Hi! I'm Humna, a third-year Geology student at Imperial College London. I'm originally from Pakistan and moved to London for university. After three years exploring everything from volcanoes to critical minerals, I'm now starting my master's, specialising in Mining Engineering and Design. For my first-year research project, I looked at whether we could store large amounts of carbon dioxide in saline aquifers beneath the North Sea. It brought together geology, sustainability, policy, economics, and infrastructure planning to explore one big question: how can we safely lock away the carbon we've already emitted? As we work towards net zero, reducing emissions is only part of the solution—we also need ways to deal with the CO₂ that's already in the atmosphere. This summer, I'll be heading to the Pilbara region of Western Australia for my Leadership-in-Action project, where I'll be working with Indigenous communities and researchers at ANU's Rio Tinto Centre for Future Materials. I'll be diving into Native Title and UNDRIP, helping facilitate community workshops, and co-producing a short documentary to support research that's genuinely informed by First Nations voices as demand for critical minerals continues to grow. It's a mix of mining, policy, storytelling, and spending a lot of time listening (which is probably the most important part). Outside of geology, I'm always up for conversations about climate, science communication, widening participation, the Laidlaw experience—or anything you're passionate about. One of my favourite things about this community is getting to meet people with completely different interests and backgrounds, so if you'd like to chat, collaborate, or just say hello, I'd love to hear from you!

Hi, i'm a medical student from Imperial College London! My research project is on assessing the environmental footprint of aesthetic medical practice. As aesthetic procedures are becoming more accessible, I hope my work will help build the framework for the development of standardised auditing tools that will push for a more sustainable aesthetic industry.  If you would like to know more do drop a message, and I would love to hear about what you are working on!

Hi! I'm Sophia, an aspiring scientist and philomath. I love learning about everything and anything and delight in spending time with people who are passionate about the things they love! I am really interested and curious about how we can use chemistry to improve processes and products to help society. For example, my research project is looking into the possibility of turning struvite, a mineral which is a by-product of waste-water treatment processes into slow-release nitrogen and phosphorous fertilisers, which would be a green source nitrogen and phosphorous fertilisers and help achieve goals of zero-waste.  If you are researching something similar or are interested in learning more about the project, please reach out! I am super happy to talk about the project and meet other who are doing something similar and possibly collaborate! 

Hi everyone, I am Eleanor and I am an undergraduate leadership and research scholar! My project will focus in on the implementation of SDGs into large corporations and analysis using natural language processing and machine learning to compare raw data against what the companies are outputting. This will provide patterns of data on a global scale and will assist in promoting the most effective methods for invoking sustainability.  Sustainability is extremely important to me and I am part of the sustainability committee within my university. Aside from that I am also interested in hiking, climbing, cycling and music.  I am looking forward to my leadership in action project and I am aiming to help establish environmentally sustainable mitigation practices in a community affected greatly by climate change. 

Hello everyone!  My name is Abi and I am a second year Geology student at Imperial College.  As someone who is passionate about sustainable energy and the preservation of our environment, my research project centres on how to make decarbonisation solutions economically viable - so that clean energy can be attained by all. I believe that money should never be a restriction - especially towards climate action, so I aim for my research to make decarbonisation a feasible target for everyone!  My hobbies include all things outdoors - hiking, travelling and climbing to mention a few - as well as crafty activities such as crochet and knitting!  I would like my Leadership in Action project to focus on my hobbies - using craft activities to help rebuild and give independence to a local community abroad, with an emphasis on sustainability. Perhaps using locally sourced material to produce goods which can be sold to help with living costs? If any of this sounds interesting, or if you’d simply like to chat, please feel free to reach out and connect! :)  

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 conservationist, 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 conservation challenges 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 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!

Hello! I recently graduated with an Honours Bachelor of Science in Psychology Research from the University of Toronto. I’m passionate about youth mental health and how humour can be used to support resilience after adversity. My Summer 1 research project explored the relationship between childhood adversity, aggression, and self-regulation — deepening my understanding of the psychological impacts of early trauma. In Summer 2, I led a Leadership-in-Action project at SOS Children’s Villages in Cape Town, where I designed and facilitated a comedy-based mental health program for teens. That experience led me to found HaHaHelps — an organization that uses improv comedy to support youth mental health through accessible, community-led workshops. I am currently conducting a feasibility study of the program in South Africa as part of my master’s dissertation in Psychology at the University of Cape Town, with plans to expand to more communities globally. Please feel free to connect :) Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/younessrobert-tahiri Email: youness@hahahelps.org

Chemist and active volunteer. I love embarking new projects, learning new things, and meeting new people!

Hello, I'm Rashed. A Chemist at Imperial College London, born and raised in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia🇸🇦 My Laidlaw research explored ionic liquid-based biomass fractionation in the Hallett research group as a joint study between my home department and the department of Chemical Engineering. Since then, my interests have shifted toward solid-state physics and materials science, and I'm currently a Visiting Student Researcher at KAUST in Professor Osman Bakr's group, working on colloidal quantum dot synthesis and fabrication of shortwave infrared photodetector devices. My academic interests are not particularly confined to a particular discipline since they're very interconnected and interdependent in the grand pursuit of technologies to sustain people and the planet. However, I aim to use my knowledge to drive advances in materials, energy, electronics and automotive sectors. Happy to discuss ideas and collaborate!

Hi! I’m Zach — a fifth-year medical student at Imperial College London, and an Honorary Clinical Research Fellow at the Royal Brompton Hospital, one of the world’s leading cardiothoracic centres. My work sits at the intersection of critical care medicine, health-services evaluation, and data-driven translational science. Through my Laidlaw project, EQUALISE, I built geospatial and temporal analyses of national ECMO referrals to investigate equity of access to extracorporeal life support across the UK — working alongside clinicians, NHS England commissioners, and regional networks to turn data into evidence that shapes service planning. The analytical pipelines were subsequently adopted by the National ECLS Service Evaluation. For my Leadership-in-Action project, I’m working as a Clinical & Scientific Fellow with the Africa Clinical Research Network (ACRN), helping design a federated, African-led real-world evidence platform.  Back in the lab, my current research investigates gas-phase metabolomic signatures during cardiopulmonary bypass, working toward novel non-invasive diagnostics. Outside research, you’ll find me at bachata and salsa socials across London!