The Laidlaw Scholars Leadership and Research Program promotes ethical leadership and international research around the world—starting with the passionate leaders and learners found on campuses like Cornell. Open to first- and second-year students, the two-year Laidlaw program provides generous support to carry out internationally focused research, develop leadership skills, engage with community projects overseas, and become part of a global network of like-minded scholars from twenty universities worldwide.

At this session, we'll share more information about the program, including independent international projects with the Einaudi Center’s trusted partners around the world for the summer 2026 leadership-in-action portion of the program, and tips for writing a successful application. Applications are due January 12, 2026.

Register here. Can’t attend? Contact programs@einaudi.cornell.edu.

Speaker: Dr. Patrick Hällzon, Postdoctoral, Uppsala University, Department of Linguistics

Talk Description: Swedish archives host some of the world’s largest collections of early-20th-century Uyghur material culture and written sources. This consists of manuscripts, printed books, photographs, as well as artifacts including medicine and seed collections. Many of the sources have been digitized and are freely accessible online for the general public. In the presentation I will discuss how I have used these sources in my current research project and what they can tell us about oasis life in Eastern Turkestan before the area became incorporated into the People’s Republic of China under the term Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

This multi-disciplinary panel brings together scholars studying Chinese migration to 20th century Malaya and contemporary Singapore. The overarching concern is to assess how geopolitics and class differentiation have shaped the experiences of Chinese migrants to the region as well as their local reception. The speakers hail from anthropology, labor relations, and history, and will discuss the experiences of Chinese university students in Singapore amid a rapidly shifting geopolitical landscape; the responses and interactions of local industrial workers towards their migrant counterparts, including Chinese workers, in contemporary Singapore; and how racialized citizenship policies in Cold War-era Malaya and Singapore reshaped the Chinese diaspora's relationship to China.

Panelists:

Zach Howlett, Associate Professor, Sociology and Anthropology, National University of Singapore

Wen Li Thian, PhD student, ILR, Cornell University

Darren Wan, PhD student, History, Cornell University

Moderator: Shaoling Ma, Associate Professor, Asian Studies, Cornell University