I love indigenous textiles and am keenly interested in art as a mode of activism and storytelling. Drawing from an interdisciplinary framework including ethnic studies, anthropology, and critical theory, I broadly interrogate nationhood, citizenship, statelessness, and the distribution of rights. As a scholar, I hope to make my life a material of storytelling, resisting injustice, creatively weaving community and voices — seeking life with questions, wandering while film-making, and photography to capture spatial temporality.

Hi! I'm a rising sophomore at Barnard College planning to double major in Human Rights and Gender Studies with an area concentration in Southwest Asia/North Africa (SWANA). As a Laidlaw scholar, I am researching how Artsakh women navigated decisions related to their reproductive and maternal health throughout the 2023 blockade and displacement. I hope to tie my findings into a bigger picture of reproductive violence as a tool of ethnic cleansing and genocide.

Jasmine is from Santa Cruz, California and pursuing a combined major of Medical Anthropology and Women's, Gender & Sexuality Studies at Barnard College'25. Her interests in public health and reproductive justice have led her to research on the changes in US maternal morbidity rates after the Supreme Court ruling of Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, which took away the constitutional right to abortion.

https://barnard.edu/laidlaw

Avery Lambert is a student at Barnard College majoring in Medieval and Renaissance Studies with minors in Political Science and Classics. Her research focuses on political theory in 1260s England and the Second Barons' War.

Although I am from Mexico City, I have lived abroad for most of my life in places such as London and São Paulo. Now, I am part of the Class of 2026 at Barnard College in New York, and my prospective majors are philosophy and economics. I am interested in understanding abstract concepts to then investigate their concrete manifestation in every-day life, hence the interdisciplinary nature of my research and leadership. Being the granddaughter of immigrants who fled from both the Spanish Civil War and the Cuban dictatorship, I am constantly drawn to the complexities of how people's identities, beliefs and economic realities shape their contribution to local communities. Ultimately, I am passionate about helping marginalised communities and contributing to a more egalitarian society as a whole.

Hi there! My name is Finn Smyth and I am a final year student in Modern History at the University of St Andrews. For the Laidlaw programme my research focused on how Left political organisations across Scotland have performed, organizationally and ideologically, since devolution. I am also interested in modern political economy, and the emergence of modern political communications strategies and how they have been used in political campaigns since the 1980s.  My dissertation this year focuses on the modernisation of the Labour Party in the 1980s, and among recent projects I have been awarded grant funding to research the rise of populism in Europe alongside colleagues at Charles University, Prague.  

I'm a rising sophomore at Georgetown University majoring in Science, Technology, and International Affairs (STIA) with minors in Economics and Film & Media Studies.

I am an undergraduate student at Columbia University majoring Political Science and History. My interests lie in education reform, carceral reform and alternative justice methods. 

Hi, I am a member of Columbia University's Class of 2027. I am passionate about topics at the intersection between economics and political science, my scope is usually focused on the U.S. but I am excited to gain a more international perspective! I have lived most of my life in the South of the U.S. and I am very proud to come from a Hispanic cultural background. In my free time, I enjoy exploring New York City or relaxing in my room with a good book (my current favorite author is Ocean Vuong).  Please reach out if my work interests you! I would love to discuss it and any related topics. 

Hi! I am a sophomore at Cornell University pursuing an independent major of Interdisciplinary Studies (Education, Information Science, Psychology). Through Laidlaw, I am conducting research on the social-ecological impacts of Indonesia's capital relocation and am excited to explore the intersection between bioacoustics, Indigenous knowledge, and public education. Feel free to connect with me on here or on LinkedIn!

Hello! My name is Ananya and I am rising junior at Barnard College, majoring in Urban studies, specializing in Environment and Sustainability, with a minor in Architecture. The world is in a constant state of change. Whether it is the ever-changing nature of sustainable urban design, climate and world events, or new methods of organizing communities in urban spaces. With change comes meaningful action, a step I want to undertake.  Having studied and experienced a multitude of cultures, I have learned a lot about community, and how it forms to bring people together in various contexts. My ongoing degree at Barnard College inspires me to explore the idea of community through urban studies, environmental sustainability, architecture, and design in a multifaceted manner.  I am excited to step out of my comfort zone and adapt to new environments. I am ready to learn a variety of skills to transcend the boundaries of design and community and coalesce them for a more productive and inspiring future. My research interests include sustainable urban planning/design, and their connections to general local or environmental policy practices across Southeast Asia. My laidlaw research aims to look at neighborhood designation in Singapore and its connection to street/mural art narratives and community representation.

Hi, my name is Aleena Mehta and I am a sophomore at Barnard College, majoring in Economics with a minor in Political Science. I grew up in Jammu and Kashmir, India, and hence have always been fascinated by the field of geopolitics. My research at the Laidlaw Foundation would revolve around extrapolating a relationship between state sovereignty and civil rights violations in the Kashmir crisis. This includes understanding the threat to the autonomy and stability of non-state actors in periods of territorial conflicts while investigating the recent socio-economic developments in the region.

I am a rising senior at Barnard studying history, concentrating on the history of empires and colonialism with specific interest in food history. I research how people, culture, and the environment interact through food.

Hello! My name is Aimar Rosario Ávila and I am a third-year student at Barnard College majoring in Urban Studies with a  concentration in psychology and a minor in education. I’m from Puerto Rico and my research aims to investigate how the categorization of social spaces can reflect an interplay of political, historic, and cognitive developments through an intersectional lens.

I am a sophomore from Seattle, WA studying History on a pre-law track. My research interests lie at the intersection of human rights, migration, and environmental justice. I am also passionate about language and writing. My research for Laidlaw is a historical case study of legal protection gaps for climate-displaced people, specifically targeted legislation and U.S. refugee provisions in the mid-late 20th century. In my free time, I enjoy reading and hiking. 

I am a rising fourth-year at Barnard College of Columbia University studying Economic & Social History with a minor in Science & Public Policy.