Hi! I'm passionate about using the elegant and sometimes insane theories in physics and using them to contribute to healthcare. Currently I'm looking at a career treating cancer by using targeted ionizing radiation to skilfully shrink tumours. I'm fascinated at how physics can be used to harness the beautiful complexity of nature to transform lives. I sincerely hope I have a long career of contributing to this effort in any way I can, from being a clinical scientist to conducting own my research to helping other researchers receive patents for their work. The title of my Laidlaw research project is 'Evaluating Current Methods for Enhancing Clinical Computer Tomography Imaging Using Contrast Agents'. This beautifully ties my expertise with improving patient outcomes and innovation within healthcare. Another aspect of my journey so far has been navigating pursuing higher education in physics as a Muslim woman. Although challenging at times, I've learnt of ways to overcome my fear of failure and imposter syndrome, and I would love to help others to do the same. Whether I create a small group or kickstart a network, I'm not too sure, but if you've ever been in the same position please reach out! Who knows where it could lead us and who else we could help :) As for my hobbies and interests, that list is extensive and everchanging, but my current fixation is gardening. Nothing can quite describe the joy you feel after seeing a tiny dot you nurtured for 3 months turn into prolific blooms. If anyone would like to collaborate or just say hi then please do! 

Reese Taylor is a rising junior majoring in Philosophy, History, and Human Rights on a pre-law track. As a Laidlaw Scholar, she spent her first summer researching the role of labor in the economic and social uplift of Black Americans in the wake of Reconstruction. She was selected to present this research at Johns Hopkins University, The University of Pennsylvania, and the Global Laidlaw Scholars Conference. In her second summer, Reese founded The Voices in Action Initiative which is a program developed to empower and mobilize youth voices by providing them skills and practice in speech and debate. She enacted the program in Nassau, Bahamas with sponsorship from both the Laidlaw Foundation and The Kiwanis Club of Nassau.

I've been looking after Research Scholars in the Arts and Humanities since 2008, and have been involved with the Laidlaw Network since it was established.  I'm passionate about increasing diversity and making opportunities available to more. I'm a proud Loiner (someone from Leeds) and particularly love to work with students to engage with the city and the amazing cultural and creative industries that we have here. 

Research and Academic Administration

Hello all! I did my Laidlaw Programme at Durham University between 2019-2021. My research project focused on evaluating the immigration and asylum system of the EU through a case study of the 2015 immigration crisis. Following the completion of my undergraduate LLB degree I moved to London to pursue my postgraduate LLM study at Queen Mary University of London.

International Business student at the University of Leeds I currently work as a Student Ambassador, a maths tutor, and I have my own little crochet business on the side! My research project 'Imposter syndrome and Sense of belonging' delves into student perceptions of the condition, and the flaws surrounding the measures used to diagnose it.

Hi! I'm Maria and I am a current undergraduate scholar from the University of Leeds. I study Law and I aspire to be a corporate solicitor. 

I am Holly and I study German and English Literature at the University of Leeds. I will be working on the research project 'German at Leeds - Then and Now' as I am passionate about language teaching and language learning. I am specifically interested in developing strategies to decolonise language teaching through diversifying the curriculum of German Studies, which I hope to achieve through researching the history of German teaching at my university. I will look at how key moments of crisis in the twentieth century, such as WWI and WWII, in which Britain were in conflict with Germany, affected language teaching and the study of German at Leeds. I hope that this will help me identify how language teaching is affected by global events and political relations between countries in order to develop strategies to decolonise language teaching in the future.   I work as a German Ambassador for the Goethe Institute to help foster interest in the German language globally and nationally. As part of my role, I visit schools all over the country to encourage students to learn German and educate them on the career opportunities open to students with a foreign language in order to help them to navigate their futures.  I am committed to making a change to our community. Recently I took part in a decolonisation project in collaboration with the Goethe Institute and the Design Thinkers Academy in Amsterdam. I was the only student members of the team and I was working with teachers from all over the world and members of Goethe Institute Finland and Sweden. The target of the project was to develop resources to decolonise the curriculum to make German teaching more inclusive of queer people and people of colour. This required great ambition to come up with a solution to make German teaching more inclusive. I conducted interviews with fellow students, prioritising BAME students and members from the trans community to discover their experience of language learning.  I am committed to ethical leadership as I believe all people deserve to feel seen and valued in their education. As part of my commitment to diversifying our curriculum, A few years ago, I took part in a public speaking competition where I spoke about how we need to change our attitude to neurodiversity in young adults and children, encouraging a change in understanding and a re-education regarding mental health conditions and learning disabilities in young people. This approach required great courage and commitment as I had to question our current curriculum and seek to find new and improved strategies to better accommodate and understand neurodiversity, a topic which is often ignored especially in the early years of child education. This required great courage and extraordinary research as I was determined to develop an understanding of not only current issues in the understanding of neurodiversity in children and young adults but also foster new ideas to address these. Furthermore, I believe the best research is that which is challenging and seeks to find new and innovative strategies to overcome obstacles and improve society. I am dedicated to improving the lives of young people. In secondary school I worked as head of the Media Team. I helped to direct my team towards different strategies to encourage young people to develop an interest in journalism, visiting primary schools to educate younger students about career prospects in journalism. I saw how this leadership positively impacted the lives of young people, as throughout the several workshops we ran across primary schools in our local community, we saw how younger students were becoming enthusiastic about their futures, as they became aware of the fantastic opportunities available to them. This experience has really inspired me to apply for a Laidlaw Scholarship as I have seen how strong leadership can engage and inspire, transforming our community. I hope to foster my leadership skills throughout the scholarship, as throughout my education I have experienced how positive leadership can transform lives.

