Nal Butolen

Hello, My name is Anabel O’Hora, I am a Junior Sophister in European Studies at Trinity College Dublin, currently studying at SciencesPo, The Institut d’études politiques de Strasbourg.    My Summer One research was concerned with examining the level of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in the native language learning environments of Ireland and India. It was discovered that learning through native languages greatly enhances educational outcomes. Following further research the necessity of creating an ESD toolkit and making it accessible to all those making up our youngest generation was clear. It is hoped that this project may, in a small way, identify a void in the efforts being made to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and attempt to fill this space, with education, optimism and a more sustainable future.    The toolkit shall continue to be developed in the coming year. The toolkit shall  first be put in practice in an Irish language learning environment. Following this and potential modifications. It will hopefully be put into practice in the Benegal region of India. Neither Gaeilge (Irish) nor Bengali are official UN languages, and do not receive formal dissemination of educational material. Putting the toolkit into practice in both of these differing learning environments, will pave the way for final examination of the toolkit and its efficacy in native speaking regions. The culmination of this research, toolkit development and in-field application is to create a tested adaptable educational toolkit suitable for worldwide implementation.   I am passionate about sustainability, having been a member of the National Youth Assembly of Ireland and the Children and Young People’s Assembly on Biodiversity Loss, amongst other advocacy groups. I also am an avid member of many choirs, dramatic societies and a committed member of my university rowing team, Dublin University Ladies Boat Club,  just a few of the many parts which make up my life. I would love to connect with fellow scholars and alumni. If you would like to discuss research, sustainable development or the future, please get in touch! 

I am the Programme Manager for the Laidlaw Scholars Leadership & Research Programme at Trinity College Dublin. Before joining the Careers and Development Service at Trinity College Dublin, I have been looking after a portfolio of open enrolment short executive education courses at Trinity and have over 10 years of experience in admissions, event coordination and higher education management across Ireland, United Kingdom and Ukraine.

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.