I was fortunate enough to conduct academic research under the supervision of Stephen Gethins,  Professor of Practice in International Relations at the University of St Andrews and now a sitting MP. Stephen introduced me to a truly fascinating yet often overlooked area of International Relations: sub-state and regional actors and their place in global politics, with a focus on Scotland in particular. Through this, I have developed an interest in Scotland's place in the world as a nation without an independent foreign office, but as a nation with extensive international influence and a powerful global diaspora. This topic formed the basis of my Laidlaw project, my undergraduate and postgraduate dissertation, and my PhD. I take a keen interested in other academic fields such as politics, history, and philosophy. Although an International Relations and Sociology student first and foremost, I had the opportunity of studying Ancient History and Classics alongside my degree for two years. If I were to ever win the lottery, you would find me endlessly cycling University, spending my remaining days studying Ancient History and Philosophy, Politics, Anthropology, Theology, Theoretical Physics and Maths, or whatever subject I develop an interest in down the line. Since leaving the University of St Andrews and the Laidlaw Programme, I completed an MRes degree at the University of Glasgow in Sociology and Research Methods. I received a scholarship for a PhD in Sociology at the University of Glasgow which I am completing part-time in addition to my role as Research Officer at Carers Trust Scotland - a charity supporting unpaid carers which I had previously volunteered for. My PhD is a continuation of my Scottish diaspora studies, seeking to reconcile the notion of 'civic Scottishness' with the Scottish identity of the lived diaspora.  

Hi everyone! I'm Anna Lysenko. I'm a fourth-year undergraduate student in the International Relations Specialist program at the University of Toronto. I'm passionate about cyberpolitics and cybersecurity: my Laidlaw research project is about the effect of cyber-attacks on democracy.  My hobbies include reading, writing, travelling, drawing, horse riding, meeting up with friends, and watching movies. I'm excited to connect with new people who share my passions and interests :) 

Hello! My name is Eleanor Campbell, and I am a 2021 Laidlaw Scholar. I am a student at Columbia University in the City of New York, and I am originally from Raleigh, NC, USA. I major in Economics and am particularly interested in Behavioral Economics. During my first year with Laidlaw, I worked with Professor Hitendra Wadhwa of the Columbia Business School in developing a leadership fellowship for aspiring young changemakers. For my Leadership in Action project, I worked with World Vision on a menstrual hygiene management campaign in West Gonja, Ghana.

Hi everyone! I am a recent graduate in BSc Natural Sciences from the University of Leeds and an alumni of the Laidlaw Leadership and Research Scholarship. In my research project, I identified the structural changes in heart muscle cell organisation in a condition called Dilated Cardiomyopathy (see content section). I also completed a placement year at Roche Pharmaceuticals working on data science projects in the pharmaceutical research, early development, and product development departments. For my Leadership in Action project, I went to Mexico City to work on a sustainability project with make_sense (see content section). 

I'm a PhD student under the Wellcome Trust Neuro-Immune Interactions in Health and Disease Program. I am an alum of the Undergraduate Leadership & Research Programme in University of York.

Hi everyone, I am Joshua, currently serving as the Alumni Society president. I was selected for Laidlaw Research and Leadership Scholarship in 2020 at UCL. I am doing my MSc Management degree now at Imperial College London. I have experience with Entrepreneurship, Fashion, Marketing, and Data Science. Feel free to reach out to me if I can help!

I am an incoming MPhil candidate in Medieval History at the University of Oxford. Alongside my research specialism of late medieval religious and social history, other interests of mine include social and labour history in the nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, the history of medieval devotional objects, and nineteenth-century art. My research project was supervised by Drs Amy Blakeway and Jacqueline Rose. Titled 'History, religion and community in North East Fife', my project investigated the history of the village of Kingsbarns using archival material and interviews. My essay was a social history of the area, with a section on historical methodology. This was later supplemented with an oral account of the church in its current form by one of its contemporary administrators. In my second summer, I created and hosted a local history workshop in collaboration with the Boomerang Community Centre in Stobswell, Dundee. This combined archival research with an empowering leadership project, which encouraged participants to continue to investigate historical topics they are passionate about. The workshop was greatly successful, and feedback from the participants was wholly positive.

