Annual Reports

Annual Report 2022-2023

I am thrilled to introduce the charity's latest Annual Report, which outlines our key milestones in the past year. It has been a busy period, with a few exciting changes, as well as challenges as we start to move on from the pandemic. Sadly, one of our long-term staff members, Sioned Jenkins, left us after four years, to pursue a nursing career. The Trustees would like to thank her for everything she has done for the charity and wish her all the best for her exciting new future. However, we were also delighted to welcome Tom Hutchins as our new Communications Officer. Tom has taken forward his role with enthusiasm and brings a fresh perspective on the project, which has been very useful.

 

The Charity continues to be committed to its vision of addressing the barriers that some young people might face when trying to achieve a life-science career of their choice. However, we are delighted to report that over the last year we have consolidated the expansion of work into wider STEM areas. Over the reporting period, our mentor recruitment process has allowed us to add 8 new areas of mentee support to our application form. Some of our work this year was spent developing new strategic connections to recruit mentors with these new specialties, from across the UK.

 

We have also consolidated the geographical expansion that we began last year and are offering support to young people in Swansea, Neath Port Talbot, Bridgend, Merthyr, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Blaenau Gwent and Carmarthenshire, connecting with young people in these areas via schools and other locally based partners. We know that young people continue to benefit because we receive consistently good feedback through the impact surveys that we administered at the end of each session.

 

Our digital base continues to reap rewards in terms of our project reach. Our innovative digital matching system enables easy scaling-up into our new areas as required, allowing us to access those who would be less able to attend a face-to-face scheme. Our in-house bilingual e-Mentoring app, developed and piloted in August 2022 has gone from strength to strength, and feedback has helped us enhance its operations this year. We are excited to be able to securely offer our e-Mentoring sessions in both Welsh and English, again widening the accessibility of our programme, and in an effort to support this facility, we have also made successful efforts to recruit more Welsh speaking mentors this year. In addition, and in response to feedback from mentors we also refined the targeting criteria for our project to ensure that those most in need of support, are the focus.

 

We continued to provide a mixed delivery form of our work experience days this year – some wonderful opportunities were provided within the Assistive Technologies Innovation Centre and Swansea University Nursing department, and this year one of our younger mentees was lucky enough to experience a full week at AECOM Engineering, a placement that was kindly facilitated by one of our mentors. Online opportunities included a Q and A session with a physiotherapist, and a Medical Interview Workshop. This year we also thought it might be beneficial to start to provide podcasts and as a starter, one of our Trustees, Nick Russill, interviewed a previous mentee turned mentor, Katherine, who has provided some fantastic insights into her career journey!

 

We are fortunate to continue to be supported with an increasing number of committed and returning volunteer mentors who give outstanding advice to our young mentees. As always, the key to our success has been these volunteers, as well as the teachers who help facilitate our work in their schools and colleges. We are so grateful for their continuing support.

 

 

Our achievements this year

The Mullany e-Mentoring project became operational in mid-November 2014, with phase 1 ending in December 2017. Phase 2 began in April 2018.

 

This year, it has been exciting to progress into the eighth year overall of our Mullany e-Mentoring project, which we have now given the moniker Together Making Futures, as we feel that this accurately reflects what our programme is trying to do. We aim to reduce the barriers faced by young people experiencing disadvantage, who wish to enter life-science and healthcare occupations. This year, we have continued to widen support provide to all areas of STEM.

Our approach is to deliver a free online mentoring service, that aims to connect 14–19-year-olds from disadvantaged backgrounds with a mentor who is studying or working in an area which might be of interest to their student. Through an interactive, online process, the mentor provides support to help the achieve their future goals, whether this is academically or vocationally related, as well as more generic support. The project also continues to run two additional elements, Future Routes and Insight talks, with the former providing work experience/shadowing opportunities and the latter providing online careers talks from our mentors.

This year we have also consolidated our geographical expansion. As well as working with state secondary schools servicing Swansea, Neath Port Talbot, Merthyr, Bridgend and Rhondda Cynon Taf (RCT), we have established connections with schools in Blaenau Gwent and Carmarthenshire and aim to build up our work in these areas in the future. We have also worked with the Education Other than At School (EOTAS) scheme, and the Bridge Alternative Provision Centre In Bridgend, as well as offering our service to young people attending local voluntary organisations.

We have continued to use robust monitoring systems to measure our impact. Our key approach is using exit questionnaires at the end of each session, enabling us to confirm or otherwise that what we are doing reflects the needs of our participants. Here is what some of our project stakeholders have had to say about their involvement.

Mentors

‘‘I love being a mentor for the Mullany Fund. There are a vast range of personalities which are interesting to deal with, so it's great for me to find new ways to go around the student based on how they learn. I absolutely love it when a student engages - it doesn't have to be much, a couple of questions will do.’’

