Amanda Andersson

👋 Hi, I’m Aimee! I study Architectural&Interdisciplinary Studies BSc at UCL and am passionate about exploring how art and design can connect creativity with research and community. As a Laidlaw Scholar, my first year project focused on building the first digital exhibition for the Paris Summer School, combining my interests in design and storytelling with leadership in collaborative projects.

Hello! I’m Henry, a second-year student at the University of St Andrews. Originally from Lancashire, I moved to Scotland in 2023 to pursue an undergraduate degree in modern history. Now entering my third year, my interests primarily revolve around late modernity, covering themes of empire, oppression, and propaganda.                   For my Laidlaw research, I am focusing on youth targeted propaganda in Nazi Germany. Specifically, I am analysing the techniques used in the children’s literature of the Third Reich to skew the youth’s morality, comparing this to themes found in the contemporary U.S.. With the recent resurgence of far-right politics, I feel it is crucial to analyse the means and manner of indoctrination, particularly those centred on the youth.                    I look forward to connecting with you all and reading about your projects!

I became a Laidlaw Scholar in 2025 during the first year of my BSc in Physics & Chemistry at @Durham University, with interest in researching interdisciplinary solutions to anthropogenic climate change and pollution. In my first summer, I developed biosourced polymers for use in laundry detergents, producing a compound with promising performance compared to industry standards. For my Leadership in Action project, I partnered with @Under the Wave Organisation to assist data monitoring at a sea cucumber farm and support sustainable livelihoods in Zanzibar.

Hi everyone! I run the CraftHER Leadership-in-action program by @Swara - Voice of Women. Here's our IG: www.instagram.com/craftherbyswara/ I’m Asha Scaria Vettoor, an entrepreneur and Laidlaw Scholar from the University of Oxford. I run Swara, a social enterprise based in India that creates income opportunities for women through ethical fashion and storytelling. We also host CraftHER, a 6-week Leadership-in-Action program that brings Laidlaw scholars from around the world to Kerala to learn from women-led enterprises, grassroots organisations, and artisan communities. I’m passionate about building bridges between global learners and local changemakers in my community and always up for a conversation on social entrepreneurship, ethical supply chains, or running programs in remote parts of India.

My name is Diya Asawa (she/her) and I was born in India. I've lived in India, the Netherlands, and the UK, and I now study Biomedical Sciences at UCL. For my first summer Laidlaw research project, I investigated methods for improving the treatment of chemotherapy-induced nausea & vomiting in paediatric patients affected by cancer. The project was based at the Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) in London. The study involves the analysis of interviews with the parents of patients at GOSH to understand how healthcare professionals can improve the side effect symptoms of patients and develop medicines that are more child-friendly. For my six-week Leadership-in-Action project in Mumbai, India, I volunteered as a teaching assistant at the Karmaveer Bhaurao Patil School in Sion, Mumbai, to support underprivileged students facing poverty and child abuse. I supported a Grade 3 classroom of 40 students, teaching Maths, English, and General Studies through interactive lessons, creative writing, reading activities, problem-solving tasks, and skills workshops based on the school’s curriculum.  In my free time, I love writing, singing, going on long walks/hikes, listening to music, and meeting new people. I'm super excited to be involved with the Laidlaw programme and would love to connect especially if you've got similar interests so feel free to reach out :)

Hi! I'm Aishani, and I'm currently studying Computer Science at UCL. My Laidlaw research project involves evaluating various mathematical models aiming to capture the dynamics of mixed-substrate bacterial growth in a chemostat. 

Hello! My name is Batool and I am an Education and International Development MA Student at UCL.  For my summer research project, I co-produced a policy brief with student recommendations for sustainable futures in higher education which is addressed to policy makers in universities in the UK.  For my Leadership-in-Action project, I am conducting a similar research project with WWF-Pakistan. I am organising participatory workshops with university students from Lahore and plan to use this research for my undergraduate dissertation. If you have any questions about these projects, or about conducting a research-based LiA please do not hesitate to message me! At UCL I was the President of the UCL Sign Language Society where I led a team of 9 other undergraduate students to organise sign language classes and events to raise awareness of deafness for a society which has over 200 student members. I am currently the Vice President of the Ahlulbayt Islamic Society committee, organising charity campaigns and faith-based awareness events on taking action for global issues. 

Hello! I’m Trisha, a graduate of Cornell University from Texas, USA. I majored in Environment and Sustainability with a dual focus on food systems and wildlife conservation, and minored in International Relations. My interests in combining my enduring passions for writing and wildlife conservation have driven me to explore multiple perspectives on highly-controversial issues such as trophy hunting, retaliatory animal killings, and illegal wildlife crime. Thus, during my first summer as a Laidlaw Scholar and as a member of the Morally Contested Conservation team, I wrote a literature review on the interconnectedness of climate change and human-wildlife conflicts in East and southern Africa. In June and July 2024, I furthered this research by traveling to the University of Oxford and to the Burunge Wildlife Management Area in Tanzania, and returned to Oxford and Burunge in June and July 2025 to report my results.  As an aspiring conservationist, I am passionate about making technical scientific information more accessible to the general public. I speak Marathi, Spanish, and Swahili at varying levels of fluency and plan to continue to grow my language skills to communicate conservation challenges across continents and cultures.  The Laidlaw Scholars Program was an invaluable component of my undergraduate experience. The friendships I made, as well as the research and language skills I began to develop, encouraged me to continue to ask and seek answers to complicated questions about global affairs and environmental science. If anyone has questions about the Laidlaw Program, is interested in collaborating, or just wants to say hello, please feel free to email me at trisha.bhujle@gmail.com!

Hi, currently, I am working with Timothy Smith Network as an instructor in Boston, MA. My research was about the relation between sport entertainment industry on adults’ (sport fans) engagement in physical activity. I am majoring in accounting and minoring in finance at the University of Hong Kong. Please reach out if you want to discuss.

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.

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! 

Hi! I am a 4th year undergraduate scholar at Trinity College Dublin studying Global Business, and I am currently on my study abroad in ESCP Paris. My research project centres on the importance of female leaders from ethnic minorities in the business C-suite & the necessity for better racial and gender diversity on executive boards worldwide.  I’m really looking forward to meeting new people and experiencing new things on this journey!