2025 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 of their poster with more detailed information relating to their internship.

View our Q-Step 2025 Booklet, which provides a summary of all the fellowships. 

  • Isobel Solbe (BA Politics, Philosophy and Economics) worked with Barnabus, helping the charity transition to a new client management system and design data dashboards to track key impact metrics. 
  • Katie Aldred (BA Social Sciences, Social Anthropology and Criminology) joined CivED CIC, analysing workforce and apprenticeship data to inform a heritage skills and education strategy for Southport. 
  • Jasmine Barry (BA Politics, Philosophy and Economics) interned at the Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES), researching extractive tourism in rural Wales and analysing how holiday homes affect local economies. 
  • Zahra Sachikonye (BA Social Sciences, Sociology and Data Analytics) worked at the Ditchley Foundation, analysing network data with Neo4j to identify themes and connections across Ditchley’s global events. 
  • Joseph Cronshaw (BA Politics, Philosophy and Economics) joined the Ditchley Foundation, using Neo4j, Cypher and natural language processing to explore AI, education reform and thematic patterns in global policy networks. 
  • Hamida Razali (BA Politics, Philosophy and Economics) worked with the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, analysing the health impact of home retrofit schemes and mapping patterns of inequality using R and Tableau. 
  • Mufiyda Akhtar (BA Criminology) joined the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, exploring how job quality, pay and security influence wellbeing across demographic groups in the region. 
  • Joshua Waterman (BA Criminology) completed his fellowship with the HM Prison and Probation Service, analysing engagement and retention data from the Creating Future Opportunities (CFO) programme. 
  • Hannah Bugeja (BA Economics) worked with the HM Prison and Probation Service, building logistic regression models to identify factors influencing offender retention in rehabilitation programmes. 
  • Brianna Murphy (BA Politics, Philosophy and Economics) interned at the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), modelling policy options to reduce child poverty and analysing inflation trends across UK supply chains. 
  • Niamh Duffy (BA Politics, Philosophy and Economics) joined IPPR North, contributing to The State of the North 2026 report and analysing data on political discontent and regional inequality.
  • Imogen Ellis (BSocSc Sociology) worked with Manchester City Council, analysing data on Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) to identify local trends and inequalities in special educational needs.
  • Fred Smith (BA Social Sciences, Politics and Data Analytics) interned at Manchester City Council, conducting quantitative analysis on changes in EHCPs and presenting findings to senior council teams. 
  • Angus Mayo (BA Social Sciences, Politics and Data Analytics) joined NatCen Social Research, calculating survey weights and sampling strata for national studies such as British Social Attitudes. 
  • Sofia Doherty Criscuolo (BSocSc Sociology) worked at Resolve Poverty, conducting qualitative research and interviews to examine private sector roles in tackling poverty. 
  • Rida Doush (BSocSc Politics and International Relations) joined Resolve Poverty, analysing case studies of global anti-poverty partnerships and the impact of cross-sector collaboration. 
  • Grey Kingsley (BA Criminology) worked with Respect, analysing helpline data to identify trends in domestic abuse services and recommend improvements for callers’ support experiences. 
  • Saira Chowdhury (BA Social Sciences, Politics) joined the Voluntary, Community, Faith and Social Enterprise (VCFSE) sector via Home-Start HOST, evaluating the Play Learn Grow programme and its impact on children’s development and parental confidence. 
  • Yichen Liu (BA Social Sciences, Criminology and Data Analytics) worked with the Voluntary, Community, Faith and Social Enterprise (VCFSE) sector, analysing early-years support data from the Greater Manchester Baby Bank to map service reach and demand.
  • Yufan Zhu (BSocSc Sociology) interned with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), analysing data on women’s participation in STEM and green jobs across Europe and Central Asia. 
  • Saskia Perez Cooke (BSocSc Sociology) joined the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), contributing to a regional study on gender equality and sustainable green transitions.