Hi I am max, I'm interested in development economics and international relations with low income countries . 

Hi I’m Lizzie! I’m studying French and Business at the University of Leeds. My Laidlaw project is about identifying North Africans in the French Resistance during WWII. 

Hey, I'm Jackson. I'm one of the 2022 scholars at University of Leeds. My course is Mechatronics and Robotics; in particular I'm interested in the ways that technology interacts with social and political issues that are important to me, such as environmentalism, the digital divide and the racial and gender biases in algorithms. My research focusses on improving the robustness of energy storage devices, e.g. for electric vehicles and solar panels. You can read a quick summary below! The recent global shift towards electrification is raising questions concerning the robustness of current energy storage devices. Electrical vehicles require many battery cells connected together in order to provide a sufficient amount of energy to power the car and solar panels contain many generating cells connected. However, the assumptions made when designing and developing these storage devices, can become invalid due to the uncontrolled environmental conditions or unpredictable faults with individual cells in the arrangement. In order to prevent failure and premature end-of-life, a unique collection of equalisation circuits can be designed for a system. My research centers on widening the use cases for these equilisation circuits and investigating whether a single set of circuits can be designed in a way that allows it to be used for a variety of applications rather than just one.

Studying Sustainability and Environment Management (International) MEnv, BSc at University of Leeds after a couple of years as a reporter. Interested in ecology, completed research project last year on the effects of honey trade on UK bees, now planning a Leadership in Action project.

Hi, I'm Rebecca! I'm originally from Basingstoke, but I am now living in Leeds, as I am currently in my fourth year of the Law LLB course at the University of Leeds, following a study abroad year at Queens University, Canada. My first summer project revolved around young people's active travel habits, which combines my interest in working with children/youth law and my interest in all things sport. My LIA was based in Maine, USA, and involved working with a charitable summer camp to help facilitate their camp programs, which enables children and adults from low income backgrounds or with disabilities to access a summer camp the same as their peers do!

Hey! I am Izzy and I am part of the 2022 cohort of Laidlaw Scholars at the University of Leeds. I study BSc Economics and I am interested in mental health, health economics and health policy. I am excited to have a career that allows me to explore my interests further and I am always open to chat! My research project involves undertaking a literature review and analysing responses to surveys completed by students on their sense of belonging and engagement at university. I hope my research can help students settle into university better so that they can reach their potential :)

Hi! I'm Yasmin and I am a part of the 2022 cohort of Laidlaw Scholars. I am currently in my final year of study of the Neuroscience course at the University of Leeds! My research project is on Microglia Activation in Ageing and Neurodegenerative Diseases. 

Hey :) I'm Niamh (she/her), I study Classical literature and Italian at the University of Leeds. My research focuses on mapping out the circulation of Italian literature between the eighteenth and nineteenth century in Leeds. During the research period I'll be collaborating with Leeds library, helping them catalogue the remainder of their Italian collection into their database. 

Hello! I am part of the 2022 cohort of Laidlaw scholars. I am a first year undergraduate currently on the Mechanical Engineering (MEng) course at the University of Leeds. My project title is Development and Characterization of Biomimetric micropatterned surfaces.

Hi everyone! I'm a Laidlaw scholar of the 2021 cohort currently on "The Global Capstone Project." My project consists of working in a group with 2 other amazing scholars to filter references, read texts and essentially produce an academic paper on the UN's sustainable development goals relating to higher education.