Hi! I'm Sophia, an aspiring scientist and philomath. I love learning about everything and anything and delight in spending time with people who are passionate about the things they love!
I am really interested and curious about how we can use chemistry to improve processes and products to help society. For example, my research project is looking into the possibility of turning struvite, a mineral which is a by-product of waste-water treatment processes into slow-release nitrogen and phosphorous fertilisers, which would be a green source nitrogen and phosphorous fertilisers and help achieve goals of zero-waste.
If you are researching something similar or are interested in learning more about the project, please reach out! I am super happy to talk about the project and meet other who are doing something similar and possibly collaborate!
Hey! I am a current leadership & research scholar, focusing on homelessness and democracy. Before beginning my degree in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at Durham University, I volunteered for homelessness organizations, working alongside public and private sector to tackle homelessness and health inequalities. Alongside this, I have worked in construction, and have maintained my interest via gardening at university, and my woodwork business KarhuKraft. I love all things sport (especially table tennis), nature, and history! Feel free to get in touch.
Hi, I'm Hannah and i'm a first year Biological Sciences student at Durham University. I can't wait to start my research project which is looking at the differences in how bumble bee species interact with flowers based on differences in sensory systems. During my free time I love reading, improving my level of Spanish and learning how to code.
Hi, I'm Grace, a first-year Geography BSc student at Durham University,
To me, sustainability is not just about maintaining an ecological balance, but also achieving a social one. I want to be a part of the movement to achieve this.
Before starting university, I knew I wanted to have a career in agroecology, as it combined two industries that fascinated me. As a rapidly growing field, it has the potential to help secure the future and make sure that sufficient nutrition is available in all corners of the world. It is important to me that my future career has an active role in innovating resilient agricultural practices and creating a sustainable food production system, whilst advocating the importance of sustainability and mitigating the impacts of global warming.
With that being said, I knew that being part of the Laidlaw Research and Leadership Programme would give me an incredible opportunity to develop my leadership skills. Feeding off the passion and enthusiasm that fellow scholars also embrace I'll be able to further my knowledge in a structured and beneficial practice whilst undertaking my research project.
I am excited to begin my journey as a Laidlaw Scholar and to see what destinations the coming years present me.
Please feel free to reach out, I would love to chat!
Kelci Jacoby
Assistant Manager, Leadership Framework and Laidlaw Leadership and Research Programme, Durham University
I am an American Expat working at Durham University in the Leadership Framework where I serve as an Assistant Manager. In my role I oversee our Emerging Leadership programmes and am the programme manager for the Durham University Laidlaw Leadership and Research Programme.
I am passionate about creating an inclusive sense of belonging for students, student leadership development, harm reduction, and helping students identify their version of success. I have worked in higher education for the last six years in a variety of functional areas including identity-based advocacy, orientation, transition and retention, fraternity and sorority life, and leadership development. I have a B.A. from Willamette University in American Ethnic Studies and History and a M.S. in Educational Administration with an emphasis in Student Affairs Administration in Higher Education from Texas A&M University (Gig 'em!).
I like to spend my free time fly-fishing, hiking, watching anything in the Star Wars universe, reading, browsing record stores, going to concerts, and finding the best cappuccino in NE England!
I am an undergraduate Physics student at Durham University and I am very passionate about developing and progressing sustainable energy solutions. I believe we can tackle the global energy crisis through focused research, adequate funding and widespread education on the need for a systemic change.
I also firmly believe that it is only by creating the sparks of passion and understanding through the education of our wider community that we set alight the fires of progress for our sustainable and progressive future.
Hi there! I'm a finalist English & History undergraduate at Durham looking for challenges and experiences that will enable me to network with a diverse range of people and learn more about the world. I had the pleasure of completing my Laidlaw Scholarship in 2023.
Joel McKeever
Student Employability Officer (Laidlaw Programme Coordinator), Trinity College Dublin
Joel is the Student Employability Officer with the Trinity Careers Service. He manages a range of co-curricular student development projects, including the Trinity Employability Awards and the Laidlaw Programme.
As the Laidlaw coordinator for Trinity he manages leadership development activities, student coaching, programme design, and the day-to-day support of the Laidlaw Scholars.
Prior to joining the Careers Service, he worked in Trinity's Academic Registry as a Team Manager (Communications and Human Resources) with a focus on developing modern and inclusive support services for students and staff. He has previously worked with Trinity's Office of Global Relations to develop the Global Room and Campus Visit initiatives for international students.
He is a founder and current Co-Chair of Trinity's LGBT+ Staff Network and is committed to Trinity's mission of fostering excellence by empowering accessibility and diversity in higher education. A graduate of Trinity, he holds a B.A. (Mod.) in English Studies, a Special Certificate in Academic Practice, and a nominal Master in Arts (Dubl.) from the university as well as a CIPD Diploma in Learning and Development (CIPD).
I am a Chartered Occupational Psychologist and the lead for the Laidlaw Scholars Leadership and Research Programme at The University of York.
