Allyson Grace Chai Yi Jing (She/Her)

My research is about the relationships between Indigenous Christians, the British Government, the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and non-Christian indigenous peoples and how these relationships, desire for land, and Christian beliefs led to the expulsion, murder, and resettlement of Indigenous Christians in 1675-6.

Physics undergraduate at the University of St Andrews.

Researching climate finance in Scotland - How to Fix the Hurdles that Prevent Funds from Reaching Net-Zero Housing Projects?  Studying economics with a concentration in finance. 

Hey everyone - I'm Gitika, but I go by Aki, and I'm a former Laidlaw Scholar currently based at the University of St Andrews. I'm originally from California, but moved to Scotland to pursue my undergraduate studies in history and economics. My Laidlaw research focussed on the colonial and postcolonial histories of sexuality and gender in Asia, and particularly how it has impacted the current lives and experiences of LGBTQ+ individuals based in India and Japan. Now, I am entering my final undergraduate year with an aim of pursuing postgraduate studies in social & economic history. I'm eager to meet you all, so do reach out if you want to chat about research or just connect over a shared interest! Apart from my work in gender and sexuality history, I'm also keenly interested in archival history, colonial/postcolonial studies, and language / linguistics. Outside of academics, I'm often playing music, walking along the Fife coast with a hot cup of tea, writing, or watching Doctor Who with my friends.

Hello! I’m a psychology researcher and the founder of HaHaHelps, a nonprofit organisation developing and delivering a comedy-based psychosocial programme designed to support young people in residential care. I am currently completing an MSocSci in Psychology at the University of Cape Town, where my dissertation examines the feasibility of HaHaHelps programme with adolescents in South African child and youth care centres. My broader interests include youth mental health, psychosocial intervention development, implementation, participatory approaches, and the use of humour and play to support connection, emotional expression, self-efficacy, and coping with uncertainty. HaHaHelps grew out of my Laidlaw Leadership-in-Action project at SOS Children’s Villages in Cape Town, where I designed and facilitated an improv-comedy programme for adolescents. Since then, I have continued developing and delivering the programme with young people in residential care and am now studying how it can be refined, evaluated, and ultimately adapted for use in other communities and settings. Before this, my Laidlaw research at the University of Toronto examined relationships between childhood adversity, aggression, and self-regulation. I’d love to connect with other Laidlaw Scholars and alumni interested in youth mental health, social impact, intervention development, social entrepreneurship, or simply finding creative ways to turn research into something useful in the world.