What is mentoring?

Mentoring is a valuable way to get support, guidance and encouragement for your career development.

A mentoring relationship can help you reflect on your goals, explore new opportunities and think more clearly about your next steps. It can also expand your networks, build confidence and support your career progression.

Mentoring can take different forms, including:

• Traditional mentoring – learning from someone with more experience
• Peer mentoring – sharing support and insight with colleagues at a similar career stage
• Reverse mentoring – learning from someone with different perspectives or level of experience 
• Group mentoring – developing through shared discussion and support

Although these approaches are different, they all aim to provide support, motivation and practical strategies for career planning and development.

Mentoring can be beneficial at any stage of your career. It can help mentees to:

• take more ownership of your development
• review your options and future direction
• identify goals and build career plans
• gain new perspectives and insights
• make new connections and broaden your knowledge

Mentoring is also beneficial for mentors. It offers an opportunity to develop coaching and communication skills, gain fresh perspectives, reflect on their own career journey and contribute to the development of others. Many mentors also find the experience personally rewarding and valuable for their own professional development.

A mentoring relationship should be separate from your line management or supervisory arrangements. Your mentor should be independent of your PI or line manager, and mentoring should not form part of your annual review/ P&DR.

Instead, mentoring should be seen as a continuing professional development opportunity, a space to learn, reflect and plan for the future.

For researchers, mentoring can also count towards your 10 days’ professional development entitlement.

10 days professional development - find out more