‘‘I really enjoyed mentoring this term. My student seemed genuinely interested in engaging with the programme, which I appreciated.’’

‘‘It helped me focus on what's important to me for my own future. Mentoring encourages me to reflect on my own dreams, values, and abilities.'’

Students

''It's made me more confident and calmed my nerves about my future and given me a better understanding.''

''The project help me become more open minded with the course I wish to pursue… this project made me realise hard work will pay off.''

''The project has given me a lot more insight into life in university and has helped balance my ideas of what to do after school. My tutor has been amazing at answering all my questions’’.

‘‘My mentor was fantastic at giving me advice and reassured me that medicine is a career I can reach and that I should just go for it. I'm so grateful for all the support they have given me over the session.’’

‘‘It was a really cool opportunity and I've learnt a lot and my mentor was so helpful. Thank you.''

'’It was a really good programme to be a part of, I picked up a few helpful tips for aspects such as time-management or revision.’'

'’I now have a much better idea about the steps that I need to take in order to reach different career goals.’’

‘’I've also explored other options just to keep an open mind.'’

 

Future Routes and Insight Talks

Alongside the e-Mentoring process, we also provide work experience/shadowing opportunities and career talks, and this year has provided some exciting and useful opportunities for our young participants. We’ve continued to provide face-to-face opportunities with the Assistive Technologies Innovation Centre (ATIC) team based in Swansea, and the nursing, midwifery and medicine team at Swansea University and in addition have been delighted to have hosted an online questions and answer session with a physiotherapist and an online session covering interviews for medicine, all of which were very beneficial for those who attended, in terms of acquiring more informal skills and values, as well as knowledge, from those they interacted with. Some of their comments are included below:

 

Swansea University nursing, midwifery and medicine team workshop

 ‘‘(The workshop was) realistic and informative. Other workshops can be biased in what they say but this was a great realistic talk that has improved my confidence in applying to University.’’

 

ATIC

‘‘ I found it fascinating that they all did different degrees in completely different subjects, but they all work in the same team and really complement each other. I'd love to be a part of a team that works this well in the future.’’

Finally, one lucky student was able to attend a one-week placement with AECOM in Cardiff. When we asked Reuben what surprised him most when on the placement, he said it was the complexity of a pulling a project together and that when you’re building something new, you have to work with what’s already there. His key takeaway point was that small things can have a big effect on your plans!

After his week with AECOM, Reuben is now even more excited to pursue a career in engineering and thinks a degree apprenticeship will suit him best. He also wanted us to mention that the coffee machine was great!

Careers talks

This year, our wonderful mentors have continued to provide online vlogs of ‘A day in their life’ which have been received very positively by our mentees. We have also compiled an excellent video of The Many Faces of Mullany, which we hope can be used to show students the diverse range of support available to them, but also encourage other volunteers to join us in the future.

 

Mentor and student matches continue to work well

We continue to use our innovative IT system, which has the potential to match every child in Wales with a mentor, and thus support the development of the future workforce in Wales in a cost-effective way. Using multiple factors to define the interest area of our target students, the automatic system will identify their best match in terms of those who can assist them most effectively. Our system enables us to easily scale-up the number of mentees reached in-line with the number of mentors we are able to recruit, and this has enabled us to consider working across even wider areas of Wales next year. Through developing new connections with potential mentor sources and explaining our project, we continue to be able to largely match student and mentor with their first area of interest and speciality, and this is of great benefit to both.

 

During this reporting period we also made improvements to our own, recently developed in-house moderated bilingual e-Mentoring platform, and this is now used for every session, with positive feedback. The bilingual element of this platform for students who wish to speak to a mentor in Welsh, provided one is available in their specialist area. Mentora is now easy and effective to use and consistently receives positive feedback. We’ve included some of the positive comments we’ve received below!

'I do like the changes that have been made with Mentora.’’

'I thought the platform was practical and accessible.'’

‘’App works really well. It’s great to have email and app notifications when messages are waiting.’’

 

 

We really do appreciate our mentors and the wonderful advice the give!…

Mentors are recruited from across the UK and now form part of a Mentor Bank with over 300 DBS checked mentors registered. All of those who are going to be involved in an e-Mentoring session must have an up-to-date enhanced DBS check, to ensure safeguarding of the young people involved. We also take every measure to ensure that our mentors remain safe as well. All matched mentors continue to be provided with in house training, including the important topic of safeguarding.

 

Many of our mentors return from session to session, something we are very proud of, and which we feel reflects the personal touch that we try and maintain throughout our interactions. We have also had several mentors recruited from our new subject support areas over the last year and they have also provided positive feedback.

 

All mentors have the option to return an exit questionnaire at the end of each session they have been involved with allowing them to feed back to us about their experience and provide constructive criticism. From these surveys, our mentors this year have said:

‘’Very positive first experience with The Mullany Fund... Excited to continue with the mentoring during future sessions.’’

