Thanks to the International Scholar Award, I'm an undergraduate student at the University of Toronto Mississauga, completing an Honors Bachelor of Arts with a double major in Communication, Culture, Information & Technology (CCIT) and Professional Writing and Communication (PWC). I aspire to be a professional writer and publish several writing pieces in different fields, including creative non-fiction narratives, academic research papers, and journalistic articles. Happy to connect with any Scholars! 

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 :)

Audrey is Administrative Assistant I of the Horizons Office at the University of Hong Kong. Audrey has been working in the field of international education in Hong Kong since 2010; her portfolio of work spans from programme development and implementation at the undergraduate, postgraduate and faculty level, marketing and promotion, organisation of international conference and events, and providing secretarial support to various committees pertaining to scholarships, fellowships and international mobility schemes.  Her current portfolio includes management of the HKU Laidlaw Scholars Programme, Undergraduate Research Fellowship Programme, short-term experiential learning programmes outside of Hong Kong, and HKU-Common Purpose UK leadership development programmes in Bangalore, Manila, Kuala Lumpur, Shanghai and Hanoi. Currently she is setting up two new initiatives, namely EUREKA and The Hong Kong Project, where students will have the opportunities to undertake research methods online course and conduct a EUREKA research project in the former, and collaborate with community partners by proposing practical solutions to real-life problems in the latter. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in TESL and has an MA (Hons) in Translation from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. 

Laidlaw Scholar Alumni (Durham University Cohort 6, 2022-24) Current Endeavours: I am studying MSc Environmental Economics and Climate Change at the LSE for 2024-25. From September 2025, I will be starting a PhD in Environmental Economics at the University of Basel, Switzerland. --- My time as a Laidlaw Scholar: I graduated with First Class Honours in BA Economics from Durham University. My foremost interests are Development Economics and Environmental Economics. This is reflected in my research project which explored Demographic Economics, titled "The Shifting Distribution of the Global Population in the Twenty-First Century: an Econometric Analysis of the Projected Fortunes of Nigeria and Japan, with Policy Recommendations for Sustainable Development". I have experience working in economic consulting, specialising in competition economics, and am also a Zumba instructor. During my time on the Laidlaw Programme I have also served as a Laidlaw Schools Trust Mentor for Excelsior Academy in Newcastle. In 2023, I completed a six-week international ‘Leadership in Action’ project in partnership with Think Pacific for my Laidlaw Scholarship. For this, I participated in a multi-faceted programme, comprising the building of a health centre, collaborations with Diabetes Fiji and Youth Champs 4 Mental Health, and a Fijian Culture Course. The project ended with a Think Tank where we planned how we would sustain progress. In my sub-group’s case, we are working on a new project to build a multi-purpose building to act as a kindergarten and evacuation centre, for which we are currently fundraising. We have had multiple meetings with the Laidlaw Foundation CEO and the Laidlaw Schools Trust, and we are presenting at the Conversations Conference in Dublin in October 2023. Our project took place in Vunimaqo and Waisava, Dreketi Settlement, Nalawa district, Ra province, Vita Levu island, Fiji. I attended the Impact 2022 conference at the LSE and (virtually, after flight cancellations) the Conversations 2023 conference at Trinity College Dublin.