Class of 2026

Meet the Greater Manchester Policy Fellows who are joining our fellowship scheme for the upcoming year.

We are delighted to welcome our third cohort of Greater Manchester Policy Fellows and look forward to working with them across 2026.

Find out more about them below:

  • Portrait of Adam Towers

    Adam Towers

    Adam Towers is Principal Transport Strategy Officer at Tameside Council, responsible for shaping and delivering the transport pipeline, policies, and partnerships that will drive sustainable growth across the borough. He is passionate about total place transformation and tackling spatial inequalities through better connectivity and integrated transport. Adam brings experience from working with local authorities across the North West and was a contestant in the Local Government Association’s 2024 LG Challenge.

  • Portrait of Andy Turner

    Andy Turner

    Andy is a Consultant in Public Health within the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) North West, part of the Department of Health and Social Care. Andy has a scientific background and experience across academia, the NHS, and local and combined authorities, and is particularly interested in how place-based policy, planning and economic decision-making can create healthier environments by default.

  • Portrait of Anthony

    Anthony Turner

    Anthony is the Post-16 Lead at Manchester City Council. Throughout his career, Anthony has built strong, cross-sector relationships, bringing a combination of leadership, strategic vision, and a deep commitment to community empowerment. He is passionate about creating pathways and driving impactful projects for disadvantaged and disengaged young people and has a track record of addressing inequity, mobilising resources, influencing policy, and fostering inclusive environments.

  • Portrait of Liz

    Liz Ackerley

    Liz is a Lead Analyst in the Housing and Planning Research Team at the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) where her work focuses on improving housing standards within the private rented sector. Prior to this she worked predominantly in academia, researching the impact of austerity on young people’s life-courses. Liz is interested in creative and participatory research methods and partnership working across research, policy and practice.

  • Portrait of Lydia

    Lydia Bland

    Lydia works as a Senior Portfolio Advisor at the Department for Education, focusing on higher education financial sustainability. Prior to this role, Lydia has worked across the Department in a variety of roles including higher education strategy, and teacher recruitment and retention. Lydia holds a Masters in Law from Manchester Law School and has recently completed a Post-Graduate Certificate in Professional Policymaking Skills.

  • Muhammad Kamarol Zaman

    Muhammad is an Economic Advisor in Semiconductor and International Analysis at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. He is responsible for providing economic advice for government strategy in the semiconductor sector. This includes improving domestic capabilities and helping government in tariff negotiation. Prior to this, Muhammad has worked as data analyst in HMRC and economist at the Department for Work and Pensions.

  • Portrait of Rohin

    Rohin Burney-O'Dowd

    Rohin is Deputy Head of AI at the Department for Business and Trade. In his role, he supports British technology companies to expand overseas, encourages multinational corporations to invest into the UK, and engages with the tech ecosystem to inform government policy. Before the civil service, Rohin started his career in growth and marketing roles at THG, the Manchester-based ecommerce retailer.

  • Dr Sarah Robinson

    Sarah is a Senior Energy Technical Advisor, at the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero. She currently works on providing technical research and evidence for policymakers across the department. Her area of primary focus of work is climate adaptation in the built environment but also provides technical advice for transport and storage of CO2 and geothermal energy generation. She holds a PhD in subsurface geochemistry.