Eastern Arc Mentoring Scheme launched

Eastern Arc offers us the chance to go beyond the limits of our own university and work creatively with colleagues across the consortium.

As well as research collaborations and wider networks, it’s an opportunity to get a different perspective, alternative insights, and supplementary skills in a wide range of areas relating to our academic life and practice.

To support this process, we have launched the Eastern Arc mentoring scheme.

Mentoring enables us to be supported, guided and coached by others. It allows for a safe and non-judgemental discussion, and can cover all aspects of your career.

Engaging with someone outside of your own university will allow you to view your situation more objectively, and it will give you an invaluable understanding of how to develop your career, how to balance conflicting demands that you may be faced with, or how to deal with the more practical aspects of research or teaching.

You can be either – or both – a mentor or a mentee. In standard mentoring it is usually a more senior colleague who mentors; in reverse mentoring the more junior colleague can offer specific insights and knowledge to senior mentees.

Professor Tracey Loughran of the University of Essex took the lead on developing the Eastern Arc mentoring initiative.

‘As both mentor and mentee, I’ve benefited enormously from mentoring over the years,’ she said. ‘My first mentor provided me with fantastic career advice, as well as acting as a sounding board for all kinds of hopes and worries. In mentoring others, I’ve learnt so much about different approaches to teaching, research, and negotiating academic life. Mentoring is consistently the most rewarding activity I participate in as an academic.’

If you want to take part, go to our dedicated webpage for more information and an application form. The deadline for applications is 31 October 2020.

Photo by Charles Deluvio on Unsplash