I'm a third-year student at St Andrews studying English! My research is into spoken word poetry and its connection to politics, particularly in Edinburgh (it's a bit niche but I love it). I am also part of the feminist society and a public face of Nightline. I love to meet new people and bake what is objectively too much shortbread at odd hours.

I'm a Scottish mathematician studying at St. Andrews University. I am inquisitive by nature and thus have split my degree into pure and applied maths modules to reflect this, in hopes to deepen my understanding of logic and reasoning, while also staying in touch with the reality. I especially enjoy pure mathematics which is useful in the real world, such as fractal geometry and number theory. In my spare time I like to do martial arts, having done Judo for several years and recently joined Ju Jitsu. I also enjoy reading Science fiction, playing piano, and learning more about politics, science & economics.

Scholar from the 2018 St Andrews Laidlaw Cohort. My project was under the supervision of Prof. Sabine Hyland in the Department of Social Anthropology, and is entitled "Revolutionary Women in the indigenous revolt of 1783, Peru". I am currently looking into the publication of my research findings, and presented them as a panellist at a conference in York in February 2020. Currently doing an MA in Museum Studies at UCL.

I am a passionate and enterprising individual about to start her Honours career in Art History at the University of St. Andrews. My main interests are art, literature and public affairs, which I am trying to pursue both at university and in my research "Artistic translations of Dante's Inferno". I am deeply committed to connect my own Italian educational background with the experiences I am making abroad, as it emerges also from my research topic: I advocate for a better understanding of my culture but also a wider integration in a globalised academic environment. I am always looking for opportunities in the art world, with focus on the art market and investment sector, and I am also open to any kind of entrepreneurial programme for young women, since I see my faculty of choice as just a starting point for my future career, rather than a closed sector.

I'm a BSc Mathematics graduate from the University of St Andrews. My research looks at twelve tone music from an abstract algebra perspective, with the hopes of gaining insight into the thoughts and compositional methods of various composers.

Hello! I'm Reuben, an Art History and Film student researching 'The Sonic Body: Technology, Embodiment, Gender' with the University of St Andrews and Trinity College Dublin. I am also a student filmmaker and illustrator, and host 'The Theory of Everything Podcast' for StAR Radio.

I'm a graduate of Columbia University ('23!), where I studied Film. I used to work at Google as a growth strategist, and at YouTube as a content strategist. My current work centers on multimedia and multidisciplinary art, blending media experiments, writing, and ongoing film projects. During the Laidlaw Fellowship, I examined Napoleon's influence on the political attitudes present in Le rouge et le noir by Stendhal and War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. The following year, I worked in business development for Tortoise Media, a news publication based out of London. Feel free to reach out and connect!

I am a current undergraduate student at St. Andrews University and am part of the 2020/2021 Laidlaw cohort. I am a history and international relations joint honours student at the university. I am extremely passionate about historical research, especially early modern gender studies and intellectual history. My interest in international relations lies in decolonial studies and activism, as well as the burgeoning field of feminist research. My research project for the summer of 2020 is a study of the representation of the wives of Henry VIII in popular media. I hope to explicate both the modern influence in these representations, as well as tracing the historical mythos surrounding these women by examining similarities to much older popular media about these Queens.

I am an undergraduate Laidlaw Scholar studying Philosophy and Politics at the University of York. I am very interested in climate education. My project investigates collective responsibility regarding climate change in the primary years of school.

Anthropology and Sociology Undergraduate; from Bristol, UK. I am completing a research project on narrative transmission and reproduction, looking at how oral accounts of geological events are passed down accurately over generations. By understanding how narratives are constructed I am keen to explore interdisciplinary approaches, particularly between Anthropology, Linguistics, Computer-Human Interaction, and Cognition. Other interests include literature, art and photography, architecture, astronomy, and outdoor pursuits.