Houseen Shalabney

Student, EPFL- École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne
Lillian Sparks

Student, Durham University

Wong Nok Ching

Student, The University of Hong Kong

(Marco) Cheng Yu Ting

Student, The University of Hong Kong

Amanda Andersson

Marketing Assistant , The Laidlaw Foundation

Hi! I'm Amanda, a third year Neuroscience student and Laidlaw alum from UCL. I'm Swedish-Persian and grew up in Sweden before moving to London for uni. These days, alongside my studies, I work for the Foundation as a Marketing Assistant 💅. For my first year research project, I worked on optimising alginate hydrogels for 3D astrocyte culture systems. In simpler terms, I was figuring out the best way to prepare a jelly-like scaffold so that star-shaped brain cells called astrocytes could grow in three dimensions rather than flat on a dish. This matters because 3D environments mimic the brain more realistically, which could help researchers develop better treatments for neurological disorders! 🧠🧬 For my Leadership-in-Action project, I co-created Beyond the Books, a resource designed to help students from underrepresented backgrounds navigate the unwritten rules of university life, from internships and networking to professional opportunities that aren't always obvious if you're the first in your family to go to uni. 🌟 Always happy to connect, whether you want to chat about neuroscience, widening access, the Laidlaw experience, or just say hello! One of my favourite things about this community is getting to meet scholars from different universities and backgrounds, so please do reach out! 🌈✨💕💞🌟
Cyril Barthelet

Mechanical engineering student, EPFL

I like Space and Robotics.
Ilan Nissim

Student, EPFL

Hey there! I’m a CS student from EPFL! I’m interested in understanding human brains in a numerical way - so I decided to explore around starting from neuroscience! I’m also very into different kinds of outdoor sports, which always allow me to jump from one thought to another. Feel free to ping me if you want to talk about something interesting!
Thomas Zaugg

Student studying Life Sciences Engineering, EPFL

I am interested in exploring the human mind and brain from the outside-in and from the inside-out. In my free time, I enjoy playing music (clarinet) and actively participate in youth organizations such as science olympiads and scouts.
Dan-Thi Nguyen

Program Manager, EPFL

Dan-Thi is an enthusiastic professional with +8 years of work experience in strategic marketing, business development and communication within the higher education industry. She currently works at EPFL as a Project Manager for the School enhanced learning programs (incl. the Laidlaw program). Dan-Thi likes all aspects related to her position but what she especially loves is interacting with students and helping them grow personally and professionally. Dan-Thi has lived in fast-paced environments in Asia (Hong Kong, Japan) and she is now based in Lausanne, Switzerland. She enjoys travelling and always looks for discovering new cultures. She can speak French, English and Vietnamese. You can talk with her about anything regarding food, sport and travel. She is a really bad swimmer and has absolutely no green thumb! :)
Holly Toombs

3rd year student reading Psychology and Linguistics, University of Oxford

Hi, I'm Holly! I'm really interested in Psychology, Linguistics, social action, and policy. I completed my Laidlaw research project last summer (2024), on UK policy around extra-curricular activities. This summer (2025), I completed my LiA in Mexico, designing a social media campaign for an NGO supporting survivors of gender-based violence. Would love to chat more if you have any questions!
Avneet Kaur Mehr

Undergraduate Student, Cornell University

Stella McVey

Laidlaw Scholar, University of St Andrews

Yamane Alhaj Kaddour

Student in Microengineering, EPFL

Federico Lin

Student, EPFL

Veronika Wannack

Life science engineering student , EPFL

Hello everyone!  I'm Veronika, a 3rd year life science engineering student at EPFL, and part of the Laidlaw Scholars Board. I'm a strong proponent of mitigating existential risks, of which I'm feverishly passionate about research in biosecurity and infectious disease. As a Laidlaw Scholar, I did my research in the Laboratory of Digital Epidemiology on approximations of human-like crowd behavior during pandemics with AI agents, with the goal of creating an epidemiological model that can quickly and cheaply simulate dynamic crowd behavior. In my free time, I love to garden - I'm currently in the process of growing purple sweet potatoes native to Asia. I'm also currently learning oil painting, absolutely love camping whenever I can, and I'm a big fan of metal music and love to go to concerts.   Our goal in the Laidlaw Board is to make the program better for you (and for future cohorts)! So if you have any questions, complaints, compliments, or suggestions for the Laidlaw Scholars program, feel free to reach out by sending a message on here, on LinkedIn, or using this anonymous form --> https://forms.office.com/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=m1iBtASKYUmzmpVa7SUZOYAOFAGNJNdOhV2pziMDdMZURFE0SEkxVTFDSEQ2TjhXR0cwNlNSMUFKUy4u&route=shorturl
Joyce Zhou

Student, Barnard College

Chems Hamdi

Student in electrical engineering , EPFL