More Capable Than I Think: Reflections on Two Years as a Laidlaw Scholar

Two years ago, I never would have believed I would spend six weeks living alone in China, present my research on international stages, or lead a team of 15 as President of TEDx UCL. If the Laidlaw Scholarship has taught me one thing, it is this: I am far more capable than I think I am. Here is how it has shaped my character, my leadership, and the way I see the world.

Character

The virtue of patience

My Year 1 research project explored a new way to verify whether bone has grown back, which ultimately tells us whether a bone treatment has worked. A key part of the project involved building 3D models to show how much bone had regenerated under different conditions, from environments doped with bioactive glass (a common treatment for promoting bone growth) to diabetic conditions.

Then I hit a wall. Every model I built came out as an identical replicate, and for a whole week, I was stuck. In a six-week project, a week feels like an eternity. I love efficiency, and I like things to run smoothly, so setbacks frustrate me: they throw me off the plan I have carefully laid out. Eventually, I traced the problem back to myself. My microscope technique was flawed, and I was misjudging where to start and stop measuring the depth of the bone. After endless adjustment and refinement, I finally got it right.

That week taught me the value of patience. Every setback forced me to think more critically, and the more critically I thought, the more creative my solutions became. Often, they were better than anything in my original plan. I ended up with a stronger project than the one I set out to do. I have learnt that slowing down is not wasted time. Sometimes, that pause is exactly what makes room for a better idea.

Seeing through other people's eyes

I presented this project at the British Association of Oral Surgeons (BAOS) conference, to an audience made up mostly of dentists. As a medical student, I come from a different corner of healthcare, so I carried out a literature review to understand why bone regeneration matters so much to dentists and oral surgeons. In the process, I discovered a whole world of exciting dental technologies, and new ways my work could serve them.

It showed me how a single technology can travel across fields and help people I had never even considered. More than that, it taught me that people see the same thing in very different ways, and that this is a strength, not an obstacle. Understanding someone else's perspective often sharpens your own, and that is a habit I want to carry into both my professional and personal life.

Leadership capacity

Learning from the people around me

I owe a huge shout-out to the extraordinary friends I have made through Laidlaw. I know they will be friends for life, and every single one of them has taught me something.

One of them is an international student. Naturally confident in her home language, she found public speaking in English far more daunting. But instead of retreating, she chased every opportunity to speak, and she was always the first hand in the air in our Laidlaw sessions, ready with a brilliant point. Today, I cannot see a trace of that hesitation in her. Her courage showed me that if I want to grow, as a person and in my career, I must put myself out there too.

Another friend weaves her personal passions into everything she studies, which makes her work both creative and unmistakably hers. When she takes on a responsibility, she gives it everything, and the result is always outstanding. Her dedication is something I deeply admire and hope to emulate.

I could name so many more people in my cohort. Recognising their strengths has shown me where I can grow, and I have come to believe that learning from the people around you is one of the most powerful ways to become a better leader.

The courage to let go

As president of TEDx UCL, I found that some of the most dedicated members of my committee came straight from my Laidlaw cohort. They taught me that leadership is not about doing everything yourself; it is about trusting the people beside you. Others will be better than you at some things, and they know their own strengths and their own best way of working. When you delegate properly and give people the freedom to work their way, you gain more ideas, more input and more sparks of inspiration. The result is almost always better than anything I could have achieved alone.

Learning to believe in myself

Looking back on these two years still feels surreal. For my Leadership in Action project, I flew to Guangzhou alone, with imperfect Mandarin, and threw myself into an unfamiliar hospital and a new research team. I presented my work to global audiences at the International Laidlaw Scholars Conference and at BAOS. Standing on those stages, I realised that I was the expert on my own work. I owned it, and I had something worth sharing.

Before Laidlaw, none of this would have seemed possible. The scholarship has shown me that I am more capable than I think, and I want to hold on to that as my career unfolds, because it will give me the confidence to reach for milestones I never would have dared to dream of.

Developing a global mindset

Born and raised in Dublin, and now studying in London, I had always lived in a very Western-centric world. Six weeks in China showed me just how much there is to learn beyond it.

The first thing that struck me was the work ethic. The research team I joined met on Thursday and Sunday evenings, from 8 to 10 p.m. In the UK, evenings and weekends are sacred, and even calling a colleague after 6 p.m. can feel like overstepping. Work-life balance matters enormously, and I would never argue otherwise, but I found their commitment genuinely inspiring. Now, whenever I feel tired and tempted to give up, I push on for another five or ten minutes. It sounds small, but each extra push stretches your capacity a little further.

The second thing that shifted my perspective was Traditional Chinese Medicine. At UCL, herbal medicine tends to appear as a textbook scenario: a patient who needs gentle persuasion to return to their prescribed treatment. Yet the hospital I worked in had an entire department devoted to it, and on the streets of Guangzhou, certified practitioners openly offered their services. Curious, I tried gua sha, a scraping technique said to clear the lymphatic fluid behind swelling and tension in the upper back. Afterwards, my back felt lighter and less painful. Was it the treatment, the placebo effect, or simply a good massage? I honestly cannot say.

What it taught me is that you cannot afford to be fixed in the way you think. The doctors and medical students I spoke to held herbal medicine in high regard, even where its mechanisms remain unexplained. Evidence still matters, but I have learnt not to label something as good or bad before I have tried to understand it. There is always more to learn, and there are lessons waiting in every corner of the world.

Continuing as a global citizen and ethical leader

I am now in my third year of medical school, spending the year at Imperial College Business School on an intercalated BSc in Management. I chose it because almost every module revolves around group projects, which is as close to a real working environment as university gets. I will be working with strangers, and we are bound to clash, because no team ever agrees on everything. This year will teach me to lead effectively, to speak up rather than stay silent when something is wrong, and to turn conflict into something constructive.

I am also continuing to pursue research that tackles the problems I see around me. At UCL, I am working on a medical education project after noticing that many students lack confidence when managing patients with skin conditions, a sign of a gap in our dermatology teaching. Wherever I find gaps like this, I want to step in and help make things better.

I do not know exactly where I will be in a few years, or what I will be doing. But I do know that I will carry the values and lessons of the Laidlaw Scholarship with me into my career and into every part of my life.

Thank you to the Laidlaw Foundation, UCL, my supervisors, the team at Guangzhou First People's Hospital, and, of course, my incredible cohort, for two years I will never forget.