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.
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 want to hear real voices, not machine-generated answers. If AI-generated content is heavily detected in an application, this becomes a cause for concern when we assess it.
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.
Mentee applications are the heart of Project LIFT. Mentor applications open in parallel — both close before onboarding begins in September 2026.
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.
This is the core Project LIFT application. Open to Year 12 and Year 13 students at UK state schools who are based in, or able to travel to, London. Please complete every section fully and in your own words.
Mentors are core to Project LIFT's delivery. We're looking for professionals who are warm, reliable, and genuinely committed to opening doors for young people who face structural barriers to opportunity.
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.
Everything about eligibility, the AI detection policy, 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 don't encourage the use of AI tools when completing your application. This applies to every written response — aspiration statements, personal statements, and mentor motivation answers alike. If AI-generated content is heavily detected in an application, that's treated as a cause for concern when we assess it. If you're ever unsure, the safest approach is to write your answer entirely in your own words.
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.
Yes. We ask every mentee applicant to name a teacher or careers coordinator who can provide a reference, and to confirm they've asked that person's permission first. We'll only contact your referee if your application progresses to that stage.
A professional referee — for example your current manager, a Head of Early Careers or Emerging Talent, a senior colleague, or a professor — who can speak to your work and character.
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 eligibility, applications, or partnering with Project LIFT.
For applicants, mentors, schools and partners.
Project LIFT operates exclusively across London.
Pilot year, 25 mentee places.