Law student at Trinity with a passion for human and environmental rights! Love cooking and developing recipes in my free time.
Advocate for finding alternatives to testing on animals
Physiology student in TCD
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!
I am a second year college student at Trinity College with a passion for business. I am studying Global Business on a Laidlaw Women In Business (Trailblazer) scholarship. I am hardworking, driven and confident. I am hoping to pursue a career in marketing after graduation. Outside of my studies, I like to keep fit by playing basketball and going to the gym
Hi everyone! I am a first-year undergraduate student at the University of Toronto. My primary academic interests include the science of well-being, philosophy of mind, and subjective impacts of contemplative traditions. My research project surrounds how Buddhist-inspired meditation practices impact the phenomenology of experienced meditations, specifically their sense of self, objecthood, and command over their emotion.
I am originally from India, but I graciously got to spend my childhood across six other countries: Zimbabwe, Nepal, Kenya, Switzerland, Bangladesh, and Qatar. Witnessing so many diverse contexts has opened me up to unique traditions, patterns of behaviour, and problems that characterize our world.
I look forward to meeting and learning from the extremely talented and passionate members of the Laidlaw community :)
I’m Eliora Riebling, a sociologist. As a Laidlaw Scholar I research white supremacist trajectories, specifically I am looking to identify a combination of social factors that shape women’s mindsets and prompt them to join organized white supremacy. I hope to identify impetuses for women’s participation in this extremism. As a leadership project I intend to contribute to counter messaging and deradicalization programs. I hope to use my findings to inform which messages are useful to the initiatives that weaken white supremacist organizations by preventing and sinking their membership.
Jensen Njagi is an undergraduate student studying International Agriculture and Rural Development/ Global Development; Economics and Development Concentration, with a Minor in Global Health. Guided by a global perspective, he hopes to apply his expertise to improve healthcare systems globally and address issues of global health inequality through multidisciplinary approaches. He’s particularly interested in making a difference by addressing global health issues through a combination of compassion, the generous support of friends, colleagues, and mentors, and a deep understanding of the interconnectedness of geopolitics, economics, technology, and health His very non-linear and non-traditional path to global health and healthcare has truly enriched him. And he, therefore, looks forward to joining forces to improve, build and foster inclusive systems designed to achieve health equity, create wellness, and ultimately improve population health as well.
Hello! My name is Aimar Rosario Ávila and I am a third-year student at Barnard College majoring in Urban Studies with a concentration in psychology and a minor in education. I’m from Puerto Rico and my research aims to investigate how the categorization of social spaces can reflect an interplay of political, historic, and cognitive developments through an intersectional lens.
Bhavana Akilan
Laidlaw Undergraduate Leadership & Research Scholar 2023-24, University of Toronto
I am a college sophomore at the prestigious University of Toronto, Scarborough double majoring in Neuroscience and Human Biology. I am a proud recipient of the Laidlaw Foundation Undergraduate Leadership and Research Scholarship 2023. My research project aims to explore the feasibility of a Deep Learning model to diagnose Alzheimer's disease at an early stage with the help of open-source EEG datasets. Having been part of the winning team at the Ontario Shores x UTSC The Hub's Hackathon, my team won a prize money of $5000 and the opportunity to work closely with Ontario Shores in the future to implement our AI-powered solution to help them navigate their database of internal and external resources more effectively. I work as a Research Assistant at the Therapeutic Interventions for Psychosis Lab at UTSC under Dr Michael Best. I have contributed to monthly article summaries, literature reviews and systematic reviews, in addition to assessing participants for clinical trials. I am familiar with administering a battery of tests, including MCCB, RR, WRAT-5, PANSS6, PSYRATS, BNSS, EEG tasks as well as computer-based tests. I have conducted in-person clinical interviews as well, which helped me understand the level of skill and ethic required while interacting with participants as well as fellow researchers. Some of my other research experiences include my role as a Transcriber for The Scoliosis Success Project at the University of British Columbia, as well as my role as a research student at COBWEB UTSC under Dr Brad Bass. My research interests include Alzheimer's disease, AI in Healthcare, Schizophrenia, fear expression in cases of sociopathy and caregiver stress. I possess extensive volunteer experience as a Youth Ambassador for EKAM foundation. Some causes that I am passionate about include Women and Children's healthcare, Organ Donation as well as Women in STEM. I truly believe that it is important to know who you are before making a decision about what you want to be. Instead of prematurely focusing on one area, I wish to learn, adapt and dive into the future with the determination to grow.
Hi, my name is Aleena Mehta and I am a sophomore at Barnard College, majoring in Economics with a minor in Political Science. I grew up in Jammu and Kashmir, India, and hence have always been fascinated by the field of geopolitics. My research at the Laidlaw Foundation would revolve around extrapolating a relationship between state sovereignty and civil rights violations in the Kashmir crisis. This includes understanding the threat to the autonomy and stability of non-state actors in periods of territorial conflicts while investigating the recent socio-economic developments in the region.