Nikol Chen (She/Her)

Design, Research & Community Lead, Laidlaw Foundation
Jimena Alvarez

Political Science & Economics student, Trinity College Dublin

Hi! My name is Jimena Alvarez and I am a Peruvian second year student in Trinity College Dublin. I currently concluded my second year studying Political Science and Economics. My research project is titled "Exploratory research into the support worker’s perceptions of the integration experiences of Ukrainian refugees in Ireland".  The purpose of the research is to gather relevant and comprehensive data about support worker’s perceptions of the integration experiences of Ukrainian refugees in Ireland. I will be conducting a focus group and individual interviews with 12 support workers in the field of refugee aid.  I am very excited to connect with other Laidlaw scholars regardless of how different our research projects may be. I am always interested in learning from people with different backgrounds and interests. Feel free to contact me. See you all soon in the Laidlaw annual conference here in Trinity College Dublin!  
Hannah Ramsey

Undergraduate Student, Barnard College

My name is Hannah Ramsey (she/her), and I am a senior at Barnard College studying neuroscience and English, though my research is interdisciplinary in nature, drawing heavily from the fields of medical anthropology, sociology, and narrative medicine. Currently, I am researching how clinicians' reliance on body composition indicators (BCIs) in health assessments may contribute to the stigmatization of bodies. My intention with this work is to illuminate how moral and aesthetic biases within healthcare teams can negatively influence patient outcomes as a result of the stigmatizing effects associated with body-centric paradigms of health promotion. The goal of this research is to begin conceiving alternative approaches to promoting patients' physical health and subjective well-being that are both body-affirming and size-agnostic. Apart from this research, I also have personal and academic interests in creative writing, writing pedagogy, and advocacy as it relates to the neurodiversity movement. In my spare time, I enjoy writing poetry, playing guitar, and taking long walks outside!
Alexander Robinson

Laidlaw Research Scholar, Durham University

I am a 3rd year undergraduate, BA Business Management, Durham University.  My research is: "Local, National, and International perspectives on the role of grassroots sports clubs in local communities." For a variety of historical and contemporary reasons, grassroots sports clubs in the UK have received relatively little attention in terms of the wider work that they are involved with and/or capable of.  I seek to investigate what impact, if any, return on social investment and/or corporate social responsibility exists within grassroots sports. I am approaching the research from a interdisciplinary dimension, i.e., sociology and business discipline. As a rugby player for Durham University and Hatfield College , the founder of a social enterprise, alongside being a Erete Fellow as part of the Effective Altruism Durham programme, the Laidlaw Scholarship in Research & Leadership is an opportunity to broaden my horizons through participation, research, independent thinking, meeting a wider range of diverse people, and grow my leadership skills. 
Sophia Chung

student, Tufts University

I am a third-year student at Tufts University studying Community Health and Biology with a Minor in Urban Studies. In my first year as a Laidlaw Scholar, I worked with Dr. David Adler and Dr. Debra Lerner at Tufts Medical Center on a market analysis of clinical depression intervention services for employees.  My research projects have mostly focused on improving health access and resources for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. This interest comes from my experiences as working a Direct Support Professional and teaching art classes for individuals with Down syndrome. In addition to researching behavioral health services and the neuroscience of Fragile X syndrome, I enjoy being an active community member and started a political engagement orientation program for first-year students at Tufts. My recreational interests include rock climbing and creating visual art (see some of my artwork here: schung.page).
Rachel O'Kelly

Student of Philosophy and Religion , Trinity College Dublin

Hello, I’m Rachel and I am currently in Trinity College Dublin studying philosophy and religion. When I am not in college you will most likely find me on a basketball court. Playing, refereeing or coaching. I have been involved in sport for the majority of my life, from playing to coaching and refereeing in many different areas, including with the Special Olympics, Nationally and locally.  I am a qualified Healthcare Support Worker and have always had a passion for caring for the elderly in society. I have worked in nursing homes and enjoyed my time with the activities team! Off the court I love to hike and swim. I have walked along the Camino de Santiago over the past years, returning every year to walk more and volunteer in hostels along the way. Meeting incredible people from all over the world was an incredible time in my life learning not only about myself but other cultures as well.
Billy Ly

Student, Trinity College Dublin

Hi! I am a 3rd year student in Trinity College Dublin, studying Management Science and Information Systems. My research project will focus on the area of disinformation, specifically the features of disinformation that lead it to being spread online. 
Kayla Pham

Student Research Assistant , Columbia University

Vaibhav Pramode Nair

Scholar, University of Leeds

Vaibhav Pramode Nair is a 2023 Laidlaw Scholar at the University of Leeds. He is the Lead Youth Representative of the Save Soil Movement, and in this capacity works to amplify youth voices for food systems transformation at major policy fora globally. Currently pursuing a Bachelors in Sustainability and Environmental Management at Leeds' School of Earth and Environment, he was the first undergraduate Youth Delegate from Leeds to the UN Climate Talks, representing at COP29 Baku, COP28 UAE and SB60 Bonn. Vaibhav leads efforts in diplomacy and climate at the Indian Youth Diplomacy Forum. He’s a LEED Green Associate, IEMA member, and an active participant in YOUNGO's Food and Agriculture Working Group, advocating for a shift in focus within the international climate policy discourse to the soil degradation crisis. Save Soil. Visit https://consciousplanet.org/ to learn more. Let's make it happen ! Try https://isha.sadhguru.org/us/en/inner-engineering . Changed my life. In is the only way Out.  If you study/work within the sustainability/climate space, please reach out. If not, definitely reach out. :)
WEI Ke (Sarah)