My experience has been very positive. I have had a very keen student who engaged well with the programme.’’

'The student I had allocated to me was very enthusiastic to planning their future.’’

 

‘’I feel that the themes of the weeks have been well thought of'’

 

‘’Positive - Sharing my experience and discussing subjects and aspects of subjects that may help them that they hadn't considered.’’

 

‘’It's great to be able to help my student navigate information available on their chosen career, especially when they learn something new about the profession they are interested in.’'

 

‘’The student I had allocated to me was very enthusiastic to planning their future. I feel that the themes of the weeks have been well thought of.’’

 

‘’I love being a mentor for the Mullany Fund. There are a vast range of personalities which are interesting to deal with, so it's great for me to find new ways to go around the student based on how they learn. It's always a struggle when students do not engage, but I make sure weekly messages go out regardless. I absolutely love it when a student engages - it doesn't have to be much, a couple of questions will do.’’

 

This year we have added new individuals to this ever-expanding resource of volunteers and made sure to maintain regular contact as each session progresses. To facilitate the process of expanding to wider STEM subjects, we have continued to work with the STEM Ambassadors scheme, but also been in contact with university departments and professional bodies. We’ve also attended various conferences to raise awareness of our programme amongst life-science and STEM professionals.

 

We have a large number of mentors from very different backgrounds….

We know how important it is to support our mentees with mentors working across a wide variety of professions, and below we’ve included some biographies, provided by our mentors of the work they do – focusing on some of our new recruits this year:

‘’(I am a) Medical Engineer. Currently, I am doing a PhD in Medical Engineering with the School of Medicine at University. In simple terms, I am trying to find a method to analyse blood clot status using a Laser. The reason I am doing this project is that we need to find an easier, quicker and cheaper way to find blood clot status of patients with any sort of blood disease to enable accurate and faster diagnosis and treatment.’’

‘’(I am a) Computer Science student at University. With a background in Sociology, (I) possess a unique combination of technical expertise and exceptional interpersonal skills.’’

‘’I have just completed my Masters degree in Chemistry with Medicinal sciences, and am now preparing to undertake a PGCE in secondary chemistry. Prior to university, I studied each of the sciences and maths at A-level. As part of my degree I also undertook a 6-month industrial placement with a BioTech company. As a result of this educational history I believe I’m in an ideal position to offer my advice and guidance to students concerning a variety of things.’’

We also feel it’s important to demonstrate to our mentees that not everybody who mentors them has followed an easy, or conventional pathway to reach where they are today. In fact, many of our mentors get involved with the programme because of this, and because they want to support young people who might also be facing barriers to their progression.

‘’I am a Scientist at a pharmaceutical company doing research and development of new medicines. I have an undergraduate degree in Molecular medicine, followed by a masters in Clinical Sciences, and a PhD in ageing and chronic diseases - investigating antioxidant in foods.  I have dyslexia and learning difficulties, so can show you can succeed in this field if you have a disability. I enjoy the outdoors, crafts and have started learning a new language.’’

‘I am from an underprivileged background and gained my BSc and PhD in chemistry. My specialty is Molecular Imaging (scanning, diagnostics) and after working at a university in research for a few years I now work in the private sector in the same research area - using radiochemistry, pre-clinical imaging and healthcare technologies to support drug development. I grew up with very limited support, dragged myself through the hard way, and know I would have benefited from something like this.’

‘I’m a junior doctor based in the midlands with an an interest in ENT and head and neck cancers. I’m the first generation from my family to attend university (and become a doctor). Prior to pursuing medicine I did a degree in Pharmacology in London, so I understand all too well how competitive applying to university is. My interests include running and eating in equal measures. I’m currently learning British Sign Language at level 2 and how to make cakes as good as the Bake Off.’

‘I’m a microbiologist, lecturer, and admissions tutor working at Swansea University Medical School. My research focuses on the use of natural products (such as manuka honey) as antibiotics in the fight against various infections (such as wounds and cystic fibrosis). Having grown up in a very deprived part of North Wales, whilst attending a failing high school, I went on to university and now teach in one, proving that anything is possible when you put your mind to it.’

All mentors and charity staff must hold a valid Disclosure and Barring Service enhanced check.

 

Collaborative work

Collaboration with other organisations who share the same vision or are working with the same target group, is very important to achieve the best possible outcomes for all involved. Those supporting our work experience opportunities are obviously central to our work, but we have also been talking with others to ascertain where we can support each other.  For example, in the summer of 2023, we worked with the Osprey’s Community project, delivering a participatory workshop to 16-year-olds as part of their EdYoucation programme, with a view to encouraging some young people to join our scheme. We also supported the Osprey’s Community project by participating in practice interview workshop. We are also very grateful to have also been supported in promoting our work by Careers Wales and the widening access team at Swansea University.

