2015 stories

Read about the experiences of our students who took part in a Q-Step paid summer internship. Each student's name links to a PDF with more detailed information relating to their internship.

  • Megan Adams (Sociology and Criminology) analysed data at The Pankhurst Centre in order to report back to their funders.
  • Jack Allen (Politics, Philosophy and Economics) worked in the Planning and Housing team for New Economy in Manchester.
  • Matthew Amey (Politics and International Relations) believes that his Q-Step placement prepared him for the world of work and improved his confidence levels.
  • Laura Baika (BASS Criminology) researched police officer interviews about 'Body Worn Video' for The College of Policing.
  • Jonathan Barham (Sociology and Criminology) carried out vital quantitative research into loneliness in the elderly for AgeUK.
  • Leonisha Barley (Sociology and Criminology) worked at Scraperwiki in Liverpool, analysing GP prescribing data and exploring trends.
  • Juliet Barton (Sociology) worked at the Food Standards Agency in London on their biannual attitudes public tracker survey, using the software SPSS.
  • Majid Bastan-Hagh (Criminology) gained confidence with quantitative processes and how to efficiently clean large datasets so that they are accessible and useful.
  • Asher Berkowitz-Werner (Politics, Philosophy and Economics) worked with The Data Team on behalf of The Times newspapers and used computational statistical techniques to interrogate data.
  • James Clark (Sociology) worked at The Together Trust to explore the levels of different mental and physical health conditions for children and young people the North West.
  • Jessica Conley and Isabelle Dooley-Carmichael (BSocSc in Politics and IR BA in Criminology) analysed a dataset for Manchester City Council to discover where patients were coming from to access their health care.
  • Hannah Cunningham (Politics) used AudienceNet's datasets to explore levels of interest in politics among young people in the US and UK.
  • Joanna Curtis took on an internships with AgeUK and prepared data that would be used to measure well-being in later life.
  • Olivia Dowsett (Criminology) worked on global data projects at the BBC as well as generating news and social media content.
  • James Elliott (Politics and International Relations) took on and internship at the Department for International Development in Whitehall.
  • Shahed Ezaydi (Criminology) helped Relate to evaluate their domestic violence programme.
  • Lucy Giannasi and Amy Hughes (BA English Language and BA Linguistics) analysed linguistics studies and sound clip to to examine the ways that different groups pronounce their vowels.
  • Mathilda Grivell (Sociology) was based in the Multilateral Effectiveness Department (MED) at the Department for International Development.
  • Raphael Gure (Politics, Philosophy and Economics) worked as part of the evidence and education team at the General Medical Council in London.
  • Sam Hall (Politics, Philosophy and Economics) enjoyed the breadth of work that she was given to do at YouGov's offices in London.
  • Josh Harden (Politics, Philosophy and Economics) undertook social research at Reason Digital in the charitable giving of young adults and students.
  • Ali Hussain Shah (Politics, Philosophy and Economics) was asked to explore levels of deprivation in three of Manchester's boroughs by The Reclaim Project.
  • Marzuqa Iffat (Sociology) worked at the Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre to map and analyse Manchester’s Bangladeshi population and to explore changes in it over time.
  • Victoria Ita (Sociology) gained valuable experience in working with data, communicating with a wide range of people and report writing.
  • Marcus Johns (Politics, Philosophy and Economics) worked on a report titled: 'The State of the North 2015'.
  • Guiseppe Maio (Politics and International Relations) worked on World Bank data to measure, analyse and visualise the usage of the organisation's data.
  • Hannah Maltby (Sociology) undertook a research project to aid the Widening Participation Team at The University of Manchester.
  • Fiona Marfoa (Sociology and Criminology) worked with the University to measure and analyse the impact of the careers team on employability.
  • Amy Morgan (English Language) extracted relevant data from the British National Corpus to analyse the usage of the light verbs 'have' and 'take'.
  • Shaun O’Connor (Sociology) worked at the Crime and Policing Analysis Unit at the Home Office on a project funded by the Nuffield Foundation, ESRC and HEFCE.
  • Rumsha Raja (Criminology) worked with Oldham Council in their business intelligence department.
  • David Reynolds (Politics and International Relations) took on the role of YouGov Omnibus Research Assistant for a summer.
  • Victoria Smith (Criminology) worked for eight weeks at the Home Office in London within the Crime and Policing Analysis Unit.
  • Abigail Spooner (Sociology) worked on data from two domestic violence charity helplines.
  • Nicole Tamer (English Language and Screen Studies) worked over the summer break with the Linguistics and English Language Department of The University of Manchester.
  • Ben Walters (Politics, Philosophy and Economics) spent five weeks in Ipsos MORI's Manchester office and two in their London HQ.
  • Qi Wang (Linguistics and Sociology) learned how to use a range of systems, analyse web metrics and work with KPI during her summer placement.
  • Rebecca Wilson, Luqman Zaman and Karen Wong undertook a Q-Step internship with Santander Corporate and Commercial based in Manchester.
  • Siddharth Shekhar Yadav (Sociology) worked with the YouGov Reputation team which provides global and local reputation research.
  • Kun Yu (Linguistics and Sociology) spent two months of her summer at the UK Data Service in Manchester, which provides access and support for a wide range of key social and economic data.
  • Zhuo Wang (Linguistics and Sociology) enjoyed working with real data at YouGov.