We aim to act as a catalyst for others to start their own mentoring programmes.
The Academy is an advocate of the benefits of developmental mentoring and we are keen to share our knowledge and experience. Our Mentoring programme has inspired several programmes in academic institutions in the UK, including the Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, University of Manchester and North West Deanery and the King’s College London Cross Departmental Postdoctoral Mentoring Programme.
One of the main ways we support other mentoring programmes is by holding catalysis workshops on developing and running a mentoring programme. These workshops are facilitated by Alexis Hutson, who also runs our Mentoring Masterclasses for mentees and mentors in the Academy programme. Attendees at catalysis workshops have been from a great mix of different organisations, including medical charities, higher education institutes and medical societies. They may be running mentoring programmes at different stages, from just starting out to well established and looking for fresh perspectives.
The workshops focus on the key elements to consider when designing a mentoring programme, as well as an introduction to the developmental model of mentoring and plenty of time for questions. We share our experience of setting up and maintaining a mentoring programme, but also invite representatives from other programmes to share their experiences.
‘The presentations were very good and quite inspiring - it was good to hear from several different speakers.’ 2017 Catalysis workshop attendee
Time in each workshop is devoted to group discussions, where attendees can raise queries or challenges they face, and share best practice. We often learn something new, or hear interesting ideas that encourage us to evolve our own programme.
‘Overall, the course was really well organised, very useful and thought-provoking. It has definitely helped me to develop my ideas around any potential scheme and learn from others what worked well and what might be the pitfalls in establishing a scheme.’ 2017 Catalysis workshop attendee
We really like to hear from other organisations or institutions who have set up, or are looking to set up mentoring programmes, so do get in touch on mentoring@acmedsci.ac.uk and keep an eye on our website for future catalysis workshops.
This article is part of a fifteen day social media campaign celebrating our Mentoring programme, follow the Academy on Twitter @acmedsci and check #mentoringat15 for further updates.
For more information about our Mentoring programme, please visit the mentoring pages of our website.