Hi everyone, my name is Kaity and I’m a rising sophomore in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. I plan to major in International Economics and minor in Statistics. In my spare time, I love calligraphy, street photography, biking, and I recently got into cooking. I’m also learning French, and would love to talk to French learner/speakers!

Hi! My name is Jimena Alvarez and I am a Peruvian second year student in Trinity College Dublin. I currently concluded my second year studying Political Science and Economics. My research project is titled "Exploratory research into the support worker’s perceptions of the integration experiences of Ukrainian refugees in Ireland".  The purpose of the research is to gather relevant and comprehensive data about support worker’s perceptions of the integration experiences of Ukrainian refugees in Ireland. I will be conducting a focus group and individual interviews with 12 support workers in the field of refugee aid.  I am very excited to connect with other Laidlaw scholars regardless of how different our research projects may be. I am always interested in learning from people with different backgrounds and interests. Feel free to contact me. See you all soon in the Laidlaw annual conference here in Trinity College Dublin!  

I am an incoming MPhil candidate in Visual, Material and Museum Anthropology at the University of Oxford. My Laidlaw research explores the Incan Empire's positive view of female homosexuality, exploring how their diverse understandings of gender influenced these views on sexuality. It also considered how La Conquista's use of a European lens and translation when documenting Incan civilisation resulted in the erasure of much of the sexual and gender diversity which existed throughout Incan Peru.  Show more

Alex was the Programme Director of the Laidlaw Scholars Leadership and Research Programme from September 2021 - May 2024.  Prior to joining the Laidlaw Foundation Alex spent over a decade at the University of St Andrews, Scotland, where he most recently managed the university’s Laidlaw Scholars Programme. In addition, Alex taught leadership courses and guest-lectured internationally on the subjects of strategy and leadership. A bilingual speaker, dual national and keen traveller, Alex has lived, visited and worked in several countries around the world. During this time, he has had a unique opportunity to encounter and explore different cultures and working environments, experiencing first-hand what good leadership can achieve. His passion for this topic is driven by these experiences and a desire to challenge people to unlock their full leadership potential. Alex holds an MBA from the Open University and a Master of Research in Management from the University of St Andrews. He has also obtained Associate Fellow status with the Higher Education Academy. In his spare time, Alex is an avid skier and volunteers with a local guide dog organisation.

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.  

I'm a final year European Studies student, majoring in Spanish and minoring in German, in Trinity College Dublin. My research concerns the memory, experience, and discourse of gendered violence in the Irish and Spanish civil wars. For my LiA, I worked with Women Rights Initiative (WORI), a grassroots, Ugandan women-led women's rights organisation in Jinja, Uganda, focusing on resource mobilisation.

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.

I am a final-year law student from Ireland and I have a particular interest in socio-legal research. I like finding connections between the structure of our legal system and various social-demographic features of the population that it governs. Saying that however, I really am interested in all areas of law and I'm sure I will find other interesting research rabbit holes to wander down in the future.

Hello! I was Laidlaw scholar in 2019, and I studied national, regional, and local identity in northern Tajikistan through the lens of women's fashion.  For a year after graduating, I worked for the UN Mine Action Service which removes landmines from conflict and post-conflict regions. I then worked for the Laidlaw Foundation 2021-22 and completed a Master's Degree in Anthropology and Development Management at the London School of Economics. Now I'm working with the UN on innovative finance for biodiversity conservation, focusing on marine ecosystems. Please feel free to reach out on the network, on LinkedIn, or by email. I'm always happy to meet new people and chat.

Hi everyone! My name is William "Liam" Grugan, and I am thrilled to take part in Trinity's 2021 Laidlaw Cohort. In Dublin, I study Middle Eastern and European Languages and Culture (focusing specifically on German and Arabic) and, as a member of the Dual Bachelors Program between Trinity College Dublin and Columbia University, I will finish out my studies (majoring in Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies) in New York. I love to cook, read, explore, play bass, and, pre-Covid, sang in a band!

Hi there! I'm Julian, an economics student at the University of Hong Kong and a new Laidlaw scholar. Originally, I planned to work on developmental economics, more specifically on the developmental opportunities and challenges of the Rwandan metal industry, but these plans have been canceled due to COVID-19. Thus, I have switched to working on research in international trade by trying to better understand regional value chain integration between China and members of ASEAN. For the Laidlaw project, however, I work on a quantitative paper that aims at better understanding the constraints governing the internationalization of Chinese NGOs.  Apart from study, I like to discuss politics and philosophy, play ultimate frisbee, dance salsa, hike, cycle, and read fiction. Feel free to connect! 

Hi, I'm Maseng- A 3rd year Medical student in Trinity College Dublin, with a particular interest in Reproductive and Women's health. I have a previous undergraduate degree in Physiology, a masters degree in Biomedical Diagnostics and 4 years experience in the pharmaceutical industry. Outside of my academics, I enjoy spending quality time with my family, reading, listening to music and going for long drives. My research project for the summer is an exploratory study into  differential treatment towards ethnic minority pregnant women and new mothers in Irish Maternity Hospitals. 

Hi👋🏾 I’m Pearls I am a final year Law student at the University of Leeds. I recently completed a placement year at The Walt Disney Company as a CPGP Contract Management Intern (hence the 'industrial' next to my degree title) My first-year research project looked at the way game-based learning could be incorporated into Multi-Academy Trusts (aka MATs) to improve the academic attainment and classroom engagement of GCSE-year black students. My Leadership-in-Action project was with MakeSense and focused on empowering minority communities within Mexico City.

Hi, I'm Jessica Mahon, and I am interested in genetics, both from a conservation and a human standpoint. I'm in 3rd year of Human Genetics at Trinity College Dublin. I'm from Ireland and speak both English and Irish. I spend my spare time taking part in yoga, meditating and enjoying the outdoors.  My Laidlaw research project is based on the genetic susceptibility of amphibians to chytridiomycosis disease to find a new conservation method for susceptible amphibian species. I'd love to chat with others who are interested in genetics and science!

My name is Sarah (she/her) and I study Theoretical Physics at Trinity College Dublin. My research project is about lattice stretching and depletion of electrons - I will be simulating several metals on a software called VASP, changing different aspects of their quantum properties with the ultimate aim of making the metals more magnetic. I chose this research topic because I'd really like to learn more about how physics works on the nanoscale, and how we can tailor materials on this level to give them certain properties to suit particular purposes - for example, if the metals in my project can be made more magnetic then they could be used to create longer-lasting and stronger computer hard drives.

Hello all ! My name is Freya Coogan, I'm an undergraduate student in Trinity College Dublin studying Middle Eastern and European Languages and Cultures (with an emphasis on French and Arabic). I currently live in Beirut, Lebanon and my research focuses on the differing approaches to the reform of Personal Status Law taken by Feminist NGOs in Lebanon. I'm interested in the role of civil society in the push for the implementation of anti-corruption measures and transparency and am a proud member of the American University of Beirut's Secular Club. In my spare time I host radio shows on Trinity FM and Dublin City FM that are centred around social justice, current affairs and folklore !

I am a fourth year undergraduate pursuing a B.A. in Theoretical Physics in Trinity College Dublin. The research project I am doing is titled "Computational Study of Dipolar Noise in Molecular Spin Qubits". This project is in the field of quantum technologies and in it I aim to investigate quantum decoherence in molecular spin systems through the use of numerical simulations.