Research Mentoring Scheme

The College Research Committee endeavours to support early-career and established researchers through the establishment of a research-mentoring scheme.

Mentors are individuals with research experience and knowledge who are committed to providing support to early-career researchers wishing to undertake a research project, or those considering research as a career pathway.

Mentoring is an important part of an early-career academics’ development. Mentees engage with a mentor that can provide advice and support regarding research planning and conduct, identifying opportunities for research collaboration and promotion, helping to build and extend professional networks, and complementing the advice and guidance provided by any official research supervisory teams.

Mentors can also be a source of support for mid-career researchers embarking on projects in a new research topic or methodology.

Reasons for seeking a mentor

The mentor-menee relationship is important and every person’s reasons for seeking a mentor may be different. Some reasons may include;

• Help getting started on a research project
• General advice on balancing work, life and research
• Advice on grants and funding applications
• Identifying and refining topics of interest for research within industry
• Turning ideas into answerable research questions
• Getting help searching the literature
• Support on understanding the existing evidence-base for a research question
• Assistance in applying for fellowship applications
• Professional networking
• Advice on collaboration across disciplines
• Advice on specific research methodologies
• Publication advice

Reasons for becoming a mentor

Being a mentor is different from the role of a research supervisor and is an informal support and guidance role. Individuals will have differing reasons for wishing to become a mentor such as;

• Developing the next generation of paramedic researchers
• Supporting the development of a body of research in paramedicine
• Sharing knowledge and expertise in a less formal role than traditional Higher Degree by Research (HDR) Supervision

The role of a mentor is not to;

• Recommend specific universities or courses
• Recommend specific supervisors or researchers (however advice on content experts is appropriate)
• Provide legal advice
• Recommend specific industry partners

Commitment

The Research Committee recommends a specified duration of twelve months for each mentor-mentee relationship to be established, with an evaluation occurring at the end of this duration. Should the mentor and mentee wish to continue the arrangement this will be at the discretion of mentor and mentee.

Participating in the program, as either a mentee or mentor, does not require a large time commitment. Initially, you will need to set aside time for a one-hour introductory session. Following this, you can reasonably expect to meet with your mentor/mentee between three-six times for the duration of the program.

The most common frequency of meetings is once every one-two months, for a duration of one hour per meeting.

Want to be involved?

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