Isaac Knowles

Isaac Knowles now works in the Civil Service as an Asylum Decision Maker at the Home Office

I studied at the University of Liverpool between 2017 and 2020 and graduated with a first in Politics and Economics (BA). While I was in the politics department, I had the good fortune to take several particularly memorable modules such as political rhetoric with Andrew Crines, media studies with Neil Gavin, and voting behavior with Raul Gomez, each one was just as interesting as the last.

After I graduated, I applied to several universities and was even offered a place to study at the London School of Economics before I decided to complete a master’s in international politics and human Rights (MA) at City, University of London.  I graduated with a distinction in 2021 and shortly afterwards began work in the Civil Service.

Currently, I work as an Asylum Decision Maker in the Home Office and am responsible for interviewing asylum seekers and deciding if they qualify for refugee status in the UK. As part of my role, I am a frontline responder for victims of modern slavery and human trafficking and operate to safeguard individuals both in the UK and from abroad. On a daily basis, I interact with individuals fleeing persecution from regions like sub-Saharan Africa and the middle east, many of whom enter the UK as part of the well-documented ‘small boats crisis’.