CULTIVATING A NEW GENERATION OF LEADERS

The Laidlaw Leadership and Research Programme is helping to create a global community of talent.

“I am not the same person I used to be. I am more driven than I have ever been, and I am always looking to achieve the best outcomes from every opportunity I get.”

Modern Languages and Politics student Cothney Lasaracina is describing the impact of her experience as a Laidlaw Leadership and Research Scholar. This distinctive two-year programme invests in exceptional undergraduates, enabling them to conduct academic research, develop their leadership skills and put their learnings into practice through an immersive project.

Cothney’s research explored the role played by people from France’s colonial territories, who fought in the French Resistance during the Second World War. It’s a story rarely told: “Soldiers from Algeria, Madagascar and Guadeloupe left their countries to fight in defence of a land that didn’t belong to them, but they still gave their life for it.” She immersed herself in their lives through documents and photographs at a military archive in Paris – before sharing her findings with the general public and in schools.

Beyond the evidence-based thinking and analysis developed through research, the Laidlaw Scholarship programme develops students’ leadership skills through group retreats, ethical leadership training, community outreach activities, and one-on-one coaching. Each is tailored to help the scholars discover and develop their own leadership style, which they then put into practice through a Leadership in Action project aimed at creating meaningful and sustainable change, often in an international context.

As well as her research in Paris, Cothney was able to travel to Zambia where she taught English, French, creative arts and social studies to 150 children at a community school in Lusaka, while immersing herself in the local culture.

“The school supports displaced learners to reach their potential,” she said. “Using my Laidlaw scholarship stipend, I helped create a new library and a classroom. I had to embrace my uncertainties, while adapting lessons to keep students engaged. This experience gave me so many ideas and showed the real impact of teaching.”

Up to 25 Leeds students each year take part in this prestigious programme, which is made possible by the Laidlaw Foundation, established by Leeds alumnus Lord Laidlaw (Economics 1963). After beginning in Leeds, the scholarship programme has been developed and expanded by the Foundation over the past decade, and is now offered at 21 top research universities in the US, Canada, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Students from across all disciplines are selected through a competitive process to join the prestigious programme, which has now supported more than 2,500 future leaders from around the world. Each autumn, a conference brings the scholars together to share their experiences, learn with each other and develop as true global citizens.

Cothney reflects on the impact of the programme: “Since the start, this has not been effortless, but there is no better way to develop leadership than through challenges. It has given me a real cross-cultural perspective – and I now feel empowered to face whatever is difficult in front of me.”