Social media

We have continued to enhance our visibility across social media, with monthly blogs and regular posts, and we also attended a workshop about raising our profile on other youth friendly platforms, including TikTok. Our podcast with a previous mentee turned mentor, is, we hope, one of many that can be used to enhance our profile.

Award for Excellence

The Award for Excellence is given every year to students at either the University of the West of England (The Mullany Award for Excellence in Physiotherapy) or Swansea University (The Mullany Award for Excellence in Medicine). In 2023 we are delighted to announce the recipient was Tsz Kin Chow who attended the University of the West of England. Many congratulations for your excellent work!

 

CHARITY DETAILS

 

Charity Name

The name of the charity is The Mullany Fund.

Registered Charity Number

The registered number of the charity is 1188554.

Charity’s Principal Address

The charity’s principal address is The Mullany

Fund, PO Box 29, Swansea, SA9 5AB.

Trustees

The trustees of the charity, during this reporting period are:

Mrs Rachel Bowen

Mr Richard Bowen

Mr Adam Mullany

Mrs Marilyn Mullany

Mr. Nick Russill

Dr Mair Williams

All served from 1st April 2018 to 31st March 2019

Dr Janine Roberts joined the Board of Trustees on the 1st of September 2021

 

FUNDING

We rely entirely on voluntary/grant contributions, which can include legacy and wills.

 

Charity Objectives

The charity’s objectives are:

To advance the education of young people, in particular but not exclusively, in the life science sector and to undertake such charitable purposes or to make donations to such a charitable institution or institutions at such a time or times and in such a manner as the trustees may in their absolute discretion see fit. 

Social Mobility

The Mullany Fund is a social mobility charity that achieves change through education. The Fund works to give every young person the opportunity of accessing a career in the life sciences, regardless of background.

Fundraising

The Mullany Fund raises money from events, individual donors, trusts and foundations.

Public Benefit

Trustees adhere to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit.

 

Overall impacts September 2022-August 2023

We ask the young people involved in each session to complete an exit questionnaire. Of those who responded to our exit questionnaires, they said they project had helped them in the following ways:

 

Inspiration:  We asked students to respond to the following statement:

- As a result of the support I received through the project, I feel confident that I will be able to go to university in the future.

81.5% agreed or strongly agreed with this statement.

Knowledge: We asked students to respond to the following statements:

- As a result of the support I received through the project, I understand more about the steps I need to take to reach my career goal.

82% of our students agreed or strongly agreed with this statement.

-As a result of the support through the project I now .understand more about the range of jobs that might involve STEM or life science subjects

87% of our students agreed or strongly agreed with this statement.

Skills: We asked students to respond to the following statements:

- As a result of the support I’ve received through the project, I’ve got tools which will help me to manage my studies better, to support my future goals.

77% agreed or strongly agreed with this statement.

- As a result of the support I've got through the project, I've gained tips on skills to improve my

communications (verbal or written) with people.

73.5% agreed or strongly agreed with this statement.

Moving on: We asked students to respond to the following statement.

- as a result of the support I received through the project, I feel confident that I will be able to go to university in the future.

81.5% agreed or strongly agreed with this statement.

For the year 12/13s who were involved we also asked them to respond to the following statement:

- As a result of the support I have received through the project, I have a better understanding about how to write personal statements/CVs/application forms.

71.5% agreed or strongly agreed with this statement.

 

 

GOVERNANCE

Governing Document

Declaration of Trust Dated 16/09/2008;

As Amended By Deed Dated 17/06/2009;

As Amended By Deed Dated 01/10/2013.

 

Constitution

The charity is constituted as a Trust.

 

Trustee Selection

New trustees are elected by the current trustees of the charity.

 

ACCOUNTS

CAN YOU HELP US?

Did you know that the UK is one of the least socially mobile countries in the world?

61 % of the UK’s doctors were educated at a private school while only 7% of the school population receive private education.

Ref: Leading people: The educational backgrounds of the UK professional elite, Kirby, P., 2016

 

Annual Report 2021-2022

 

 

Contents of the Financial Statements for the Year Ended August 31 2022

Chairman's Report

Report of the Trustees

Independent Examiner's Report

Statement of Financial Activities

Balance Sheet

Notes to the Financial Statements

Detailed Statement of Financial Activities

 

 

Chairman's Report for the Year Ended 31 August 2022

I am delighted to introduce the charity's latest Annual Report, outlining our achievements in the past year. Of course, throughout the year COVID 19 has still been present and for much of the year, we have had to continue to adapt the way we have worked- for example, recruiting remotely or relying on teachers to recruit for us. However, as we have gradually moved away from some of the more challenging barriers we faced as a result of the pandemic, the Charity is able to report some exciting developments which have enabled us to break further barriers that some of our target group might be experiencing.

