, was extremely daunting. I was unsure as to whether I would be any good at researching and felt doubtful that I would even be able to produce anything vaguely useful. Luckily, my wonderful supervisor, Dr Jessie Blackbourn, was incredibly patient, generous, and kind in imparting her knowledge to me and my co-scholar Matthew, making the process much easier and even exciting at times. Our research focused on the implementation of the Prevent Duty in County Durham schools. The Prevent Duty is a duty imposed on all public bodies in England and Wales to work to prevent radicalisation and terrorism. It is controversial, as failing to ‘prevent’ such radicalisation or terrorism could, in theory, lead to legal consequences for the public bodies involved. This approach has been dubbed a ‘bottom-up’ approach to counter-terrorism law; that is, rather than relying on heavy ‘top-down’ policing by the state, it uses a softer ground-up approach, instead relying on local authorities such as schools, hospitals, and workplaces to police potential terrorists. However, since its introduction in 2015, there have been doubts as to how well it has been implemented. This is unsurprising. Public bodies are already burdened with myriad duties and are vastly under-resourced to deal with such a sensitive and complex topic. This is where our research comes in. I was given thirty schools in County Durham to research their Prevent Duty policies. It is the law that each school should have one and should include clear guidelines on how they both ‘prevent’ extremism in the first place (for example, through the curriculum) and what they do after potential radicalisation has been identified. Notes on the definitions of extremism, radicalisation, and terrorism were inputted into a spreadsheet, as well as details of how the schools implement teaching about extremism into their curriculum and how their reporting systems work. I found this work to be extremely rewarding, if a little arduous at times, but I enjoyed seeing patterns slowly come together and beginning to spot discrepancies between the schools’ policies.

My research culminated in a final report (which is available on my Laidlaw Scholars Network page), highlighting the significant disparity between what the Prevent Duty requires and how it is actually implemented in practice. I had the opportunity to speak about this research on a panel at Durham University last June. It was a brilliant chance to share what I had learnt and respond to questions about my research. In terms of working on the Laidlaw values, it felt brave to speak on this panel, sharing my research about a highly sensitive topic with a wide audience. It also sparked my curiosity, and I am looking forward to learning more about counter-terrorism law as I hopefully move on to postgraduate study in law in the future. Over my first summer as a Laidlaw Scholar, I was given the chance to develop my research skills and learn more about a subject I had never covered before. Completing my research project during my first summer has made my time as a law student much more enriching, as I felt I had learnt the skills of legal research in first year, making my dissertation this year much more enjoyable. Other highlights from my first summer were the leadership training sessions run by the wonderful Kelci Jacoby at Durham. This included an enriching day trip to an outdoor activities centre, where my cohort met for the first time. I learnt a lot about the basics of leadership over the four days, and it was lovely to get to know the other scholars and learn more about their research projects.

Summer Two
For my second summer, I was lucky enough to participate in the central Leadership in Action project, CraftHER by SWARA. I spent my summer with four other scholars moving around Kerala, working with different female-led organisations on consulting projects. The programme was run by the brilliant Asha Scaria-Vettoor, who designed a wonderful programme that combined consulting with leadership and meant I learnt a lot during my time in Kerala. Travelling to Kerala was extremely exciting, and I very much enjoyed learning about a culture entirely different from my own and experiencing life there. We were able to attend an engagement party, the opening of a fashion boutique, and spend our downtime chatting with local families. In our spare time, we went on backwater cruises, explored waterfalls, and spent time becoming closer friends. It meant that Laidlaw has become a programme through which I have met friends for life, as being pushed outside of your comfort zone together is truly a bonding experience.

As for my leadership skills, they were constantly put to the test throughout my time in Kerala. Each week, Asha hosted a ‘Take the Mic’ night, which involved each of us giving a ten-minute talk on a topic of our choice. Often, there would be a few audience members there, encouraging us and asking questions. On the first night, I spoke about the problem of women constantly being ‘pitted’ against each other, as if we are in competition. It can often feel, particularly in the workplace, like the women in the room are against one another. Instead, it is important to foster an environment of inclusion and encouragement. Whilst this can be difficult, particularly in male-dominated environments, having a sense of camaraderie with our female co-workers leads to a more positive work environment where we can all flourish. Throughout my time in Kerala, I also learnt a lot about social enterprise and consulting. These are two areas that I had not previously had the chance to explore, and it was both daunting and exciting to begin learning about them. In our introduction week, Asha gave us ‘business basics’ lessons, explaining some elementary terms and showing us how business models work. I felt extremely out of my depth in the first week; knowing nothing about business meant I quickly had to learn before we embarked on our five-week consulting project with four different organisations, with us acting as the consultants. I was nervous when we met our first organisation, Forest Post, as I felt as though I had very little wisdom to impart. However, I discovered that both we and the women at Forest Post had lots of knowledge we could mutually exchange. I was taught how to weave, whilst I showed the organisation how to set up a LinkedIn page to better advertise their events. I was taught how to make soap, whilst we created Instagram content for them to improve their reach.

I became much more confident over my time in Kerala; with each proposal document we made for every new organisation, I enjoyed the challenge and working with my peers. For our final task, we designed a clothing line for SWARA. As someone who definitely does not consider herself fashionable, this was certainly out of my comfort zone, but I grew to thoroughly enjoy the process, especially the more creative side of it. A highlight from Kerala was absolutely my personal project. In my spare time, I worked on a legal accessibility project. The intimidating face of the law means that it is often extremely inaccessible, particularly to those who need it most. Over my time in Kerala, I interviewed several women in the organisations we worked with to understand their perception of the law, particularly the employment law provisions in place in Kerala designed to protect vulnerable workers. I found that whilst these laws exist, there is little knowledge of them due to a gap in public education and campaigns regarding their existence. In response, I developed a series of leaflets outlining the basics of employment and criminal law, designed to be delivered as workshops to small groups. This is a project I have continued to work on back in the UK, and I am currently trying to secure funding to launch it properly.

Final Reflections
A final highlight of my Laidlaw journey was my selection to represent Durham University at the North American Laidlaw Scholars Conference, hosted by Brown University. I was selected alongside my fellow CraftHER scholar and good friend, Maisy Ekins-Malcolm, to give a talk about our time in India. The few days I spent in America were truly inspiring, and I cannot thank the Laidlaw Foundation enough for the opportunity. We had a day to explore Providence before the conference began, which meant we were able to look around Brown and also visit the Rhode Island Supreme Court. This was an eye-opening experience for me, as I had the opportunity to watch part of a criminal hearing and compare it to the times I have been in court in the UK. On the first day of the conference, I gave a panel talk on the importance of female leadership; it sparked an interesting discussion on how we can improve the low numbers of female leaders and open the way for more women to take on leadership roles. On the second day of the conference, Maisy and I gave a joint talk on our time in Kerala, reflecting on our experience and the lessons we learnt. The whole conference was a brilliant opportunity to meet more Laidlaw Scholars, and I am truly grateful for the opportunity.

As I am now coming to the end of my time as a Laidlaw Scholar, I would like to thank the Laidlaw Foundation for the opportunity, and also Kelci Jacoby and Chantelle Cummings for their support over the past two years. Laidlaw has truly transformed my time at university; I have grown in confidence, and I think my leadership style has benefitted hugely from my time as a Scholar. The international travel opportunities to both India and America have enabled me to meet so many wonderful people and have experiences I never would have had the chance to have had I not been on the Laidlaw Programme. I am excited for my next steps, and I will always treasure my time as a Laidlaw Scholar. Thank you again to the Laidlaw Foundation for the opportunity, and for those considering applying, go for it!