Student researcher, HKU

Hello everyone! This is Sarah. I graduated from The University of Hong Kong in 2025 July and start my professional journey in actuarial science based in Hong Kong. The laidlaw scholar experience in Mexico is a very valuable opportunity for me to meet new friends from different cultural background and really learn to contribute to the world. I do appreciate connecting with people. Please PM me if you want to have a new friend in Hong Kong!
Soluna Stojanovska

student, University of Leeds

I am a student at the University of Leeds studying Civil and Environmental Engineering 
Lauren Tuckley

Director, Center for Research and Fellowships, Georgetown University

Lauren Tuckley is the Director of the Center for Research and Fellowships at Georgetown University.  Dr. Tuckley is dedicated to designing, developing, and administering transformative co-curricular research programs and mentoring Georgetown University students and young alumni competing for national and international fellowships. In 2023, she received her Ph.D. in Writing and Rhetoric at George Mason University. Her research focuses on genre theory, occluded academic genres, and the rhetorical pedagogy of the personal statement. In 2016, she was the recipient of a Fulbright International Education Administrators award to Korea.  And in 2017, she was a recipient of Georgetown University’s President’s Excellence Award.
Anusha Wangnoo

Student, Research Assistant, Writer, Barnard College, Columbia University

Aleena Garrison

Student, Columbia University

Trisha Bhujle

Laidlaw Scholars Program Alumnus, Laidlaw Foundation

Hello! I’m Trisha, a graduate of Cornell University from Texas, USA. I majored in Environment and Sustainability with a dual focus on food systems and wildlife conservation, and minored in International Relations. My interests in combining my enduring passions for writing and wildlife conservation have driven me to explore multiple perspectives on highly-controversial issues such as trophy hunting, retaliatory animal killings, and illegal wildlife crime. Thus, during my first summer as a Laidlaw Scholar and as a member of the Morally Contested Conservation team, I wrote a literature review on the interconnectedness of climate change and human-wildlife conflicts in East and southern Africa. In June and July 2024, I furthered this research by traveling to the University of Oxford and to the Burunge Wildlife Management Area in Tanzania, and returned to Oxford and Burunge in June and July 2025 to report my results.  As an aspiring environmental policymaker and journalist, I am passionate about making technical scientific information more accessible to the general public. I speak Marathi, Spanish, and Swahili at varying levels of fluency and plan to continue to grow my language skills to communicate environmental issues across continents and cultures.  The Laidlaw Scholars Program was an invaluable component of my undergraduate experience. The friendships I made, as well as the research and language skills I began to develop, encouraged me to continue to ask and seek answers to complicated questions about global affairs and environmental science. If anyone has questions or feedback about the Laidlaw Program, is interested in collaborating, or just wants to say hello, please feel free to email me at trisha.bhujle@gmail.com!
Alison Mary Carless

Student, University of Cambridge

Kalaishiga Kalaichelvan

Student Researcher, University of Toronto

Chriss Sneed

Director of Applied Learning, Barnard College, Athena Center for Leadership

Lucia Laffan

Laidlaw Scholar , University of Cambridge

I am a second year undergraduate studying Human Social and Political Sciences at the University of Cambridge. 
Addy Shah

Research Assistant, The Oxford Character Project, University of Oxford

Addy Shah is a Research Assistant at the Oxford Character Project (OCP). He contributes to the research, development, and management of optimised data systems to support the scaling of operations and facilitate quantitative evaluations for OCP programmes. As a Laidlaw Scholar, he recently graduated with a First-Class BSc (Hons) in Finance from Durham University and is also a graduate of the Oxford Ethical Leadership Programme. As an academic researcher, his curiosity spans the domains of risk modelling, monetary macroeconomics, decision theory, information theory, and machine learning systems. Across these domains, he believes that in a world defined by uncertainty and complexity, an understanding of character can equip researchers with a lens that enables them to see clearly and navigate with integrity. With his work and research at OCP, he aims to provide clarity on why, when, and how this belief becomes an empirical reality, particularly within those domains central to the functioning of an information economy.
Hannah Lawless

Biological Sciences Student and Clinical Research Scientist, Durham University

Hi, I'm Hannah and i'm a Biological Sciences student at Durham University. My research project was focused on exploring the neuroscience of bumble bees and their visual and olfactory attraction to flowers, and identifying differences between sex and species. My LiA is with Make_Sense Americas and is a collaboration with a start-up recycling plant, processing hard to recycle materials and trying to achieve a more circular economy. During my free time I love reading, improving my level of Spanish and learning how to code.