The challenges we faced during the peak of the pandemic have further demonstrated how mentoring can be an incredibly powerful tool to help you progress in your career at any time, whether you are the mentee working with an independent mentor, or the mentor who is supporting another researcher.
In a period of change and uncertainty, it is even more important to tap into your support network. We have brought together some personal stories, encouraging you to reach out to your own mentees and mentors, and some resources to help you make the most of this relationship, be it virtually or in person.
Hear from a mentor-mentee pair on their experiences of what it's been like to keep listening, and keep in touch, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Professor Mandy MacLean FMedSci has been mentoring for over thirty years. In her video, she reviews the stark challenges facing early career researchers post-COVID, with an ever-more competitive and uncertain career path.
Dr Gemma Modinos is an Academy SUSTAIN participant and mentee, and a Sir Henry Dale Fellow and Senior Lecturer at King’s College London. Here, she discusses why having a mentor to talk to during this time has been extremely valuable.
Since the inception of theAcademy's Mentoring programme over 15 years ago, a number of resources have been developed to support both mentees and mentors. The reading materials below are designed to stimulate reflection and are a useful starting point for anyone interested in learning about mentoring.
'Supporting mentoring relationships during COVID-19'. This resource, created by Alexis Hutson, is intended to support you in how you may need to adapt your conversations and maintain the mentoring relationship throughout this period. Click on the image below to enlarge it.
"The Right Mentor Can Change Your Career. Here's How to Find One." The right mentoring relationship can be a powerful tool for professional growth. The podcast below, from National Public Radio, describes how to find a good mentor, make the ask and make it work (formally). You can also read the accompanying article here.
Your Digital Mentor is a free podcast series, delivered as part of a collaborative project between the Wellcome Sanger Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus Advanced Courses and Scientific Conferences, and the Social Entrepreneurship to Spur Health. The series will explore topics around mentoring and career development, tackling the challenges through real stories and honest discussions from experts guests across the world.
The episode below focuses on how one can establish and effectively maintain a mentoring relationship. The guests will share their different experiences in building and sustaining the relationships they have had with their mentors and mentees.
'Social Distancing Doesn’t Have to Disrupt Mentorship'. This article published in Harvard Business News focuses on how, in these uncertain circumstances, mentors must focus on the psychosocial functions of mentorship: those functions that tap into empathy, compassion, and deliberate expressions of care.