The following list provides research opportunities for students applying to the 2021 Laidlaw Scholars cohort, as well as Leadership-in-Action opportunities for Scholars entering their second summer in the program. These programs have been developed by the Laidlaw Foundation. If you are interested in pursuing one of these options, please contact Dean Ariella Lang (al223@columbia.edu) for additional information.
Bite Back Research Projects
The following remote projects are with Jamie Oliver’s UK non-profit, Bite Back, a youth-led movement working to address nutritional issues for young people. Please note, these projects are only available to Year 1 Laidlaw Scholars.
Project 1: Local Area Health Mapping
We know our unhealthiest high streets are very often our poorest. But do we really know what they look like? Do we know what it’s like living there and the options young people walking those streets have? We want to understand the health of our five unhealthiest high streets and the people that live there. Can we map the health of an area through advertising, takeaways, food outlets near schools; can we interview young people in places where they hang out in local communities to develop a plan of how an area could become healthier; can we find a way to bring this lived reality to life for decision makers and public health officials so they make different policy choices? Can you communicate this in a creative way through Google maps, filming high streets, developing an app.
Project 2: Campaign Development - Water
Away from convenience stores and offers on fizzy drinks, 50% of young people started drinking more tap water under lockdown. How can this development, which is healthy, sustainable and free, continue to be supported? Water fountains are unattractive, not every young person has a water bottle (is it cool?), and enormous marketing goes into advertising energy drinks, soft drinks and fruit juices. How do we shift the system to make water the go to drink for young people?
Project 3: Campaign Development - Sports Sponsorship
Delayed by a year, 2021 will see the Tokyo Olympics. Its main sponsor…Coca Cola and McDonalds. Any idea who the main sponsor was for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics…big tobacco. Think about how our attitudes have changed about tobacco. Is it right that our main sponsors for the biggest showcase in world sport are fast food? How do we start a campaign to stop this? 2022 is the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. Could this be the first healthy games?
Project 4: Policy Development - Fiscal Reform
The UK introduced a Sugar Tax in 2018 that has driven down sugar in drinks by 28% and generated revenue for school sport. What should be the next wave of incentives, taxes and subsidies to drive healthier food production and consumption? It ties into sustainability too – there’s been talk of red meat taxes – and health such as a saturated fat tax or salt tax. Help us define how government should nudge the food market. (Please note that while this research focuses on the UK, there may be the possibility of conducting comparative research that would take into consideration these questions in the US.)
Project 5: Youth movements - Bite Back 2030 Review
This is a research project looking at mobilization and organizing models for activism that will define Bite Back 2030’s strategy. Youth activism and youth-led movements are growing around the world. Fridays for our Future, the A Level marches, the Sunrise Movement. Can you interview young people engaging with Bite Back 2030 to understand our model, find out what is effective, research global organizing models like XR and then propose changes to the Bite Back 2030 model to improve it.
Project 6: Youth insights 2.0
Bite Back 2030 started with three insights that would engage young people in a healthier food system: food and sustainability; food and injustice; and food and manipulation (i.e. how fast food create ads to persuade young people to buy). We want to undertake the next phase of research into youth insights to understand key issues related to young people and the Bite Back 2030 mission and go deeper into what drives their behaviors. We can then use this to look at how the youth insights align to our impact goals and shape campaigns and communications.
Change the Code (CTC)
Background
Change the Code is a student-led organization, started in 2019, at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) which aims to improve the gender ratio in the STEM industry, by encouraging more female students to take up science and technology related subjects. Former Laidlaw and HKU scholar, Chhavi Sharma is co-founder and co-president of CTC.
CTC focuses on helping female students gain scientific/technical skills, receive mentorship and guidance and become a part of a strong positive encouraging network. They have recruited and trained 20 tech instructors, conducted 4 workshops, in 3 countries for over 100 girls with ages ranging 10 years to 24 years.
Project(s) - 1st Year Scholar
A first year scholar's research project can explore the working model used at Change the Code and conduct research on one of a number of different relevant topics. Some examples include: (i) why girls choose non-science based careers (ii) how females contribute to the workplace (iii) impact of online mode of teaching vs offline in class teaching (iv) how much time it takes for students to grasp STEM concepts vs non STEM concepts (v) how many lessons are needed to truly get a girl interested in technology (vi) which course curriculum is more appealing and why (vii) prevalence of STEM subjects in socially disadvantaged societies.
Project(s) - 2nd Year Scholar
With the pandemic CTC saw an opportunity to expand to various locations without needing to be physically present. In the coming months, they want to focus on developing more curriculum to improve the technical skills and exposure of their students. They also want to collect data to conduct research on best practices for CTC programs. Finally, we want to reach as many girls and women as possible and provide them skills alongside mentorship and support to learn, grow and achieve their dreams.
