All newly appointed assistant professors and postdocs will be offered a mentor.
The mentoring arrangement functions simultaneously with other professional courses and career development initiatives such as the Lecturer Training Programme or more local initiatives in specific research groups.
The offer is therefore aimed at junior researchers whose employment is financed by both ordinary means and external projects.
The mentoring agreement has two purposes:
The mentor is the newly employed junior researcher’s (menteen’s) contact person and must help the newly employed to settle in at the department – in the organisation and in the culture. In this way, the partnership is established within the first working week of the meenteen, and one of the mentor’s tasks is to assist the meenteen in getting integrated in the everyday life of the department and in the working culture at the university. Especially international employees are often challenged at this point and may need extra assistance.
The mentor is, however, not supposed to solve all the menteen’s problems. The mentor’s role is to guide and discuss relevant matters and be able to refer the menteen to relevant functions and offices.
The other purpose of having a mentor is to enable the junior employee to strengthen their career possibilities at the university and/or elsewhere. The mentor offers their own career experience and gives the menteen advice and guidance as well as competent feedback regarding specific ideas and plans.
The mentor and the mentee agree on a meeting frequency. During the first months of the course, short meetings can be suitable (for example lunch meetings once a week or every fortnight) with the focus on the menteen’s immediate experience and challenges. The career feedback is expected to be 2-4 meetings of about 2 hours. A mentor relation is expected to last a year but can be prolonged by appointment.
Mentor and mentee are primarily responsible for the quality and the outcome of the relation. The mentee is responsible for the contents of the conversation and the mentor for the framework and the process. An important matter is that both parties fully agree on their roles and what is expected of them; including confidentiality.
The department management administers the mentor arrangement including matching mentors and mentees. It is taken into consideration that there is no reference between mentor and mentee (project management, study management etc.)
What do you gain by being a mentee:
- A mentor is an independent and confidential conversational partner who is part of your everyday life without you having any mutual reference.
- Here you can talk about topics that are not evident to discuss with your closest research colleagues, your supervisor, your project leader, or your leader.
- With the help of your mentor, you can focus on your career strategy and test scenarios before you realise them.
- When you discuss your ambitions and values in working life with your mentor, their input will make it possible to clarify and define reflection and realization. This will help you in your professional and personal development.
- Use the arrangement to start your personal and career-wise development. Find your strengths and areas of development, get professional advice on specific problems in your everyday life, explore and test ideas, visions, possibilities, and solutions. Define your goals with your mentor and stick to them with the help of your mentor
What do you obtain by being a mentor?
- You help a new colleague get started – at the department and with the career.
- You work with your competences to develop and motivate others.
- Your mentee tells you what they want to work with, and you are responsible for the framework of the individual conversation and the ongoing process.
- You contribute with your career wise experience in relation to the future of mentees.
- Through your mentee, you have a window to the next generations at the university and a chance go pass on you own experience.
- Your knowledge, your own wishes and competence will be challenged.