Lydia Paver

Lydia graduated with a BA in American Studies in 2015. She is currently working at research and consulting group Research for Action in the US.

On my career path

"My experiences since graduating from Manchester have mainly revolved around politics and policy. 

"I have interned for the City of Philadelphia, where I worked within the Mayor's office on Health and Human Services policy. My projects involved shaping the Healthy Children's Agenda and formulating recommendations to reduce the number of illegal firearms on Philadelphia's streets.

"I also worked in Washington DC for a think-tank called Center for American Progress over a summer. I was a part of their Government Relations team, and my daily tasks involved attending Congressional hearings and conferences, tracking legislative developments, working with progressive policy partners on strategy and messaging, and creating one-pagers from CAP reports for Congressional staffers.  

"In my first year at graduate school, I also worked in consulting for Wharton and I did some political work for the Democratic Party here in PA."

On what I do in my job

"I currently work for research and consulting group called Research for Action here in Philadelphia. I am part of the Institutional Partnerships project, which is funded and directed by the Gates Foundation.

"My role in the project is a mixture of both policy research and government relations. My team is analysing the policy and political environments across seven key states (my state is Delaware) in relation to the higher education priorities of the Foundation.

"Generally, my tasks involve reviewing state and department budgets, researching higher ed initiatives and conducting interviews with key stakeholders across the state."