Hello! My name is Lena and I'm a rising Junior at Tufts University. I am double-majoring in biology and community health and I am passionate about health equity and primary care. For my first Laidlaw summer I will be conducting qualitative research on respiratory health in a nearby Latinx community. Feel free to contact me through My LinkedIn Profile if you have similar interests or want to chat!

Research and Academic Administration

Hi! I am Eirini Vryza (I often go by Irene). I am a student at the University of St Andrews, and I study English and Philosophy! I am particularly interested in ecocriticism as a critical approach to literature, and I love logic and philosophy of language in philosophy. I have also been quite impressed with object-oriented ontology, and I'd say that although my focus is primarily logic and philosophy of language, one of my favorite philosophers is Peter Singer! In my research project I will be looking at local narratives about nature and how anthropocentrism can be excluded from our collective narratives towards nature by exploring modern Greek literature (prose) and using object-oriented ontology, material ecocriticism and blue humanities as theoretical frameworks.  I am very engaged in effective altruism, particularly in the areas of animal welfare and climate change, and I am also part of the amazing organization that is in St Andrews and many other university called One For The World, which promotes effective giving for global health and extreme poverty. 

I am a fourth-year English and Modern History student at the University of St Andrews. My research looked at the intersection of gender history and transnational history by examining women's involvement in the Esperanto movement in Scotland and the Midlands, and my leadership-in-action was the Think Pacific Health Promotion project. I'm interested in all things art, history, literature, and social change! 

I am a History of Art student at the University of St Andrews. As part of the 2021 Laidlaw Scholars cohort, I will be researching, 'Das Unheimliche: Symbolism, Surrealism and the Art of Introspection'. For the past four years, I have been volunteering with English Heritage, where I began as a Learning Team Manager and room Explainer in Kenwood House. I am currently working as a Young Producer for the organisation's 'Shout Out Loud' programme. During my second year at St Andrews, I enjoyed writing for the university's Calliope Arts Journal. 

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 am an incoming MPhil candidate in Visual, Material and Museum Anthropology at the University of Oxford. My Laidlaw research explores the Incan Empire's positive view of female homosexuality, exploring how their diverse understandings of gender influenced these views on sexuality. It also considered how La Conquista's use of a European lens and translation when documenting Incan civilisation resulted in the erasure of much of the sexual and gender diversity which existed throughout Incan Peru.  Show more

I am currently in my fourth year of an undergraduate degree in Classics/Comparative Literature at the University of St Andrews and am particularly interested in accessibility within academia through public engagement and community building. In my research project Queer Catullus, Catullan Queers, I looked at the history of queer adaptations of poems by the ancient Roman poet Catullus. Based on this research, I set up the collaborative arts project Catullan Identities which invited people to respond to the ancient poems creatively. During my Leadership-in-Action project I transformed this approach into a series of queer creative workshops which I ran in different parts of Scotland and that aimed at empowering queer communities in the face of rising transphobia and queerphobia across the UK. Please feel free to browse the gallery of Catullan Identities on my website and don’t hesitate to get in touch with any questions.

Hi I'm Ana, I'm a Psychology student at the University of St Andrews! My project is focused on assessing how synchronous and asynchronous teaching styles for online lectures affect student performance in Brazil and in the UK. I am happy to chat to anyone who has experience in psychology and in research in similar areas as mine! 

I am currently in my fourth year of an undergraduate degree in International Relations and Psychology at the University of St Andrews. My Laidlaw research project was (coincidentally - or maybe not?) a leadership-trait-analysis of state leaders who had been successful in navigating through the COVID-19 pandemic with limited casualties and relative freedoms retained in their respective states. During my leadership-in-action project, I supported the international publicity of the Seoul-based NGO, Database Center of North Korean Human Rights.

I am fascinated by stories. My research project centres on the often uneasy relationship between truth and entertainment in antiquity, a theme I hope will shed some light on modern times.. I am also a keen advocate for the promotion of the humanities in education. The stories we tell ourselves have far-reaching cultural consequences, and as such I believe we all have the right to education in this field. If you’re looking for someone to listen to a story or to tell one, please get in touch!

I am a rising Junior at Tufts University studying Biology and Computer Science. I tend to get excited about Bioinformatics, computational biology, and data science. This summer my research involves using network propagation methods to determine genes that are associated with Alzheimer's Disease.  In my free time, I like to journal, explore nature, and travel to new places. Feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions or comments about my work, I am always happy to chat about it!

Pronouns: she/her, they/them I am an undergraduate scholar and an International Relations and Social Anthropology student at St Andrews. Growing up in various countries across Asia and Europe, I have become particularly interested in global politics, postcolonialism, and social justice. I am also passionate about languages, and speak Chinese, Persian, Urdu, French, and Spanish to varying degrees, in addition to my native Hindi and English.

Hello fellow scholars! My name is Thi (pronounced like tea) and I am a sophomore pursuing a degree in Biomedical Engineering and a minor in Computer Science. I look forward to learning more about my research, which is about traumatic brain injury, and connecting with you all this summer!

Hi, I'm Polina and I'm a Biochemstry student at the University of St Andrews. I am interested in the properties of enzymes and mechanism of biocatalysis. It is really exciting to be part of the Laidlaw Network. I had the most amazing summer in my life last year, doing research in MacNeill Lab, St Andrews. Looking forward to my second summer as a Scholar, which I will spend volunteering in Ghana.

I'm an undergraduate student at the University of Toronto double majoring in Molecular Genetics & Microbiology and Immunology as well as minoring in Creative Expression & Society.