We are thrilled to announce this year’s cohort of Laidlaw Scholars at Trinity! 

The Laidlaw Scholars Leadership & Research Programme is an innovative, intensive and rewarding 18-month leadership development programme which includes opportunities for funded research and leadership experiences, skills workshops from expert facilitators, personal coaching, international travel and networking, and a range of learning resources. 

The Programme is funded by a philanthropic gift from the Irvine Laidlaw Foundation, which aims to develop a new generation of leaders who are skilled researchers and who have the skills, character and resolve to be integrity-driven leaders ready to tackle complex global challenges. 

This year, two pre-defined research projects were available in addition to the option to develop your own research project proposal: ‘Living Campus: Ecology, Climate Action & Healthy Spaces’ and ‘A Class Education: How does Trinity engage with class and socioeconomic status in 2026?’. 

Here are our 2026 Trinity Laidlaw Scholars:

Name 

Course of Study 

Research Project Title 

Aisling Deegan 

Clinical Speech and Language Studies  

A Class Education: How does Trinity engage with class and socioeconomic status in 2026? (Pre-defined Research Topic) 

Anabel O'Hora 

European Studies 

Creating an educational toolkit to enhance Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) learning in native language environments.  
Examining the level of ESD at a primary level, in Gaeltacht regions of Ireland and Bengali schools in Kolkata. 

Anna Demasure 

Mathematics  

A Comparative Study into Machine Learning Models and Human-driven Prediction Markets in Forecasting Real-world Outcomes 

Anna Halvey 

Philosophy, Political Science, Economics and Sociology  

Delegated Citizenship in the New Public Sphere: Exploring Irish Citizens’ Outsourcing of Political Thinking to Influencers and Online Social Commentators, and Its Impact on their Political Behaviour. 

Ching Stephanie Ko 

Medicine 

How Heat-Stressed Hospital Environments Affect Stroke Recovery: Low-Cost Adaptations for Tropical Settings. 

Donnchadh Hargan 

Philosophy and English 

Orality and Nomadism: writers from marginalised ethnic groups, with semi-nomadic elements, and (primarily) oral cultures finding a voice in the written world. 
  

Ei Thant Htoo 

Medicine 

Cigarette and Vape Smoke–Induced Trained Immunity in Monocytes. 

Eliza Heaslip 

Law 

The Digital Rulebook: A Comparative Analysis of Digital Asset Protection in the DIFC and the EU. 
  

Emma Cox 

Geography and Sociology  

A Class Education: How does Trinity engage with class and socioeconomic status in 2026? (Pre-defined Research Topic) 

Eva McParland 

Medicine 

HSP90 Inhibition as a Dual Therapy for Glioblastoma and Tumour Related Epilepsy. 

Jodie Ryan 

Business, Economics and Social Studies 

Who gets to understand the climate crisis? Socioeconomic inequality in students’ sensemaking of climate change education in Ireland.  

Kate McKeon 

Law and German 

An Analysis of Criminal Law Defences Available to Women Who Kill. 

Kilian Sean Mangan 

Computer Science  

Living Campus: Ecology, Climate Action & Healthy Spaces (Pre-defined Research Topic) 

Leah Carroll 

English Studies 

‘Girls Who Say Nothing and Wear Black’: Women of the Beat Generation. 

Lilly Heffernan 

Biological and Biomedical Sciences 

Trick of the Light: An Investigation into the Impact of Artificial Light at Night (ALAN) on Immune System Function and Space-Use by Irish Bats. 

Lily O'Connell Byrne 

Psychology 

Analysing whether pre-term birth can be viewed as an Environmental Sensitivity factor in a cohort of Syrian refugee children. 

Lochlann Cawley 

Business, Economics and Social Studies 

Private Tuition as a Factor in the Leaving Certificate Attainment Gap Between Private and State Funded Schools. 

Margaret Whelan 

History 

Screwing with the System: Understanding Thai Sex Work Under a Buddhist Ethical System. 

Nal Butolen 

Engineering 

Community-centred flight path optimisation for Urban Drone Delivery. 

Oluwagbemisola Joy Aladejana 

English and Philosophy 

Sound and Script: A study of Wole Soyinka’s works. 

Peter McNulty 

Business Studies and Spanish  

Pricing the environmental impact of AI-related data centre energy consumption in Ireland. 

Ruby Ge 

Computer Science 

Restraint-Based AI Tutoring: Mitigating Learner Saturation Through Cognitive Load Monitoring and Adaptive Interventions. 

Sarah Flynn 

Engineering 

The Development and Testing of Suitable Materials as an Alternative to Polypropylene for Use in Surgical Meshes for the Treatment of Pelvic Organ Prolapse and Stress Urinary Incontinence. 

Sarah McGuire 

English Studies and History 

This is Your Magazine: Literary Periodicals and Mid-century Ireland. 

Seán Radcliffe 

Economics and Mathematics 

Investigating Cocaine-Related Harm During Economic Shocks and Crises in Ireland. 

Sonia Daunt 

Business, Economics and Social Studies 

‘A beached people’: Settler minority identity and belonging in postindependence Ireland and Kenya. 

We’d like to give special thanks to our academic and careers service colleagues who helped with the selection process, chaired by Senior Lecturer, Prof. Vincent Wade, and to all the academic staff who supported students with their applications. 

A big well done and congratulations to all involved!