 

Young people have continued to be impacted by Covid this year, either through missing school through illness or having teachers absent. Many have felt the return to face-to-face schooling challenging, Our flagship project, Mullany e-Mentoring has continued to provide the support they have needed, and our vision remains to give every young person the opportunity of accessing a career in life sciences, regardless of background. Focusing our work on young people from more disadvantaged backgrounds, our flagship e-Mentoring project aims to support those who find it difficult to get the support they need because no-one in their family or network has followed the path that they would like to pursue. This year, as planned, we are excited to have successfully widened our remit to wider STEM subjects.

 

Seven years ago, we started working in 2 Local Authority areas in South Wales. By the end of August 2022, we were well established in five Local Authority areas and had expanded our work to two additional Local Authority areas working with new partners and new schools. Engagement by the students who got involved in our programme, has remained high this year, and the impact surveys that we administered at the end of each session have remained consistently positive, as was feedback from mentors and teachers.

 

Our unique digital system of providing students with a mentor continued to ensure the best matches for the students most in need, and during the second half of the year we were able to complete the development of our own bilingual e-mentoring space, accessible via an app, desktop or laptop. Mentora Mullany was launched for our summer session in 2022, and received excellent feedback. For the first time, our young people and mentors could choose to talk to each other in Welsh, if they felt more comfortable doing so.

 

With our mentors still unable to meet anyone face-to-face in the first half of the year, we continued to provide fantastic online work experience days. During this time, as with the previous year, our mentors also stepped into the breach and provided several excellent Vlogs about a Day in the Life of their professions. However, we were also delighted that in the summer of 2022 our work experience partners were also able to return to some face-to-face work experience opportunities, and our students were lucky enough to attend the Assistive Technologies Innovation Centre, Swansea University Nursing Department, and the Scarlets.

 

Finally, this year has seen us continue to develop our partnership work, examples include the secondment of an Events Officer, with the Social Mobility Foundation. We also continue to work with the STEM Ambassadors Scheme, both of which have enhanced the opportunities and information available to our e-Mentoring students.

 

We continue to be supported with a large number of committed and returning volunteer mentors who give inspirational advice to our students, and we continue to gain mentors with an engineering and construction specialism. As always, the continuing key to our success has been these volunteers, as well as the teachers who help facilitate our work in their schools and colleges. We are so grateful for their continuing support during themes difficult times

 

As it appears thing are gradually returning to a new post Covid normal, but in a world where people are experiencing ongoing challenges which affect their everyday survival, we continue to wish everybody well and hope that our work can contribute to a better future.

Richard Bowen, Chair of Trustees

 

Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 August 2022

The trustees present their report with the financial statements of the charity for the year ended 31 August 2022. The trustees have adopted the provisions of Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (effective 1 January 2019).

The Charity was registered as a Charitable Incorporated organisation on the 16th March 2020.

 

Objectives and Activities

Objectives and Aims:

 To advance the education of young people, in particular but not exclusively, in the life science sector and to undertake such charitable purposes or to make donations to such a charitable institution or institutions at such a time or times and in such a manner as the trustees may in their absolute discretion see fit.

Social Mobility: The Mullany Fund is a social mobility charity that achieves change through education. The Fund works to give every young person the opportunity of accessing a career in the life sciences, regardless of background.

Fundraising: The Mullany Fund raises money from events, individual donors, trusts and foundations.

Public Benefit: Trustees adhere to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit

 

Overall impacts September 2021-August 2022

We ask the young people involved in each session to complete an exit questionnaire. Of those who responded to our exit questionnaires, they said they project had helped them in the following ways:

Inspiration: On average, 86% agreed that they had improved their confidence to achieve their future dreams

Knowledge: On average 83% agreed they had an improved understanding of the range of jobs involved in life sciences

On average, 85% agreed they had a better understanding of the steps needed to achieve their life science goal

Skills: On average:

- 80% said that they had better study skills

- 62.5% feel they got advice on exam preparation and revision techniques

- 70% said they had better communication skills

- 67% felt that they had a better idea of how to access work experience

Moving On: On average:

- 83% of those involved in the project felt they would apply to university

- 53% of those involved who were in the relevant year group felt that they had a better understanding of how to write   CVs, personal statements. and application forms

 

Achievement and Performance

This year, it has been exciting to progress into the seventh year overall of our Mullany e-Mentoring project. Our project goal remains to address some of the barriers faced by young people experiencing disadvantage, who wish to enter life-science and healthcare occupations. We do this by running a free online mentoring service, that aims to connect 14-19-year-olds from disadvantaged backgrounds with a mentor who is studying or working in a life science or healthcare area. Through an interactive, online process, the mentor provides academically related and more generic support, to our target group. The project also runs two additional elements, Future Routes and Insight talks, with the former providing work experience opportunities and the latter providing online or face to face careers talks in schools.