Prior to joining the University of York, my career was in policing focusing on selection and assessment, leadership development, organisation change and culture, and diversity, equality and inclusion.
I completed my BSc Psychology course at The University of Manchester and went straight on to complete my MSc Occupational Psychology course at Northumbria University. I then completed the Qualification in Occupational Psychology (QOccPsych) with the British Psychological Society (BPS) to become a chartered Occupational Psychologist.
Hello! I'm Kunj and I am a fourth year student studying Integrated Masters in Chemistry at Durham University. My research project was evaluating how slight changes in the structure of the solid state electrolyte and cathode can impact the ionic conductivity of lithium and sodium-ion batteries and using my research findings to develop NASICONs of high energy density, with maximum compatibility.
I am an undergraduate student at the University of Durham reading Psychology, with an interest in cognitive and biological psychology. My research with Laidlaw aims to contribute to the process of diversifying psychological research with the development of a translated visual perception screening test, using data from South-East Asian participants.
My name is Ruby Palin. I am a second-year undergraduate student at Durham University studying BSc Biological Sciences.
This is my favourite quote from a biologist...
“The known is finite, the unknown is infinite; intellectually we stand on an islet in the midst of an illimitable ocean of inexplicability…our business in every generation is to reclaim a little more land” –Thomas Henry Huxley, Evolutionary biologist.
I am an Economics student at Durham University. My foremost interests are Development Economics and Environmental Economics. This is reflected in my research project which explored Demographic Economics, titled "The Shifting Distribution of the Global Population in the Twenty-First Century: an Econometric Analysis of the Projected Fortunes of Nigeria and Japan, with Policy Recommendations for Sustainable Development".
I have experience working in economic consulting, specialising in competition economics, and am also a Zumba instructor. During my time on the Laidlaw Programme I have also served as a Laidlaw Schools Trust Mentor for Excelsior Academy in Newcastle.
In 2023, I completed a six-week international ‘Leadership in Action’ project in partnership with Think Pacific for my Laidlaw Scholarship. For this, I participated in a multi-faceted programme, comprising the building of a health centre, collaborations with Diabetes Fiji and Youth Champs 4 Mental Health, and a Fijian Culture Course. The project ended with a Think Tank where we planned how we would sustain progress. In my sub-group’s case, we are working on a new project to build a multi-purpose building to act as a kindergarten and evacuation centre, for which we are currently fundraising. We have had multiple meetings with the Laidlaw Foundation CEO and the Laidlaw Schools Trust, and we are presenting at the Conversations Conference in Dublin in October 2023. Our project took place in Vunimaqo and Waisava, Dreketi Settlement, Nalawa district, Ra province, Vita Levu island, Fiji.
I attended the Impact 2022 conference at the LSE and will be attending, and presenting, at the Conversations 2023 conference at Trinity College Dublin.
I’m a Postgraduate Research Student at Durham University, specialising in soft matter and biological physics.
For my Laidlaw Scholarship research project, I worked on a project to determine the mechanical properties of bimolecular condensates in the cytoplasm of cells. Specifically, I developed simulations to test our assumption in the main analysis pipeline that all condensates were imaged at their equator.
For my LiA, I will worked as an assistant instructor on the Elevating Agricultural Technology programme with the Timothy Smith Network in Boston, teaching 3D modelling and 3D printing
I LOVE talking about anything related to physics / technology and am also really passionate about education and F1, amongst other things!
Laura Littlefair
Laidlaw Scholars Leadership and Research Programme Manager, Durham University
Hello! I am a first year Durham PPE student, and this summer will be researching NGOs that tackle modern slavery, who wields influence within them and whether this influence has led to them making suboptimal decisions. Besides research, I am interested in pretty much everything from physics to poetry to philosophy.
I'm currently a final year history student at Durham University from West Sussex with a particular interest in connections between the modern and medieval worlds, and soon to be specialising in early modern-modern history. For my research, I investigated the use of the Crusades within far-right organizations and what it reveals about the readings of crusade history. During my second summer, I was a part of the ThinkPacific Youth and Community project in Fiji from June to July 2022. If you have any questions about my research, LiA, or history stuff in general feel free to contact me here!
Also, I like music, video production, and photography.
Hi everyone!
I am currently a LLB student at Durham University.
My research is focusing on whether the Bar Training Course (the vocational component on the path to becoming a barrister) sufficiently prepares prospective barristers for online advocacy and an increasingly digitalised workplace. This research project stems from my interest in the future of the legal profession, and also my questioning of why there is not much research done into the future of the English Bar more broadly.
Interestingly, my research is a blend of law and business as my supervisor is an academic within the Business department. Hopefully bringing in this different perspective will help to open up my research further and help me to approach the law from a different perspective.
Please feel free to reach out to discuss anything related to law or business or just to have a general chat because I'm really looking forward to getting to know more Laidlaw scholars!
I am an undergraduate at Durham University studying History. I grew up in Oxford but come from an Anglo-Pakistani family - hence the name. I am interested in thinking about issues on a global scale and my research project reflects this: focusing on understanding the global rise of Islamist violence in the last three decades.