Project LIFT is a year-long social mobility programme from NetworKING UK, pairing 25 London sixth-formers from state schools with mentors, workshops and real professional access — building the network that opportunity usually assumes you already have. Our pilot cohort has now been selected and the year is underway — follow along as their story unfolds.
Confidence in rooms that weren't built with you in mind.
Connecting students with mentors and professionals for real career insight.
Supporting UCAS, apprenticeships, interviews and future pathways.
Helping students move from sixth form into university, work and beyond.
Project LIFT runs from September 2026 to June/July 2027, entirely in London. Each element is designed to close a specific gap in access — not just knowledge, but the network and confidence that usually go with it.
Workshops on professional presence, communication and navigating unfamiliar rooms with confidence.
1:1 mentoring with professionals, employer insights and exposure to different career pathways.
Support with UCAS, degree apprenticeships, applications, interviews and career decisions.
Corporate experiences, the Impact Showcase and a lasting network to support students beyond the programme end in June/July 2027.
Matched with a mentor from law, finance, technology, consulting, medicine, the public sector or entrepreneurship — approx. one hour every two weeks, with extra flexibility around UCAS and interview season.
Covering networking skills, career planning, CVs and personal statements, interview technique, and Oxbridge and degree apprenticeship routes.
Site visits and events with NetworKING UK's corporate partners across the programme year.
Personal statement and application support timed to November and January deadlines for Year 13 participants.
A structured mock interview in London ahead of real offers and assessment days.
A closing showcase and graduation in London to mark what the cohort has built together.
Cohort induction, mentor matching, and first mentoring sessions begin.
Networking skills and career planning workshops alongside regular mentoring.
Personal statement support ahead of UCAS deadlines.
UCAS applications submitted; mid-year review with the programme team.
Interview preparation and continued workshops through to spring.
A London-based placement arranged through the programme.
Participants present their year to mentors, partners and family.
The pilot cohort completes Project LIFT — and joins the alumni network.
We wanted to hear real voices, not machine-generated answers, so we didn't encourage the use of AI in mentee applications — and heavy AI use was treated as a cause for concern when we assessed them.
Read the full policyFrom supplying mentors to hosting site visits or backing the programme as an Opportunity Partner — there are several ways for firms to get involved, at every level of commitment.
Explore Partnership OptionsPut your people forward as mentors.
Design and deliver a skills workshop.
Host the cohort at your offices.
Our flagship, deepest-integration tier.
Our first 25 mentees have been selected and onboarding is underway. We're still building our bench of mentors for the year ahead — and mentees will be able to track their own journey through My LIFT soon.
Every place on the programme is reserved for a student at a UK state-funded school. This page sets out exactly who is and isn't eligible, so there's no ambiguity before you start an application.
Both selective and non-selective schools are state-funded — both are eligible. School type is asked on the application purely to assess context fairly.
If your school charges fees, Project LIFT unfortunately isn't able to accept your application this pilot year.
Project LIFT exists because access to professional networks, mentoring and insider knowledge is unevenly distributed — and that gap runs closely along school lines. Reserving every place for state-educated students keeps the programme targeted at where it can do the most good.
School type, area, and household circumstances all shape how we assess academic potential — never to disadvantage you, always to understand your journey.
With a min. 50% target from non-selective state schools and 60% first-generation university applicants across the pilot cohort.
Free School Meals eligibility, first-generation university status, and caring responsibilities are all considered as part of a fair, holistic review.
A single, detailed look at the pilot year — from mentoring cadence to how applications are assessed.
A full academic year, run entirely in London by NetworKING UK.
A competitive, selective cohort of Year 12 and Year 13 students.
Roughly one hour every two weeks, one-to-one, with your matched mentor.
Across workshops, corporate visits, and group sessions through the year.
Personal statement support and mock interviews ahead of real deadlines.
A closing showcase in London, followed by ongoing alumni engagement.
Mentors are working professionals across law, finance, technology, consulting, medicine, the public sector and entrepreneurship, each completing mandatory safeguarding and onboarding training before their first session.
Mentors are core to Project LIFT's delivery — professionals who are warm, reliable, and genuinely committed to opening doors for young people who face structural barriers to opportunity.
We're onboarding mentors for the pilot cohort on a rolling basis. If you'd like to be a mentor, please email projectlift@networkinguk.com with:
Our team will follow up with next steps, including a short safeguarding and onboarding process before you're matched with a mentee.
Firms and organisations power Project LIFT alongside our mentors — supplying expertise, access, and resource that a 25-place cohort of state school students wouldn't otherwise get. There are several ways to get involved, at different levels of commitment.
Every firm's capacity is different — these tiers aren't exclusive, and most partners combine more than one.
Our deepest-integration tier — named as Project LIFT's Official Opportunity Partner, with logo placement across all materials, a guaranteed mentor cohort, a workshop slot, and a speaking role at the Impact Showcase.
Put forward professionals from your firm as 1:1 mentors. We handle safeguarding training and matching — you supply the people and roughly an hour every two weeks.
Design and deliver one of the programme's core workshops — networking skills, CVs and personal statements, or interview preparation — drawing on your firm's own expertise.
Host the cohort at your offices for a site visit, panel, or shadowing day — often the first time a participant has been inside a professional workplace.
Fund a specific cost — venue hire, participant travel bursaries, the Impact Showcase, or programme materials — with recognition proportional to contribution.
Contribute venue space, print, media, catering, or other in-kind resource that keeps programme costs down and reach up.
Direct, early relationships with ambitious state school students years before they apply for roles or placements.
A tangible, reportable contribution to social mobility — with outcome data shared at end of year via our Impact Report.
A structured volunteering opportunity that builds mentoring and coaching skill among your own people.
Project LIFT sits within NetworKING UK's wider partner network, working alongside organisations including Howden, Norton Rose Fulbright, Talentix, The Plug Summit, Pathway X, and Gradify — our official Opportunity Partner.
Complete the form below and a member of the Project LIFT team will follow up to talk through the right fit.
A home for mentees and mentors to track sessions, workshops and progress through the programme year.
Everything about eligibility, mentor recruitment, and how the programme runs.
No. Project LIFT is reserved exclusively for students at UK state-funded schools — including non-selective comprehensives, selective grammar schools, sixth-form colleges, academies and free schools. Students at fee-paying independent schools are not eligible to apply, this pilot year or otherwise.
We didn't encourage the use of AI tools when applicants completed their mentee application — that applied to every written response, including aspiration and personal statements. If AI-generated content was heavily detected, that was treated as a cause for concern when we assessed it.
Yes. Grammar schools are selective, state-funded schools, so they're fully eligible. We ask about school type on the application so your context — including exam-based admission — can be taken into account fairly, not to exclude you.
No. Mentee applications for the pilot cohort are now closed — our 25 places have been filled and onboarding is underway. Mentor recruitment remains ongoing on a rolling basis.
Email projectlift@networkinguk.com with your name, the field you work or studied in, and your availability. Our team will follow up with next steps, including a short safeguarding and onboarding process.
Mentees commit to at least one mentoring session per month and a minimum of 80% attendance at programme events across the year. Mentors commit to roughly one hour every two weeks, with added flexibility around UCAS deadlines and interview season.
The pilot year runs from September 2026 to June/July 2027, entirely in London.
Questions about the programme, becoming a mentor, or partnering with Project LIFT.
For mentors, schools and partners.
Project LIFT operates exclusively across London.
Pilot year, 25 mentee places.