 

During the year we have widened our subject base of support to include some aspects of STEM, specifically engineering and construction. In addition, we have widened the geographical areas where we have been operating. As well as working with state secondary schools servicing Swansea, Neath Port Talbot, Merthyr, Bridgend and Rhondda Cynon Taf (RCT), we have connected with some schools in Blaenau Gwent and Carmarthenshire and aim to build up our work in these areas in the future. We have also worked with local voluntary organisations, where possible, and when the constrictions of Covid 19 have allowed this.

 

During the global pandemic we have maintained our reach and continued to use robust monitoring systems to measure our impact. Our key approach is regular monitoring through exit questionnaires, to make sure that what we are doing reflects the needs of our participants. Here is what some of our project stakeholders have had to say about their involvement.

 

Mentor

'It helped me focus on what's important to me for my own future. Mentoring encourages me to reflect on my own dreams, values and abilities.'

It's been an overwhelmingly positive experience. My mentee, is determined and bright. I feel privileged to be of any help to this talented woman.'

You have done well to continue the support despite covid-19, the students have tried hard too.'

Teacher

"I don't know anything else that is on offer to schools in Wales that is similar to this programme….The fact that it is open to anyone, that kind of equity is very important".

Student

'My mentor is amazing she provides the necessary recommendations and helps guide me in the right direction.'

'I think my mentor has done a great job with helping me with information about future careers, areas of work, and overall support about the future. I am happy with the amount of support I have gained especially due to the Covid-19 situation.'

 

Future Routes and Insight Talks

Alongside the e-Mentoring process, we also provide work experience opportunities and career talks.

With regards to our work experience opportunities, due to Covid, we have still had to modify our work experience opportunities through the Future Routes Programme, due to our inability to meet face to face. Despite the pandemic, however, we have continued with our wonderful online workshops through most of the year and in the summer of 2022 were finally able to return to face to face with the Assistive Technologies Innovation Centre (ATIC) team based in Swansea, and the nursing, midwifery and medicine team at Swansea University. The Scarlets also provided a wonderful work experience opportunity in the summer of 2022.  The following was the fantastic feedback from these workshops, and we are so grateful for the input of the staff involved with these:

 

Swansea University nursing, midwifery and medicine team

'(The workshop was) realistic and informative. Other workshops can be biased in what they say but this was a great realistic talk that has improved my confidence in applying to University.'

 

ATIC

'Seeing a team of people, all from different backgrounds work so well together. They each had their area of interest and specialty but they all got along and had a lovely working environment. 3d printing was awesome too!'

'It was a great opportunity to find out wider range of healthcare, furthermore different use of VR and 3D printing technology. I never had a chance to be familiar with those technologies before, however I enjoyed the aspects of them and led me to think more open minded.'

'Meeting the team and getting to know more about their individual backgrounds and how they got to where they are today. I found it fascinating that they all did different degrees in completely different subjects, but they all work in the same team and really complement each other. I'd love to be a part of a team that works this well in the future'.

 

Scarlets

In addition, we were fortunate to be able to provide one student with a fantastic opportunity with the Scarlets rugby team this summer. We think his words speak for themselves!

'I don't think there is a particular moment from the experience. There is multiple, I just thoroughly enjoyed experiencing what it takes to work in the industry. Having said this, a couple of moments stand out as I reflect on the experience - observing training sessions with the Performance Analyst interns, providing assistance to a few of the physios during rehabilitation sessions for of the injured players.'

 

Careers talks

With regards to our career talks, we love being able to provide as much insight as possible into careers that our students would like to pursue in the future, and this would be impossible without the help of our mentors. Pre COVID 19 our career talks were provided both face to face in schools and mentors also provided short films from mentors talking about their careers. These Vlogs can be accessed online by all those who take part in the e-Mentoring project. During Covid, our mentors have continued to provide us with several Vlogs around the themes of 'A Day in the Life' being added to our Insight 'Bank'. This year our mentors also contributed to a recruitment video for our students, and this has been well received.

 

Oxford University

Finally, 25 year 10 students from Ysgol Nantgwyn were lucky enough to be able to visit Jesus College, Oxford University. The visit received excellent feedback from all involved, and we have agreed to run more visit days in the future.

 

Mentor and student matches and a new IT development....

We continue to use our innovative IT system, which has the potential to match every child in Wales with a mentor. Using multiple factors to define the interest area of our target students, the automatic system will identify the best match for our students in terms of those who can assist them most effectively. Our system enables us to expand in line with the number of mentors we are able to recruit, and this has afforded us fantastic opportunities for development over the last year. This year we have managed to largely match student and mentor with their first area of interest and speciality, and this is of great benefit to both.

