Global citizenship and ethical leadership are the key pillars of the Laidlaw scholarship. Prior to my laidlaw scholar experiences, I used to think that these concepts are only a vague idea of what successful leaders follow to flourish. Every part of this journey starting from the HKU leadership workshop, to the research project and conference at Leeds and finally coming to a close with the oxford character project and my LiA project in Hong Kong and Vanuatu has provided me with invaluable insights and opportunities for reflection. Throughout this two-year journey, I was blessed to have multiple opportunities to explore and experience what these values means to me personally and how I could execute them in my everyday life.

Ethical leadership was a major focus at the beginning of our Laidlaw journey when HKU scholars first met each other at our leadership workshop. We explored our leadership styles and how we can collaborate and communicate with others who have differing preferences of working with others. A major takeaway was that ethical leadership comprises of 3 main elements of authenticity, empathy and logic. Lacking any one of these components would make it difficult for others to place their full trust in their leaders. This was a particularly interesting reminder for me as I rarely considered the importance of authenticity in a team-work setting. However, I noticed an immediate change in my connection and relationship with other scholars when we were willing to be vulnerable to each other and bonded over our worries and concerns for the upcoming challenges. As we reflected extensively on our personalities and how to navigate various difficulties, I gradually gained the confidence and skills needed.

The summer research project was a challenging yet rewarding experience as I could put the cycle of beinng curious, ambitious and determined to achieve extraordinary goals into practice. As I had no research experience, I felt intimidated by the idea of conducting a laboratory research at first. However, I was very fortunate to be able to work in ophthalmology, a specialty that I was passionate and curious about, on the topic of preventing retinopathy of prematurity with lutein in extra virgin olive oil. As this project involved testing on living rats, much precaution had to made to ensure that the research was ethical and the least harm was incured on the animals. Observing how the laboratory staff handled the mice with care and respect led to my reflection on how ethical leadership not only involves treating people with empathy and appreciation, it also extends to being responsible for animals and the environment around us. With the patient guidance from my supervisor, I slowly acquired various laboratory skills on how to perform various staining and capture immunohistochemistry images of the retina for the quantification of microglial cells, which was my research focus. Throughout the process, I had to proactively self-learn softwares such as ImageJ and statistical skills to analyse the data I obtained. Although the preliminary result I concluded with was not statistically significant due to the small sample size, this research project has cultivated values of curiousity and resilience in me. Learning how to perform a retinal flat mount was a major breakthrough for me as I still vividly remembered my shaky hands trying to peel through the thin layers of the tiny eyeball whilst squinting through the microscope. However, with much practice and determination accompanied by sore fingers and tired eyes, I was able to perform a satisfactory mount in the end. By the end of these 6 weeks, I had a deeper understanding on how to put good leadership qualities into practice.

Attending the Laidlaw Scholars Conference in Leeds was yet another enriching highlight of the experience. Meeting scholars around the world in a foreign country definitely broadened my horizons as we shared our unique experiences in this Laidlaw programme. Although our disciplines and culture varied immensely, the principles of ethical leadership and global citizenship was universal across every scholar. Presenting my research project at the parallel sessions was yet another humbling yet exciting experience for me and other fellow scholars to exchange ideas and learn more about each others' achievements. Moreover, the keynote speeches and sharing by various speakers provided new perspectives and insights into the theme of curiosity and the work the Laidlaw Foundation is involved in. These are prominent real-life examples of how ethical leadership can be implemented on both individual and community levels that greatly inspired me.

Lastly, as I am halfway through my LiA programme, this experience has also influenced me deeply on how to put global citizenship and ethical leadership in practice. Visiting the villages and interacting closely with the citizens in Vanuatu required respect and compassion in order to establish genuine relationships with them. In terms of ethical leadership, a lot of our work centered around the action of leading the villagers to live a healthier lifestyle and be more prepared for upcoming disasters. Although we were confident in the scientific basis behinds the methods our education involved, it was still important for us to try to understand and respect the local practices they had even if it may contradict our believes. Communication was key in this process as we had to deliver our messages clearly and in an interesting manner through drama and interactive sessions to ensure they can retain the information they learnt. Being appreciative of each others' efforts was another important component of ethical leadership that I observed. As much as the local villagers thanked us for our time and efforts in visiting them, it was also important for us to show our gratitude to them for facilitating this event, from minor details of arranging the venue to helping us with assembling and the door-to-door distribution of our materials and disaster bags through words of appreciation and small gifts. It is in these small but significant gestures that an equal and respectful relationship can be established such that we are truly partners rather than donors and receivers. At the same time, though our cultures and lifestyles differ greatly, the 2 weeks I spent there has led me to realise that there are still a lot of similarities between us. The greatest realization was that all of our happiness often comes in the smallest forms. The laughter we shared when the local children finally taught us how to climb up a tree and their amused smiles when we introduced them to our childhood games was a precious embodiment of the beauty and joy in exchanging our cultures. Besides, the kind advice a villager shared about how to maintain healthy relationships with family and partners was yet another interesting and heart-warming of how the core values of love and trust unites all humans. I am excited for how the remaining part of my LiA can continue to inspire me.