School of Classics President | Laidlaw Scholar | Foreign Affairs Review Analyst | 4x State Department Intern

Hi everyone! I run the CraftHER Leadership-in-action program by @Swara - Voice of Women. Here's our IG: www.instagram.com/craftherbyswara/ I’m Asha Scaria Vettoor, an entrepreneur and Laidlaw Scholar from the University of Oxford. I run Swara, a social enterprise based in India that creates income opportunities for women through ethical fashion and storytelling. We also host CraftHER, a 6-week Leadership-in-Action program that brings Laidlaw scholars from around the world to Kerala to learn from women-led enterprises, grassroots organisations, and artisan communities. I’m passionate about building bridges between global learners and local changemakers in my community and always up for a conversation on social entrepreneurship, ethical supply chains, or running programs in remote parts of India.

Hi! I’m Alina, an undergraduate Biochemistry student with a strong passion for meaningful work that has a positive impact on the world. I’m particularly fascinated by health sciences, and my long-term goal is to contribute to making healthcare more accessible, equitable, and effective. I believe that starts with improving the quality of health information and ends with optimizing how healthcare is delivered, whether through advances in pharmaceutical research or innovations in point-of-care solutions. To explore this mission, I’ve chosen to pursue an interdisciplinary research project within the School of Medicine, despite my degree being based in the School of Biology. My research focuses on direct-to-consumer health screening tests offered to generally well individuals in the UK. These tests (for instance at-home genetic screenings) are becoming increasingly popular for promoting autonomy in personal health management. However, they also pose risks, including misinformation, false positives, and overdiagnosis. My project aims to contribute to the growing field of evidence-based diagnostics by advocating a shift from early diagnosis to optimal diagnosis, ensuring diagnosis is not only early but is also clinically useful. Outside of my academic life, I’m very active and love exploring new hobbies. I love exploring new sports, hence I’ve recently taken up Judo and Olympic Weightlifting. I also enjoy cycling, especially through the scenic Scottish countryside, which I explore regularly by bike (the perks of not owning a car!). I also have a creative side: I enjoy embroidery, as well as listening to and producing electronic music, and I’m currently learning how to DJ. Additionally, I’m involved with the Entrepreneurship Centre at the University of St Andrews, where I help foster an entrepreneurial spirit within our student community. I’m a versatile and curious person who thrives on meeting new people and discovering new ideas. I’m always excited by opportunities that combine creativity, innovation, and impact.

Hello! My name is Anjelica and I'm a rising sophomore at Columbia University in New York. My current research aims to look into how language affects our perception of femicide in the media. In my free time, I make podcast videos with people who I find inspiring, I write (and hunt for banger book quotes on Pinterest), I'm currently planning an initiative in my foundation, and I watch TikToks that my best friend sends to me.  A quote that I really love as of now is: "When God had made The Man, he made him out of stuff that sung all the time and glittered all over. Some angels got jealous and chopped him into millions of pieces, but still he glittered and hummed. So they beat him down to nothing but sparks but each little spark had a shine and a song. So they covered each one over with mud. And the lonesomeness in the sparks make them hunt for one another." Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God And yes, I love existential questions.

Hello hello! I am an incoming third-year student at the University of St Andrews pursuing a degree in biology. Originally from Kyiv, Ukraine, I moved to Italy in 2013 and have been living there ever since. Growing up in the birthplace of the Renaissance, I wanted to pursue higher education in a place with historical significance and somewhere where I could take walks in nature between classes; hence my choice of the University of St Andrews that is situated on the beautiful Scottish coastline. Over the course of my academic journey I have had the chance to explore numerous areas in biology, ranging from evolution to bacteriophage discovery to cell systems, out of which epigenetics and gene regulation during development have piqued my interest.  My primary research interest is developmental biology, which arose from my fascination with how multicellular organisms originate from a single cell. Therefore, my research focus for the first summer of the Laidlaw Scholars programme was the investigation of abdominal metamorphosis in Dipteran insects. To do so, I used fixation and Hoechst staining in addition to microscopy to study cell movement during several developmental stages in 2 species of flies. As for my leadership in action (LiA) project, I would like to make a meaningful contribution to an ongoing project related to wildlife conservation.  If I am not in lectures or studying in the library, I can be found working on a short story, watching films (and logging them on Letterboxd), reading old science fiction, or on a hike capturing the nature around me through photography. Having grown up in a multicultural setting, I enjoy learning more about the different cultures that exist on our planet, whether it is through cuisine, music, travelling, or linguistics. The latter partially explains my grasp of nearly five languages, though I have to warn you that my fluency differs dramatically. Otherwise, I also love spending time with animals, playing board games, or just talking. More than anything, I am always happy to meet like-minded individuals who are curious about the world. Thus, please feel free to reach out or connect with me on LinkedIn! I would particularly appreciate the input of any scholar who is interested (or has experience) in similar potential LiA areas.

Hi! My name is Ashley, and I am currently a second-year student at Duke University studying Public Policy and Global Health with an interest in a Health Policy Certificate. I am passionate about advancing ethical, evidence-based solutions at the intersection of health, environment, and social equity. I also find interest in conducting research focused on ethical decision-making and inclusive research practices that better serve underrepresented communities. My experiences across public health, communications, and community engagement have shaped my interest in using policy to promote social responsibility and health equity.

Hi folks! I'm Program Coordinator with Duke University's Hart Leadership Program, which supports the Laidlaw Scholars Program as well as several other undergraduate experiential learning programs. In May 2024, I completed my doctorate in the Study of Religion at Harvard University with a focus in contemporary Islamic studies and American religions. My dissertation work examined the shape and impact of U.S. Muslim civic organizations and community organizing in the city of Detroit. I also hold a Master of Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School and a Bachelor of Arts in Religious Studies from Appalachian State University (go Mountaineers!). My studies have been driven by a deep interest in the intersections of religion and civic life in the contemporary U.S. To that end, I've served as research assistant for the Listening to Women about Abortion & Religion Project, a Religion, Spirituality, and Democratic Renewal Fellow with the Social Science Research Council, and an adjunct professor at Stonehill College. In my role with Hart Leadership Program, I'm excited to lean into my training as a researcher, educator, and program builder to provide strong student support and advance community-engaged scholarship and education. Whether you're a Duke student or a Laidlaw Scholar at another institution, I'm always happy to connect and share my knowledge and experience in social science research design and methods, religious studies and anthropology, applying to and navigating graduate school, or putting together strong research grant and fellowship proposals.

Hello! My name is Lily, and I’m pursuing a degree in psychology and music. My research is interdisciplinary in that it includes psychology, cognitive neuroscience, behavioral studies, and music. I’m studying how listening to emotionally-intense music impacts the later ventriloquism effect, which is a measure of multisensory binding between visual and auditory stimuli. Then, I will investigate if this effect changes when the visual stimulus is imagined using visual mental imagery. My work is motivated by my deep interest in the interactions between visual mental imagery and mental health, specifically with flashbacks in post-traumatic stress disorder. In the future, my goal is to get an MA in music therapy to become a neurologic music therapist and a PhD in neuroscience to continue research.