Large-group mentorship
Many students working within a shared role or project, with group guidance and peer learning. We examine how group size and access to feedback shape the experience.
The underestimated
are also underresearched.
Opening doors is only part of our work. We follow what happens next, building a deeper understanding of how early opportunities shape young people’s lives.
From a first introduction to a longer view of opportunity.
VenturEd began with a practical question: what changes when a young person gets a real chance to contribute? Fellowship placements brought students into projects, introduced them to mentors, and made work feel possible earlier.
By the second cohort, our founder described a community of approximately 300 students from 35 countries. That reach sharpened a second question: which parts of an early opportunity continue to matter after it ends?
How a career unfolds over time
Explore 450 fixed observations across two years. Compare mentorship settings, school backgrounds, and income groups to see how experiences develop over time.
Career confidence / out of 5
Loading trajectories…
Lines connect the mean at each follow-up for each mentorship setting.
Shared-role groupSmall teamIndividual support
| Entry | 6 months | 12 months | 18 months | 24 months |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Better opportunities begin
with better understanding.
Our fellowship forms part of a longitudinal study following young people through their early experiences of work. Across four cohorts, we examine how mentorship and internship design relate to later education, employment, and career progression.
Participants come from different income levels and school backgrounds. Studying these differences helps us ask who benefits from each form of support, where barriers persist, and how early-career programs can reach people who have been overlooked.
Comparing mentorship models across early work experiences
Small-group internships
Smaller teams and more individual attention, including internships with multiple points of contact for each student. We follow the role of mentor access, continuity, and responsibility.
Outcomes over time
Further work experience, education, career decisions, and professional relationships. We keep following participants as their circumstances and ambitions evolve.
Fellowship experiences inform
our research.
Our fellowship pairs young people with mentors and real project work. Shared-role experiences and smaller internship teams give participants different ways to learn, contribute, and receive feedback. Our Winter 2025 fellowship included young people from 5 countries across four continents. Their experiences bring different educational, economic, and social contexts into the questions we ask.
We are building an evidence base that takes those differences seriously. A youth-led research team keeps participant experience close to the work, connecting what we learn to how future opportunities are designed.
Read the Winter 2025 announcementExplore the fellowship model
Research with Perrin Institution
Our research relationship with Perrin connects the practical work of opening doors with a closer examination of how opportunity moves through informal networks. Together, this work asks what young people need beyond individual effort: introductions, trusted advice, and institutions willing to recognize potential.
Beyond Meritocracy examines the networks that govern access to opportunity. It sits alongside our longitudinal work, which follows education, work experience, and mentorship over time.
Explore our work with Perrin