Hello, my name is Erin and I am a first year Classics student at Durham University. I am thrilled to have been accepted onto the Laidlaw Leadership and Research Programme as part of the 2025 cohort. I have always been what I consider to be academically curious but what is more colloquially termed as nerdy - especially in regards to Classics (I just love learning new things!). I also have aspirations to undertake a career in humanitarian work, driven by my desire to fight for social justice and empower others to do so. In this way, the remit of the Leadership and Research programme, to cultivate leaders whose actions are both ethical and data-driven, appeared to me to be perfectly aligned with my own interests.  I have had previous experience in the various domains of the programme: in terms of leadership, I was Head Student at my Secondary School in my final year; I completed a 5000 word EPQ research paper two years ago; and I have had some volunteering experience at a local food-bank. However, I am both aware of and looking forward to the fact that this programme is going to really challenge me mentally, emotionally and physically when it comes to the research project, the Oxford Character Project and the LiA, respectively. I am hopeful that the programme will lead to lots of personal growth and assist, alongside my degree and other uni experiences, in equipping me with the tools I need to be the driving force behind the change I want to see in the world after graduation!

Hello! I'm Maia, an undergraduate student at the University of Toronto, Victoria College. I'm majoring in Sociology with minors in Political Science and Women and Gender Studies.  My research brings together women-identified social media users into focus groups to investigate how young women understand social media's value, their consumption of it, and its impacts on them. Despite extensive literature on the negative impacts of social media, few studies have explored how women make sense of their scrolling, especially in their own words. In light of this, my research focuses on not only exploring how women experience their online time but also developing collaborative strategies for more positive engagement; it moves beyond documenting harm to support women in shaping more conscious digital practices. Outside of research and academia, as of late I love to spend my free time crocheting, reading and writing, learning ASL, and developing my martial arts skills. If you'd like to know more about my research, collaborate, or just say hi, I'd love to connect—you can reach me at maia.cassie@mail.utoronto.ca!

Hello! I’m Trisha, a fourth-year student at Cornell University from Texas, USA. I’m majoring in Environment and Sustainability with a dual focus on food systems and wildlife conservation, and minoring 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. I will be returning to Oxford and Burunge in June and July 2025 to report my results.  As an aspiring environmental policymaker and journalist, I am passionate about making technical scientific information more accessible to the general public. At Cornell, I am an Institute of Politics and Global Affairs Scholar, through which I interact with policymakers monthly to discuss pervasive issues in international politics. I also speak Marathi, Spanish, and Swahili at varying levels of fluency and plan to continue to grow my language skills to communicate environmental issues across continents and cultures.  For fun, I love to turn even the most mundane materials into recycled art, spend hours on end working through jigsaw puzzles, and go for runs while listening to podcasts. And as a diehard foodie who loves to travel, I’m always looking for recommendations of places to visit or new recipes to try!  The Laidlaw Scholars Program has been an invaluable component of my undergraduate experience. The friendships I’ve made, as well as the research and language skills I’ve begun to develop, have encouraged me to continue to ask and seek answers to complicated questions about global affairs and environmental science. If anyone has questions or feedback about the Laidlaw Program, is interested in collaborating, or just wants to say hello, please feel free to email me at trb238@cornell.edu. I hope we can meet in person someday!