02
September
2015
|
16:13
Europe/London

Manchester Q-Step student data-crunches her way to a job

  • Q-Step programme of paid internships has seen its first permanent job offer for a graduate
  • Anna Kiel is now taking up a permanent post with Audiencenet

The University of Manchester’s Q-Step programme of paid internships has seen its first permanent job offer for a graduate.

Q-Step is now working with some of the world’s most recognisable companies, including the World Bank, IPSOS Mori, the BBC, YouGov and Santander, to offer data-driven internships to second year social sciences undergraduates.

So impressed were employers with last year’s cohort, that politics graduate Anna Kiel is now taking up a permanent post with Audiencenet, the London-based market research operation that was among the first to sign up to take a Manchester intern.

During her time with the company, Anna was tasked with preparing a report on the Heathrow Third Runway which was ultimately presented to 250 companies and a number of MPs. This month she joins the firm in a new job as Social and Political Research Executive.

Manchester Q-Step secured high calibre, paid internships for more than 50 undergraduates this summer. It is part of a £19.5m five-year national programme, launched in 2013 and funded by the Nuffield Foundation, HEFCE and ESRC.

“
Working with Q-Step has been a wholly positive experience for Audiencenet.  We are delighted that Anna Kiel, our highly impressive 2014 Q-Step intern, has agreed to join our Social & Political research team as a full-time research executive.
David Lewis, CEO and founder of Audiencenet
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Anna said: "Doing the Q-step program last summer opened my eyes to a field of work I had never considered, but that I ended up really enjoying. Working for Audiencenet taught me about the power of numbers in political analysis and lobbying and I was surprised by the amount of responsibility I had as a Q-step intern. I look forward to working on even more exciting projects when I join as Audiencenet's Social and Political Research Executive in September."

David Lewis, CEO and founder of Audiencenet, said: "Working with Q-Step has been a wholly positive experience for Audiencenet.  We are delighted that Anna Kiel, our highly impressive 2014 Q-Step intern, has agreed to join our Social & Political research team as a full-time research executive.  Our 2015 Q-Step intern Hannah Cunningham has also proved to be extremely impressive and we cannot recommend the Q-Step programme more highly to organisations working with quantitative data".

Jackie Carter, lead for Manchester Q-Step internship programme, said: “Anna was the student who almost got away. She applied for other placements but having interviewed her it was clear that her interest in politics and policy would be a great match for the work Audiencenet were embarking on.  

“It's immensely satisfying to hear that Audiencenet have offered Anna a post based on her internship with them. Not only does this illustrate the value of these internships, it shows how the networks we are building will support others in developing their data skills and practical experience of research and analysis. I look forward to hearing about Anna’s career development - and am delighted that she will be sharing her experiences at an event at the Royal Statistical Society in October’.