 

An exciting development this year, which has built on our matching system above, has been the development of our own e-Mentoring space, Mentora Mullany, which is linked to our registration system, and which also allows our students and mentors to chat in Welsh, if they wish to do so. Of course, safeguarding barriers are put in place for both our Welsh and English speakers. The space was completed for our summer 2022 session, piloted with mentors and students, and received positive feedback. We hope to be able to develop Mentora in the future to make it as easy and effective to use as possible.

 

Thanks to our mentors!...........

Mentors are recruited from across the UK and now form part of a Mentor Bank with over 400 mentors registered for each session. All of those who are going to be involved in an e-Mentoring session must have an up-to-date enhanced DBS check, to ensure safeguarding of the young people involved. We also take every measure to ensure that our mentors remain safe as well. All matched mentors are provided with in house training, including the important topic of safeguarding.

Many of our mentors continue to return from session to session, something we are very proud of, and which we feel reflects the personal touch that we try and maintain throughout our interactions.

All mentors have the option to return an exit questionnaire at the end of each session they have been involved with allowing them to feed back to us about their experience and provide constructive criticism. From these surveys, our mentors this year have said:

'It was positive to mentor students specifically interested in the profession I'm training for. I felt much more able to share practical, relevant advice.'

'I like the weekly themes because it navigates the conversation and I LOVE the Monday motivational quotes!'

'It just makes me happy that I can help someone - I never received that when I was younger, especially in science, so if I can just be there for them, then I know

It helped me focus on what's important to me for my own future. Mentoring encourages me to reflect on my own dreams, values and abilities.'

'I actually really enjoyed.., the weekly themes seem to be very helpful and give me some ideas what I can try to engage the student with and on the other hand the contact from the Mullany Fund does not seem overwhelmingly too frequent.'

This year we have added new individuals to this ever-expanding resource, and have focused on including a more diverse range of people able to offer support, ranging from nurses, to midwives, research scientists to sports scientists, as well as a range of engineers. To facilitate the process of expanding to wider STEM subjects, we have continued to work with the STEM Ambassadors scheme.

 

Our mentors come from all sorts of professions and the routes that they take to their current positions are very varied....

We know how important it is to show our potential students both the range of mentors who are available to support them, and also that not everybody who mentors them has followed an easy, clear, or conventional pathway to reach where they are today. To this end, we encourage mentors to include a profile of themselves and their professional path, when they register for the programme, and below we have included examples of the career pathways that some of them have taken.

'I am now Bid Manager for a group of companies that deliver infrastructure schemes across several disciplines, including civil engineering, rail, street lighting, steel structures and roadside communications.

I always struggled with career direction, not knowing what options were available through my route of study, leading to me testing the water in several fields, including as a secondary teacher. I look forward to the opportunity of offering others some guidance from my own experience.'

'I am a data analyst in the aerospace industry, and previously marine biologist. My work in biology focused on the role of seabed animals such as worms and snails in helping maintain the health of their ecosystem; my enjoyment of communicating science has grown out of needing to explain that its most interesting parts often aren't what you might expect!'

'I have been a physiotherapist for the past 19 years. I have worked in lots of different settings including hospitals, businesses, GP clinics and overseas.  For the past 6 years I have been teaching Physiotherapy at a University in the UK, where I am an admissions tutor and a senior lecturer. I have a master's degree in acupuncture and teach this skill to post-graduate physiotherapists.'

'I am a Slovakian psychology student, that loves sports like boxing, biking, and frisbee. I study at (a Welsh) University and it has brought extra-challenges since I am an international student. This allows me to provide a different perspective than UK students.'

'I'm a third year psychology student. I've worked in various retail jobs throughout my life and after some personal experience with CAMHS, I checked my options into helping children become their best selves.'

'I'm a qualified physician associate with a background in Biological and Chemical Sciences. I have experience mentoring people aged 16-25+ particularly from disadvantaged or non-traditional backgrounds, and I'm friendly, enthusiastic and approachable!'

'I am from an underprivileged background and gained my BSc and PhD in chemistry. My specialty is Molecular Imaging (scanning, diagnostics) and after working at a University in research for a few years I now work in the private sector in the same research area - using radiochemistry, pre-clinical imaging and healthcare technologies to support drug development. I grew up with very limited support, dragged myself through the hard way, and know I would have benefited from something like this.'

 

Chatting at a time convenient for you......

Since the beginning of our project, we have been kindly supported in our mentoring project by an external organisation called Brightside, who provided a secure e-Mentoring platform for our students and mentors. However, we felt that it would be better for us if we were able to use a system that was more integrated with our student and mentor registration and which was fully bilingual. Hence Mentora Mullany was born, and it was first piloted for our summer 2022 session.

Accessible via a computer or app, we are thrilled with the new e-Mentoring space. Mentors and students can chat at a time convenient to themselves and the lives they lead. Both questions and responses can be considered and unrushed, and many participants say that this is a major benefit of the online nature of the support provided. All messages pass through a moderation system to ensure everybody remain safe.

