Set up and funded by the UK government in 2013, Q-Step is designed to address the shortage of quantitative data skills taught across university humanities courses, particularly in the social sciences. The Manchester Q-Step Centre is one of 15 centres across the country, and each year places second-year undergraduate students from the SoSS and SALC in public, private and not-for-profit organisations, ranging from local charities in Manchester to government departments in London. The data fellows are paid the living wage to complete an eight-week data-driven, research-led work placement, designed to focus mainly on quantitative skills. 

Since its inception in 2013, the Centre has placed 353 data fellows, with at least 70% of students each year being female and 25% having come from underrepresented backgrounds or disadvantaged groups. 

Professor Jackie Carter, who won a National Teaching Fellowship in 2020 for developing the University’s Q-Step programme, is passionate about increasing inclusivity and diversity within data and tech careers and redressing the sector’s over-reliance on STEM graduates. As humanities students, the majority of Q-step data fellows have not studied maths beyond secondary school. Jackie said: “We’re creating a diverse talent pipeline and creating a virtuous cycle. What’s more, these are social science and humanities, not STEM, graduates.” 

Through their placements, the data fellows can gain insight into data analysis careers while being supported by researchers working on real-world, data-driven projects. By boosting the data fellows’ skillsets, the scheme increases their employability in roles that may have been otherwise inaccessible to them. 

Sharing the objective to widen diversity and inclusion in the workplace are many of Q-Step’s partner organisations, several of which are members of the Greater Manchester Good Employment Charter, a scheme that the University signed up to earlier this year. The Charter aims to raise employment standards across Greater Manchester, striving for excellence in the core areas of secure work, flexible work, pay, engagement and voice, recruitment, people management, and health and wellbeing. 

Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) is one of the organisations providing placements to Q-Step data fellows, as well as being a member of the Greater Manchester Good Employment Charter. The Research team at GMCA which worked closely with the data fellows said: “The social value of the scheme is outstanding and it is incredibly rewarding to support students in improving and gaining new skills around data and quantitative research.” The team recognised that the scheme is “…not just about providing direct experiences at specific organisations, but also about raising awareness of opportunities for young people and providing transferrable skills.” Q-Step alumni who completed placements with GMCA have gone on to experience considerable success, including Josh Wakeford, who joined the team full-time after graduating, and now works in a critical role in GMCA’s economy team. 

Q-Step alumni continue to keep in touch with Jackie, who recently held a ‘Past, Present and Future’ celebratory event. Many of the data fellows have continued to make good use of their data skills in their careers. Some are working as senior analysts in government departments, another is a senior analyst for Bloomberg and one is leading an AI company in Canada. 

Jackie recognises that the scheme is beneficial to both participants and future employers, with graduates from underrepresented disciplines bringing a new perspective to roles in data: “The scales drop from their eyes when they realise they can do this and that they bring fresh thinking.” 

For more alumni stories from past Q-Step data fellows, read Pathways into Policy: Social Science Alumni Stories (2022) and Pathways into Research: Social Science Alumni Stories (2023).