Anuj (AJ) Manchanda
Lester B. Pearson and Laidlaw Scholar at the University of Toronto, University of Toronto
An ambitious student at the University of Toronto passionate about marketing, finance, and the intersection between business and social impact.
With a burning desire to leverage entrepreneurship as a means to improve underprivileged communities, I spearheaded the Rescued Glass social enterprise to tackle waste management and support Thailand's Khlong Toey Slum community through upcycling used glass bottles into innovative household items.
I find genuine fulfillment in experiencing and learning all that I can imagine. This mentality has empowered me to receive over 30 accredited licenses and certifications and pursue 7 professional working experiences thus far. In the process, I have gained proficiency in the technicalities of digital marketing, B2B/B2C sales, data analytics and e-commerce whilst honing my communication, interpersonal, and cooperative skills.
Merging my passions with my ambition to make a meaningful difference in the world is intrinsically fulfilling. I have led several volunteer and service initiatives including organizing concerts to raise funds for endangered animals, participating in a microfinance/development bank, managing community social media pages, deploying artificial reefs in Thailand's islands, and more.
I am humbled and grateful beyond words for the opportunities I have had thus far and am even more optimistic and motivated to continue experiencing, learning, and developing!
Hi, my name is Poppy and I am a University of Leeds Law Student. This undergraduate study has developed my passion of how the law applies to different groups of invididuals with a particular focus on the inadequate treatment of women. This interest led me to propose a self-defined research project which I am completing this summer (yay!). This surrounds how women who have been domestically abused from various social groups are treated differently by the criminal justice system. I am focusing on England and Wales since this is my jurisdiction. The social groups that I am considering are BAME, LGBTQ+ and disabled women and effectively contrasting this to the experiences of the white heterosexual woman. I am so excited to start this research and be able to inspire positive societal change through hopefully flagging up areas for further governmental emphasis.
Alongiside this, I am so excited for next summer and completing my LIA. I can’t wait to meet and connect (whether it is in-person or virtially) with all the other scholars and develop my leadership skills.
Outside of the scholarship, my hobbies include working out, running and finding fun ways to exercise alongside reading and journaling.
Hi everyone! I am Asper, a third-year law student at the University of York and a 2022 Laidlaw Scholar. My research project is about the legacy of British Imperialism on nationality law in post-colonial territories and Jordan specifically. Feel free to drop me a line if you'd like to chat 💭🥰
Hi everyone!
I am currently a LLB student at Durham University.
My research is focusing on whether the Bar Training Course (the vocational component on the path to becoming a barrister) sufficiently prepares prospective barristers for online advocacy and an increasingly digitalised workplace. This research project stems from my interest in the future of the legal profession, and also my questioning of why there is not much research done into the future of the English Bar more broadly.
Interestingly, my research is a blend of law and business as my supervisor is an academic within the Business department. Hopefully bringing in this different perspective will help to open up my research further and help me to approach the law from a different perspective.
Please feel free to reach out to discuss anything related to law or business or just to have a general chat because I'm really looking forward to getting to know more Laidlaw scholars!
I'm currently a final year history student at Durham University from West Sussex with a particular interest in connections between the modern and medieval worlds, and soon to be specialising in early modern-modern history. For my research, I investigated the use of the Crusades within far-right organizations and what it reveals about the readings of crusade history. During my second summer, I was a part of the ThinkPacific Youth and Community project in Fiji from June to July 2022. If you have any questions about my research, LiA, or history stuff in general feel free to contact me here!
Also, I like music, video production, and photography.
Hi, I'm Kéah! I'm currently a student at the University of Toronto where I study political science, contemporary Asian studies, and literature and critical theory.
My research is based on South Asian diasporic literature and poetry and how to foster a more sensitive discourse surrounding immigrant communities, deconstruct/reconstruct ideologies of merit, and explore models of motherhood.
Hi, my name is Ecem and I’m a current architecture student, research assistant, and web/graphic designer!
Internalizing the current issues of cities including crisis management and housing problem, I work on multiple volunteer, mentorship, and leadership projects. My research for the Laidlaw Program revolves around how architecture can be designed as a crisis management tool and its applications in the past, present, and future.
I am a rising second year student at the University of Toronto, doing a specialist in Computer Science and a major in Cognitive Science.
I am very passionate about equitable education, and I look forward to using code to address this area in the longer run.
I am also the founder of a startup, Sui Generis Education, which aims to provide mentorship to high school students from marginalised communities to apply to universities. You can always connect with me if you know of someone who'd need that help.
Lastly, my research project focuses on the enabling and constraining factors for women in tertiary STEM education. I am hoping that my research could help in developing policies that encourage more women to pursue STEM in university.
Hi👋🏾 I’m Pearls
I am a final year Law student at the University of Leeds. I recently completed a placement year at The Walt Disney Company as a CPGP Contract Management Intern (hence the 'industrial' next to my degree title)
My first-year research project looked at the way game-based learning could be incorporated into Multi-Academy Trusts (aka MATs) to improve the academic attainment and classroom engagement of GCSE-year black students. My Leadership-in-Action project was with MakeSense and focused on empowering minority communities within Mexico City.
I'm an undergraduate student at the University of Toronto double majoring in Neuroscience and Visual Arts.
For my Laidlaw research project, I joined the Iscove lab in the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre to characterize the cell surface antigens on leukemic stem cells in a HOXB4-transgene-dependent leukemia model maintained in mice.
In the future, I am interested in working on research projects that combine neurobiology and immunology.
Hi! I'm an undergraduate scholar from the University of Toronto and am interested in inclusion and mental health. With my research project, I hope to explore how we improve mental health support and treatments to make them more accessible and inclusive of Canadian Muslims. Beyond my research interests, I enjoy connecting with people and learning from people's diverse backgrounds and unique experiences. I'm a keen listener and love learning new things!
Hey there! 👋 I'm a first-year student at the University of Toronto who's into machine learning, astronomy, and research. Currently, I'm an intern researcher at the UC Berkeley SETI Research Center to build a high-performance detection algorithm to search the nearest 1 million stars for signs of life beyond Earth using the VLA telescope and the MeerKAT telescope in South Africa. When I'm not looking for aliens I love rock climbing, painting, and enjoying the outdoors!
Hello! My name is Yusra, and I am a third-year Psychology student at the University of Toronto, St. George. I am passionate about mental health, especially in the disciplines of Education and Organisational Behaviour.
Schools and Universities do not only provide an academic education - they also serve as a premise for self-development and the formation of interpersonal connections. My research utilizes the concepts of Self-determination theory, and focuses on analyzing the biggest barriers to a 'positive' university experience, possible solutions that can be enacted, and how all these factors can influence student mental health.
I am an undergraduate Laidlaw Scholar studying Philosophy and Politics at the University of York. I am very interested in climate education. My project investigates collective responsibility regarding climate change in the primary years of school.