All mentors and charity staff must hold a valid Disclosure and Barring Service enhanced check.

 

Award for Excellence

A further element of our work is the Award for Excellence. The Mullany Fund are delighted to be able to make an award every year to students at either the University of the West of England (The Mullany Award for Excellence in Physiotherapy) or Swansea University (The Mullany Award for Excellence in Medicine). In 2022 the recipient was Louie Howie

'I feel very honoured and proud that the UWE physiotherapy programme team awarded me the Mullany Prize for Excellence. The award was for our conversations about inclusivity within physiotherapy. I am interested in how physiotherapy can become more inclusive of gender diversity, including transgender. I'm also interested in the anti-racist work that a physiotherapy training programme needs to include, and my conversations with the programme team went hand in hand with my own learning about this following the murder of George Floyd in 2020 and the Black Lives Matter demonstrations. I'm a member of the CSP LGBTQIA+ Diversity Network, and attend meetings with members of the CSP BAME Diversity Network and the DisAbility Diversity Network, and I know that there is still a lot of work to be done in physiotherapy to weaken structural oppression. I'm grateful to the Mullany Fund for the opportunity to bring a little more attention to this work.'

 

Other organisations

The charity always aims to develop our work with other organisations, both in the public and private sectors, particularly where the organisations target groups are the same as our own or where we can help enhance each other's objectives. This year we worked with Sumayah Hussain, seconded to the Social Mobility Foundation until January 2022, as an Events Officer. Her key task was to organise live webinars around life science professions, provided by our volunteer mentors, as well as workshops around MMI interview techniques. She will also worked on support resources for those who attended. The whole process supported our Insight Series, and we are very grateful to the Social Mobility Foundation for agreeing to support Sumayah in this process.

'The guest speakers, especially the adult nurse, were excellent at providing me with an insight into the pros and cons of their career as well as the daily, lived-in experience of their jobs.'

 

Financial review

Financial position

During the year, the charity had a total income of £72,557. Expenditure in the year totalled £166,996, which therefore produced an overall net deficit of £94,439.

Total unrestricted reserves amounted to £168,604, of which £75,000 were designated for Legacy projects, leaving £93,604 as free reserves.

As at the 31st August 2022, total net assets were £187,271, of which £18,667 were restricted funds and £168,604 unrestricted funds.

 

Funding

We rely entirely on voluntary/grant contributions which can include legacy and wills.

 

Reserves policy

The trustees have set a reserve target of £125,000. This is an amount the trustees consider appropriate to ensure the continuation of the charity for at least 12 months if other funding sources ceased. Actual free reserves at the 31st August 2022 were £93,604. It is the aim of the charity to further increase free reserves over future years in order to meet the required target set.

 

Structure, Governance and Management

Governing document

The charity is controlled by its governing document, a deed of trust and constitutes an unincorporated charity.

 

Recruitment and appointment of new trustees

New Trustees must be interviewed by the current Board of Trustees, and if appointed are informed of their legal obligations under charity law, the decision-making process and the business plan and recent financial performance of the charity. The charity aims to recruit people who can offer a range of skills.

 

Reference and Administrative Details

Registered Charity number

1188554

 

Principal address

Room 409, Institute of Life Sciences 2, Swansea University, Swansea, SA2 8PP

 

Trustees

A Mullany, M Mullany, Dr E Williams, R Bowen, Dr J Roberts (appointed 1.9.21), N Russill, R Bowen

 

Independent Examiner

Richard Knoyle, ACA FCCA, Baker Knoyle Chartered Accountants, Orbit Business Centre, Merthyr Tydfil, CF48 1DL

 

Bankers

Lloyds Bank, 16 Market Place, Oldham, OL1 1JG

 

Charity day to day management

R Bowen - Trustee

Approved by order of the board of trustees on 3 March 2023 and signed on its behalf by: R Bowen - Trustee

 

Independent Examiner's Report

I report to the charity trustees on my examination of the accounts of The Mullany Fund (the Trust) for the year ended 31 August 2022.

 

Responsibilities and basis of report

As the charity trustees of the Trust you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 ('the Act').

I report in respect of my examination of the Trust's accounts carried out under Section 145 of the Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed all applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under Section 145(5)(b) of the Act.

 

Independent examiner's statement

I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:

1.	accounting records were not kept in respect of the Trust as required by Section 130 of the Act; or
2.	the accounts do not accord with those records; or
3.	the accounts do not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a true and fair view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination.

I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

Richard Knoyle, ACA FCCA, Baker Knoyle Chartered Accountants, Orbit Business Centre, Merthyr Tydfil, CF48 1DL

3 March 2023

 

Statement of Financial Activities 

Balance Sheet

The financial statements were approved by the Board of Trustees and authorised for issue on 3 March 2023 and were signed on its behalf by: R Bowen - Trustee

 

Notes to the Financial Statements