About Q-Step
Q-Step is an innovative programme designed to promote increased quantitative social science training.
Q-Step was set up and funded by the UK government in 2013 with the aim 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 which has integrated real-world social data into the classroom, with the aim to develop quantitative skills to help prepare students for the world of data and provide a skill set that is highly valued by employers.
With a focus on key skills such as evaluating evidence, analyzing data, designing and commissiong research, designing surveys and experiments, and interpreting data from other sources, these have now been brought into data specific courses on all Social Science courses.
Additionally, each year the Q-Step programme has Data Fellowship opportunities, where second-year undergraduate students from the SoSS and SALC are placed in public, private and not-for-profit organisations, ranging from local charities in Manchester to government departments in London. 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.
The team behind Q-Step at Manchester are:
Dr Jackie Carter - Co-director of the Manchester Q-Step centre
Dr Mark Brown - Co-director of the Manchester Q-Step centre
Dr Lisa Williams - Criminology
Dr Patrycja Strycharczuk - Linguistics
Dr Marta Cantijoch Cunill - Politics
Dr Dharmi Kapadia - Sociology
If you have any questions or want to find out more please email q-step@manchester.ac.uk