The Piscopia Initiative was founded in 2019 by 3 PhD students Isabella Deutsch, Tiffany Vlaar and Mary Llewellyn at the University of Edinburgh. Since then we have expanded to have local committees at over 25 universities with over 350 members!
Co-Leads

Sophie Bleau
University of Edinburgh

Laura Larios-Jones
University of Glasgow

Kaitlyn Louth
University of Edinburgh & Heriot-Watt University

Dhruva Patel
King’s College London

Ashleigh Ratcliffe
University of Leicester

Cat Rust
Queen Mary University of London

Alexandra Ciotau
University of Edinburgh
Our Co-Founders
Co-Founders: 29-2020

Mary Llewellyn
Statistics PhD student
University of Edinburgh

Tiffany Vlaar
PhD in Mathematics
University of Edinburgh &
Heriot-Watt University

Isabella Deutsch
Statistics PhD student
University of Edinburgh
Previous Co-Leads
2024-2025: Jung Wong Cho, Anastasia Istratuca, Laura Larios-Jones, Kaitlyn Louth, Ashleigh Ratcliffe, Sophie Bleau and Cat Rust
2023-2024: Rosie Evans, Victoria Ironmonger, Anastasia Istratuca and Kaitlyn Louth
2022-2023: Xell Brunet Guasch, Gemma Crowe, Rosie Evans and Victoria Ironmonger
2021-2022: Gemma Crowe and Tiffany Vlaar
2020-2021: Mary Llewellyn and Tiffany Vlaar
2019-2020: Mary Llewellyn, Tiffany Vlaar and Isabella Deutsch
Page last updated: 15/09/2025