A second year scholar who is focused on leadership can help start their own local chapters of CTC. They can recruit new members (volunteers from local schools and universities) or work together to build their team. A lot of work goes into a successful workshop: (i) building teams (ii) building curriculum ( they can choose to use our preexisting curriculum or build new based on their research findings) (iii) marketing to students, subsequent communication, etc. (iv) design posters, material for social media campaigns (v) training instructors to teach the curriculum (vi) looking for suitable chief guest/mentors (vii) managing the meeting real time ( breakout rooms, etc. ) (viii) raising funds if required (ix) collaborating with local NGOs, schools, universities to deliver workshop, build network, find mentors and mentees.
Apart from the above, other activities can include:
- Daily tasks like sprint meetings (agile team, working style)
- First few days to identify role and responsibility within the team, make a plan of tangible weekly goals
- Weekly catchup with us or representative of Laidlaw foundation
- Writing emails to schools, NGOs, students, guest speakers, cold calling, sending calendar invites
- Designing graphics/posters for social media campaigns, certificates for participating students
- Designing presentation slides for the curriculum delivery
- Training teaching instructors ( try to make teaching style, methodology uniform across different cohorts)
Contact
For additional information or to further develop your engagement, feel free to reach out to the organization: changethecodehku@gmail.com
Durham University School of Education: Durham University MAT Projects
Projects for 1st Year Scholars:
Option 1: Achieving effective home-school relationships
In this research project, first year Scholars can choose to focus their research on one of three topics: 1) home schooling. What support is required to help families engage in home learning effectively? Which strategies are most effective at enlisting parents to support literacy. 2) connecting with hard to reach parents. How can we engage more effectively with hard to reach parents (including the role of peers/peer groups and communities)? What are the social networks of hard to reach parents – who are the opinion formers? 3) Building effective networks that can aid learning. What are the barriers and enablers to building broader cultural and social capital networks that can lead to improved family and student outcomes?
Option 2: MATs* and the wider community
*(MATs, Multi-Academy Trusts, refer to UK schools that are funded by the Department for Education, and are independent of local authority control. In addition to its Scholars program, the Laidlaw Foundation supports a number of MATs)
Area-based (and multi-service) approaches to enhancing children’s outcomes. What are the needs of the wider communities (being served by Laidlaw Foundation MATs)? Which agencies do or might potentially address these needs? How can the MAT catalyse wider community service providers to support children improve their educational outcomes (barriers and enablers to working together effectively)?
Option 3: MAT networks, leadership and approaches to improvement
In this research project, first year Scholars can choose to focus their research on one of two topics: 1) Network based approaches to school improvement. How might Professional Learning Networks (PLNs) be used to improve teaching and learning across MAT schools? What is the role of school leadership in ensuring PLNS can operate, sustain and deliver change? 2) Evidence-informed school improvement. What is the view of MAT leaders and teachers on using research and data to improve teaching and learning? What are the barriers and what are the enablers? To what extent should MAT’s embrace a consistent approach to T&L and a standardised curriculum through their schools?
Option 4: Digital Learning
In this research project, first year Scholars can choose to focus their research on one of two topics: Learning from Home: 1) What are the digital lives of students? How might we use social media, and video games as a way of enhancing teaching and learning? How do we create a seamless blend of in-class and at-home learning? The relative merits of synchronous and asynchronous teaching. 2) Digital Pedagogy: How can the gamification of learning produce behaviour change? What is the impact of AI on learning acquisition, differentiation and retention? Whose content delivers the best results? How do schools choose from third party content providers and teacher produced lessons?
Projects for 2nd Year Scholars:
Option 1: Achieving effective home-school relationships
In this research project, first year Scholars can choose to focus their research on one of three topics: 1) home schooling. What support is required to help families engage in home learning effectively? Which strategies are most effective at enlisting parents to support literacy. 2) connecting with hard to reach parents. How can we engage more effectively with hard to reach parents (including the role of peers/peer groups and communities)? What are the social networks of hard to reach parents – who are the opinion formers? 3) Building effective networks that can aid learning. What are the barriers and enablers to building broader cultural and social capital networks that can lead to improved family and student outcomes?
Option 2: MATs and the wider community
In this project, second year Laidlaw Scholars will investigate the role of other service-provider leaders in ensuring area based approaches can operate, sustain and deliver change.
Option 3: MAT networks, leadership and approaches to improvement
In this research project, second year Scholars can choose to focus their research on one of two topics: 1) Network based approaches to school improvement. What is the role of teachers as change agents in their schools? How do social networks operate within schools and which teachers are most influential? 2) Evidence-informed school improvement. How might approaches such as lesson study and joint practice development be used to generate continuous and evidence-informed approaches improvements in teaching and learning? How can we ascertain impact most effectively and use impact tools to ensure MAT schools are employing the most effective practices?
Contact
All Durham projects are being directed by Professor Chris Brown, Durham University School of Education; for questions and additional information, feel free to contact him: chris.brown@durham.ac.uk.