University Research Staff Mentoring Scheme

For mentors: gaining a fresh perspective; continuing professional development; achievement in seeing your Mentee progress; doing something amazing to bolster your CV or application for promotion.

For mentees: tapping the knowledge and ideas of a more experienced academic; access to a ‘neutral’ person to act as a sounding board; assistance with setting and working towards achieving career development goals.

Mentees select and rank up to 2 areas for researcher development from a comprehensive list. The same categories are presented to Mentors, who confirm their expertise, knowledge and experience in these areas, and matching takes place on this basis. Matches are always made outside of the Mentee’s immediate School, to facilitate an objective mentoring conversation. This may be within the Mentee’s Faculty.

Mentees and Mentors will both receive an email confirming the match, which includes the criteria for matching, the duration of the mentoring and supporting documents.

We suggest that mentoring pairs meet at mutually convenient times, approximately (with a specific goal or goals in mind):

• 3 to 6 times
• for up to 1 hour
• for up to 6 months

There will be a mid-point check-in at 3 months and an opportunity to provide formal feedback at the end of the 6 month mentoring period.

I registered to become a Mentor but I haven’t heard anything. Why?

As soon as you apply to become Mentor, your details are added to the Mentor database. You remain in the Mentor database indefinitely, until you wish to leave the scheme. Matches are made according to the unique combination of categories for researcher development, as selected by the Mentee, and matches also need to be made outside of the Mentee's School, so if you were not matched in a particular year, it is entirely down to those reasons.

There are two annual calls for mentoring, in June and December, so depending on the time of year that you joined the scheme, there may be a wait for potential Mentees.

The way the scheme works requires there to be more Mentors than Mentees, to ensure that a match can be made with a Mentor who can offer expertise in as many of the Mentee’s chosen areas as possible, who is outside of the Mentee’s School, so inevitably there will be some Mentors who won’t be matched. Even when you aren't matched, your role as registered Mentor is still recorded in the University records and celebrated by the University. Your expertise and experience as continuing Mentor are highly valued.

I was matched with a Mentor/Mentee, but I haven’t heard from them. What should I do?

Firstly, try to make contact with them again. A single email can easily be missed at busy times. Sometimes, despite the best of intentions, a change of circumstances or unexpected obligations mean that a Mentor/Mentee is no longer able to commit sufficient time to mentoring. So if, in spite of your best efforts, you are unable to elicit a response, please contact the scheme co-ordinator (Jennie Cripps, Researcher Development Manager, jcripps@brookes.ac.uk) as soon as possible, so that an alternative Mentee/Mentor can be put in place.

I’m not available to act as Mentor this year (e.g. planned sabbatical, parental leave) but I don’t want to leave the scheme. What should I do?

If you are temporarily unavailable for mentoring, please let the scheme co-ordinator (Jennie Cripps, Researcher Development Manager, jcripps@brookes.ac.uk) know which dates you are out of action. The university records will be updated, noting the date you wish to re-join the scheme.

I applied to receive mentoring last year. Can I apply again this year?

Yes, you absolutely can! There is no limit to the number of times you can apply to become Mentee. All we ask is that you complete a new Mentee form, at each new call, so that you can be matched on the areas that you would like to develop in the coming 6 months.

I benefitted from mentoring last year and now I’d like to join the scheme as Mentor myself. Can I?

Yes please! We strongly encourage researchers who have undertaken mentoring themselves as Mentee to join the scheme as Mentor. We need Mentors at every career stage. 

Why does the mentoring partnership have to end after 6 months?

Experience indicates that, in order for the mentoring experience to be most effective, it is important to set a time limit. There is no reason why Mentor and Mentee may not stay in touch informally, after mentoring ends. The future success of the scheme is dependent on a fixed end point for the mentoring partnership, so that we have sufficient numbers of available Mentors to match with the next round of new Mentees.

The new mentoring call has gone out, but I want to continue being mentored by my current Mentor. Can I extend our mentoring partnership?

Complete a new Mentee form, noting the name of your current Mentor and your request to be matched with them again. If your current Mentor is available to continue the mentoring partnership, you will be formally matched again for another 6 months.

The mentoring partnership isn’t working out. What do I do?

Very occasionally the match just doesn’t feel right and that is completely ok. If things aren’t working out, for any reason, please contact the scheme co-ordinator (Jennie Cripps, Researcher Development Manager, jcripps@brookes.ac.uk) and a new Mentor/Mentee can be assigned.