Our six weeks of our Research Summer zoomed by quickly, and just like that our team is finalising our report drafts and posters - which is going well. We have been receiving consistent help from our graduate advisor which is helping us improve our report and helping us to make a plan on what we should be doing for our project for the rest of the summer.
We started of this week with gaining more information into next summer's Leadership in Action (LiA) project. I have been spending time researching countries which I want to travel to and lend a hand in supporting the local community, my research has involved learning Spanish, which has been quite fun so far :D. Before I started this programme, I have been focused on improving women's reproductive health and improving gender equality - so I am really excited to finding an NGO or community-led initiative which also aligns with my passions. We were introduced to a Laidlaw scholar who gave us advice on how to find a project, finding NGOs and projects that we would like to support and many more tips. Overall, I am really excited for this future journey, and I love reading the blog posts from other Laidlaw scholars who are on their LiAs right now.
This summer has been a really reflective, collaborative and interesting time and I really developed new skills which I would have not have obtained from my degree alone. Additionally, I have been able to connect with the Oxford community beyond the students and professors at Oxford, and reflect more on what I can do to contribute to narrowing the gap between Town and Gown during my time at Oxford university and beyond. I would finally like to say a big thank you to Ben Margetts, Alex Betts, Anjali Sakar and Nabeela Kajee for their talks which helped us build our character and be better leaders who are able to make a positive difference in the world, as well as to the people I worked alongside in our research project!
I am a current Biochemistry Undergraduate at the University of Oxford. I am happily a part of the 2026 Laidlaw Scholar Cohort.
I am very grateful to be a part of this programme where I am able to develop my character and behaviours to become a more ethical leader. I want to also be able to provide a positive impact on the people around me, my community and the world at large in all means possible. I have a particular interest in gender equality and improving women's reproductive health. I am also interested in climate action and protecting our oceans and lands.
As a previous tutor, mentor and being a state-school student, I can attest to seeing the differences in educational attainment between certain regions and demographics. Through the Laidlaw Research programme, I will be able to conduct research on how co-curricular activities can be used to supplement students who are unlikely to consider higher education or have low educational attainment, and improve their wellbeing and ambitions.
