Sofya Dobrynina

Student, University of St Andrews
Emily Shepherdson (she/they)

Student , University of York

Hi! I'm originally from Hull, East Yorkshire but I'm currently a second year undergraduate student studying for a BA in Linguistics and ab initio Italian at the University of York. Alongside my studies, I am also the current blog coordinator for the University Feminist Society. Being a Laidlaw Scholar allows me to research the success of speech and language therapies in my project entitled 'Hidden behind a smile: acquisition and societal perception of speech sounds in children with cleft lip and palate.'!  My pronouns are she/they, please feel free to use either! 
Mateo Guzmán Subiría

Student, University of St Andrews

Hi everybody. I am Mateo. I am an Experimental Physics graduate from the University of St Andrews. I am a curious, talkative and reflective individual with a love for telling and hearing stories. I am from Peru, but have moved around quite a bit having lived in Equatorial Guinea, England and now Scotland. I consider having such a multicultural background a very nourishing and essential part of my being. Consequentially, I love travelling and learning languages, and I am always happy to connect with people from all walks of life and parts of the world. When I am not busy demystifying the rules of the universe, I enjoy dancing, cooking, walking and analysing movies. I also love programming and its applications for simulating real-world physics and processing large amounts of day-to-day data. In June, I will be graduating with an Integrated Masters in Physics, however, I aspire to develop professionally outside of academia possibly in the field of data analytics. I am happy to connect with any Scholars! 
Lucia Cathers

Student, University of St Andrews

I am a 4th year History student from the University of St Andrews. I spent the past year studying and working abroad in Oslo and in Prague. My research analysed the words and phrases of key documents of 1910s Ireland, and used these to evaluate the wider ideologies of Nationalism and Unionism, particularly concerning individual experiences of the ideologies. My research proved the value of speeches and literature to the historian in uncovering wider society. Determined to build upon this research, I am currently creating a website. This will function as an online archive for speeches and literature and offer my research as an interpretation to aid in understanding. I hope that this will be an accessible and beneficial tool for those interested in Irish history. When I'm not reading, researching and writing about History, I run my own small-business, enjoy traveling, and have a passion for learning languages.  Feel free to connect here!
Pearls Eddo

Law (Industrial) LLB, University of Leeds

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.
Robb Calder

PhD Student, University of Cambridge

I am a 2nd Year PhD student at the Institute of Astronomy at the University of Cambridge. I work in Professor Oliver Shorttle's group, studying the atmospheres of hot rocky planets. In our solar system, Venus exemplifies the fate of a planet that orbits too close to its host star: a catastrophic runaway greenhouse effect leading to the loss of all liquid water and hellish surface conditions. Understanding the factors that led to this outcome on Venus helps us identify the conditions necessary for such processes to occur on exoplanets, refining our understanding of the inner edge of the habitable zone. My recent work has focused on ozone production in Venus' upper atmosphere and the potential for ozone to present a false-positive biosignature on Venus-like exoplanets. Currently, I am extending my research on hot rocky exoplanets to include the sub-Neptune regime, particularly focusing on 'Magma Worlds.' There has been recent interest in Hycean worlds—planets with vast liquid oceans and hydrogen-dominated atmospheres—and their potential to support life. However, distinguishing observationally between Hycean worlds and sub-Neptunes with molten surfaces, or 'Magma Worlds,' remains a critical challenge.
Pia Tiwari

Student, University of St Andrews

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.
Ana Julia Ferreira

Scholar, University of St Andrews

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! 
Maria Rose Elizabeth Yates

Student , University of St. Andrews