Why become a Mentor

Mentor comments:

• "Giving back, paying it forward feels good. And, you’re basically helping shape a better, fairer system for research and beyond.”
• "I learnt from my Mentee! They do things differently to you and sometimes their ways are better than yours."
• “Mentoring made me more hopeful about the future of academia and the potential for real collaboration between diverse disciplines.”

Mentors will gain and improve skills in mentoring and career management and have the opportunity to "make a valuable contribution to ECAs in a way that would not be possible without the program". To support the Mentors in their role, NECTAR offers resources on strategic mentoring and additional support throughout the program, including optional Mentor Community of Practice sessions.

"Mentoring of Early Career Researchers" is listed as a performance indicator for promotion at ANU.

Who can be a Mentor

The Mentees in the ANU NECTAR Mentoring Program are a diverse group of junior academics with a range of experiences and mentoring needs. We are therefore recruiting Mentors with diverse experiences, including in academic, industry and professional roles. An affiliation with ANU is not required to enrol as a Mentor. Non-ANU Mentors have to agree to comply with ANU policies and procedures, in particular the ANU Code of Conduct.

The program offers training and support for Mentors and is suitable for both experienced and inexperienced Mentors.

In this program, Mentors and Mentees are paired with the aim to create enjoyable and valuable mentoring relationships for both the Mentor and Mentee. The matching process is guided by the individual’s mentoring preferences and needs, e.g. academic mentoring vs. mentoring to support career change. Cross-disciplinary mentoring is encouraged though same-discipline mentoring relationships are possible.

What is involved

NECTAR aims to minimise the required time commitment and administration for Mentors as much as possible. As a minimum requirement, Mentors in the ANU NECTAR Mentoring Program must be prepared to meet regularly with their Mentee for the duration of the program (~7 months, by electronic means if necessary). Mentor-Mentee pairs will coordinate their own meeting arrangements. It is recommended that Mentor-Mentee pairs meet monthly for one hour but different models may be more suitable for some mentoring relationships. It is the Mentees responsibility to lead the mentoring relationship, e.g. to schedule the meetings; some initial guidance by the Mentor might be required for some Mentees.

Upon enrolment, all Mentors are asked to submit Mentor Profiles that will be published in the Mentor database to assist the matching process. Feedback from Mentees in the program clearly showed that these profiles are a crucial tool for Mentees to nominate suitable Mentors and cannot be replaced by ANU Researcher profiles as the information provided is very different. NECTAR therefore strongly encourages all Mentors to take a few minutes to prepare their profile.

For an enriched experience, Mentors are invited to participate in the following optional events and activities:

• 1.5-hour workshop for Mentors on mentoring strategies; aimed at first-time Mentors and everyone who would like to reflect on their practices.
• Social gathering with all program participants at the end of the program.
• Optional, monthly Mentor Community of Practice sessions. Mentors have found these gatherings to be an excellent opportunity for networking and peer support.

For a program overview, please see here. It is expected that the total investment for Mentors, who participate in all Mentoring Program events and meet their Mentee every month for 7 months, is less than 20 hours over the duration of the 9-month program. The minimum time investment depends on the frequency and length of the meetings with the Mentee but is estimated to be no more than 10 hours.

How to enrol

To enrol as a Mentor, please fill out the short online form. Upon enrolment, you will receive a Mentor welcome email including a template for your Mentor Profile and information regarding the Program commencement workshop for Mentors. Enrolments will be open from 8 February 2024 and will remain open until 14 March 2024, 11 PM.

How to withdraw from the Program

Before 1 April 2024, you can withdraw from your enrolments as Mentor at any time without providing a reason by sending an email to mentoring.nectar@anu.edu.au.
Once paired with a Mentee, withdrawal from the program is possible provided the NECTAR office has been contacted and attempts have been made to resolve relevant issues.