In January 2026 I started a Policy Influencing Internship with Parkinson’s UK working within their financial policy team, primarily on the Timms Review into Personal Independence Payments (PIP). The internship was primarily remote with 3 visits to the Parkinson’s UK office in London. Prior to the internship I had not done any policy work or ever focussed on the topic of welfare, and so this internship helped developed my understanding of the policy environment, demystified how policy operates, develop my policy communication skills, and helped me identify areas of my PhD work which may be able to influence policy.
During the internship I was supported to facilitate a reference group of people with Parkinson’s and carers to discuss experiences of PIP. This involved 3 meetings whereby I developed meeting agendas, facilitated discussions, and thematically analysed each meeting, which has strengthened my qualitative data collection skills. These meetings served to co-develop Parkinson’s UK’s recommendations for the Timms Review and provided qualitative data which enabled me to write three reports highlighting the experiences of the Parkinson’s community in relation to PIP. These reports challenged my academic writing style as I learned to write in a short and clear policy style that conformed to Parkinson’s UK’s tone guidelines. The meeting reports developed insights which were then shared with the Minister of State for Social Security and Disability to feed into the ongoing Timms Review, demonstrating the impact I was able to generate during this internship. Lastly, during my time at Parkinson’s UK I developed a policy position document on PIP. The policy position document challenged me to move from reporting data into developing practical policy recommendations which addressed the challenges claimants were experiencing. This shift in focus helped me learn how to develop nuanced and feasible policy recommendations and is a skill I’ve been able to bring directly into my PhD work. This document was developed alongside the feedback of the
policy panel, which is made up of people with Parkinson’s and carers, who I was fortunate to be able to present and discuss the work with.
I would recommend the Parkinson’s UK internship to future applicants, it has helped me develop my understanding of policy, strengthen my verbal and written communication skills, and expand my knowledge. It helped challenge my assumptions of policy and made me begin to see policy as a potential career path following my PhD. Initially, I was weary of diving into the world of financial policy, but actually, going into an unfamiliar topic pushed me to grow even more throughout the internship and identify parallels which I am now able to bring into my PhD work.