About the programme
The mentoring programme for talented scientists will start at the beginning of October 2024 with separate workshops for mentors and mentees in which information will be given about, among other things, the programme, possible topics, the roles of the mentor and the mentee and practical matters of the programme. In the second week of October, intake interviews will take place in which we will discuss your personal goals and your wishes with regard to your mentor.
Mentors and mentees rated the programme with 4.3 and 4.7 respectively on a five-point scale. A summary of the evaluation can be found here.
Quotes by mentees:
- ‘"Various creative examples of how to create more impact with my research.’"
- "Helping me with strategy, making choices, dealing with non-functional collaborations.’"
- "To be strategic with my decisions, to be careful with what I promise I will do, to evaluate my real capabilities.’"
Quotes by mentors:
- "Help new international staff to better integrate and understand the system.’"
- "It provides an opportunity for explicit reflection that would otherwise not happen and it provides an external point of view that might be usefully different from the local culture/customs/habits.’"
- "By providing encouragement and support by making mentees aware of career planning."
Topics of discussion
Each mentee will have approx. 5 discussions with his/her mentor. In these discussions, mentee and mentor will cover various topics related to organizing the scientific career of the mentee. For example:
- Visibility in the academic world and networking
- Strategic choices
- Acquisition of external funding for your research
- Prioritizing (research, education and management)
- How to control your career
- Work/life balance
For whom?
The programme is intended for Dutch and English-speaking assistant professors and postdocs. Depending on their specific questions and needs, they will be matched with an excellent experienced scientist (professor or associate professor) of another faculty. Thus, the match between mentor and mentee will in principle cross the boundaries of faculties. In a period of about 10 months, mentor and mentee will have approx. 5 discussions.
You as a mentee are motivated and have a clear development question. For the mentor, seniority, motivation and coaching skills are important.
About the trainers
The workshop for mentors will be given by Erik de Haan, director of the Ashridge's Center for Coaching and professor of Organisation Development at the VU. The workshops and intake interviews with the mentees will be held by Lidy Stassen (coordinator career counselling) and Veronique Bremers (HR Advisor Faculty of Humanities).
Practical information
The faculties will decide whether to participate in the programme or not. Should you be interested in participating as a mentee, please contact the HR Advisor of your faculty or the head of your department. The faculty is responsible for the ultimate selection of the mentees. The (candidate) mentors will be approached by on or behalf of the dean of their faculty.
A maximum of 40 participants can participate in this programme.
The time investment is approx. 10 hours (participation workshop, intake and 5 discussions).
After you have been registered, you will receive an automatic confirmation of your registration. VU Learning & Development will send a separate e-mail to mentors and mentees asking you to fill out a mentor profile or intake form respectively.
Costs
As a compensation for programme costs, we ask mentees for a contribution of € 25. This contribution is automatically charged to your department.
Contact
Would you like to learn more about the mentoring programme for talented scientists? Please contact the HR Advisor of your faculty or Lidy Stassen.