Become a Laidlaw Programme supervisor

Students may be approaching academic staff to supervise their research projects for Laidlaw Leadership and Research Programme 2025.

About the programme

The Laidlaw Leadership and Research Programme sponsors scholars in 19 leading universities around the world.

It is designed to create a new generation of leaders who care about solving intractable problems, who behave with integrity and are determined to make the world a better place.

25 scholarships are awarded to students at Leeds in their first year of a three year undergraduate degree programme, or the first or second year of a four year undergraduate degree programme.

We encourage projects that have an international dimension – e.g. a focus on another country or contain a global element. This may include an opportunity to spend all or part of the research period in an overseas university or placement.

The scholarships aim to create an international network of diverse, passionate and ethical leaders who will reinvest their skills, knowledge and experience to help others succeed.

To date, more than 1,000 scholars have completed the programme all over the world.

Benefits of becoming a supervisor

Becoming a supervisor gives you the opportunity to:

• support and mentor ambitious and proactive students.
• select the very best undergraduate students who can make a genuine contribution to your research.
• accompany your students to a celebration event which will be organised for all Leeds Laidlaw scholars.
• be featured in profile-raising opportunities during the programme with your students and department.
• develop students, including potential Masters and PhD candidates, who can make a lasting contribution to your school’s research output, recruitment and reputation.

Time commitment

To support a student with a typical six-week research project, we would anticipate a time commitment of an average of 15 hours.

Laidlaw supervisor testimonials

Embarking on this adventure together and seeing an undergraduate take control of their material, methods and understanding of their topic is a real privilege. Working in this way not only supports the scholar but feeds my own research thinking too. 

Besides working with bright and ambitious students, I was able to see them engage with real world practitioners and apply the theory they learned in practice. It was very rewarding.

Further information

For further information about the programme, email Rebecca Shaw at r.l.shaw@adm.leeds.ac.uk or email Matt Penhaligon at ugresearch@leeds.ac.uk.