How to apply for a Laidlaw scholarship

The application process can be divided into three steps for University of St Andrews students who are interested in applying:

  1. Eligibility and agreeing to honour the Scholar Commitment
  2. Identifying and designing the project, including gaining support from an academic to supervise you on this project, and outlining your leadership aims
  3. Completing the online application

Please make sure you read the application instructions carefully and allow yourself enough time to complete each step. If you have any questions that are not answered on the website and accompanying application documentation, please email laidlaw@st-andrews.ac.uk.

Students from other universities in the International Laidlaw Network, and who are interested in doing all or part of their project at the University of St Andrews, should visit the International Applications page. 

Applications for the 2025 scholarship are now closed.

Applications for 2026 will open in November 2025.

If you are interested in becoming a Laidlaw scholar or if you are curious to learn more about the programme, we invite you to watch the following video:

Step 1: Eligibility and Laidlaw Scholar Commitment

Please read the Laidlaw Scholar Commitment and eligibility criteria and continue with your application once you agree to the conditions.

Eligibility criteria

Eligible

  • Full-time, undergraduate students who, at the time of application, have two summers remaining at St Andrews before graduation

Not eligible

  • Students who will be studying abroad or doing a work placement during the Laidlaw programme
  • Incoming study abroad students

Laidlaw Scholar Commitment

Each scholar agrees to:

  • complete two, six-week summer projects:
    • Research
    • Leadership-in-Action
  • attend all Laidlaw events, including but not limited to, six full days of leadership training
  • respond, in a timely manner, to communication from the scheme coordinators over the summer and during term time
  • complete a six-month ethical leadership masterclass
  • produce all outputs, including blog posts, essays, posters and videos, by the deadline, and coordinated with the project supervisor, submitted to the Laidlaw team, and shared on the public section of the Scholars Network
  • be an active and engaged member of the Laidlaw scholars community

Step 2: Identifying and designing the project

Arguably the most important, and time-consuming, step two involves identifying and defining your research project and gaining support from an academic who is willing to supervise you.

Identify a research project and approach potential supervisors

You can either select a pre-defined project or come up with a project of your choice. You can discuss your ideas with a potential supervisor and use their support to turn them into a project. If choosing your own research project it must be separate from any work you have submitted for credit. See a list of available pre-defined projects. Even if your preferred project or supervisor is at an overseas institution, you must still submit your application via the St Andrews selection process. 

Approach a potential supervisor 

Find a potential supervisor for your project to discuss your idea and explore if they would be willing to supervise your research project. A potential supervisor is a member of academic staff and not a postgraduate student. If you have elected to choose one from the pre-defined list, there will already be a supervisor in place who you should approach to discuss your interest.

Confirm the support of your supervisor

The whole process of identifying and narrowing down a project, and receiving a supervisor supporting statement, is likely to take several weeks, if not longer, so make sure you start now.

  1. Ask your supervisor to provide a statement of support. Your supervisor will need to complete the supervisor reference form (link to follow) and send it to you, copying laidlaw@st-andrews.ac.uk.
  2. Attach a copy of the supporting statement during the application submission stage. Academics can be very busy so please allow plenty of time for this step.

Once you have worked out a project idea and spoken with an academic who is happy to support you, please follow the steps further down on this page to complete and submit your application.

Requirements for self-defined and pre-defined projects

When completing step 2, you must read more about the requirements for the two different types of projects you could work on:

Step 3: Completing the online application

Once you have everything together and have the agreed support of a potential supervisor, it is time to submit your application.

Remember to leave yourself enough time to complete this step as the submission deadline is final. You do not need to complete the application in order or all at once. You can save your application and return at any time.

  1. Log into MySaint on the University website
  2. Click on the ‘My Applications’ tab
  3. On the ‘Scholarships and Funding’ section, click on ‘View Scholarships and Funding Catalogue’
  4. Select Academic year “2024/25” and Award type “Projects and Initiatives” and click on the ‘refresh list’ button which will bring up a filter box at the bottom of the page
  5. Enter ‘Laidlaw’ in the filter box and details of the Laidlaw Programme will come up in your search results
  6. Click ‘Apply’ in the actions column
  7. Click ‘Start Application’
  8. You must provide all of the following:
    • confirmation that you fully understand the programme requirements and can satisfy the eligibility criteria
    • answers on why you are applying to the programme and how you wish to develop as a leader
    • a research project title and detailed research statement
    • a statement of support from your research project supervisor, through the Laidlaw Supervisor reference form
    • a copy of your academic transcript

Still unsure?

If you have more questions, you can read the additional information page or email laidlaw@st-andrews.ac.uk.