The popular Flinders University Researcher Mentoring Program for Early-Career Researchers will run be running again in 2025, and expressions of interest from academics across Flinders are now open.

This popular program pairs early career researchers (ECRs) with senior academics who can help develop their research careers, meeting their research aspirations and goals, and forming strategies for future academic success.

Running from March to November 2024, the program also provides an opportunity for ECRs to form a university-wide community with their fellow mentees at similar career stages (all are within eight years post-PhD). This dynamic ECR community serves as a source of support and information for the mentees during the program and beyond.

In the weeks before the next program starts in March, mentees and mentors will be provided with resources to help them succeed in the program. Each mentee–mentor pair is expected to meet regularly, and the cohort of mentees will gather for three Roundtable Workshops to discuss topics of relevance to their career stage.

Professor Raymond Chan, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) and a former mentor in the program, is pleased the program is returning for 2025.

“The program is an opportunity for early-career researchers to benefit from the support and valuable skills and knowledge of senior researchers at Flinders. This Program has served more than 280 ECRs since 2012. The feedback from the mentees has been consistently positive, highlighting improvements to their research profiles and well-being. I personally participated as a mentor in this program and found it an extremely rewarding experience.” says Professor Chan.

“The University values the ‘culture of care’ and wealth of experience that our senior academic staff bring to mentoring our early-career researchers. I strongly encourage researchers at all stages of their careers to participate in this Program either as mentees or mentors.”

This year’s program has received excellent feedback from both mentees and mentors, as reflected in these representative quotes:

• Mentee: “The one-on-one sessions have been incredible! I didn’t realise how much I needed a mentor outside of my own field to help me see the bigger picture of things and take a new approach to challenges.”
• Mentor: “[The program] reinforces how far I have come in my own career and what I have to offer others.”
• Mentee: “It has been great getting to know a leader from another college and to work through some strategies for advancing my career.”
• Mentor: “I have also been learning some skills and strategies from hearing about my mentee’s practices (e.g., efficiencies, time management, and boundaries).”

For more information including the 2025 program overview, eligibility criteria for mentees and mentors, and the links to the Expression of Interest forms for mentees and mentors, please visit our webpage. Expressions of Interest close by COB Monday 25 November 2024.

Please contact the Program Coordinator, Dr Jen Beaudry (Manager, Researcher Training, Development and Communication) if you need any further information or clarification.