Academic Mentoring

Who it is aimed at

Academic Mentoring is a programme designed for women and gender minoritised individuals who work at USI as doctoral or post-doctoral researchers.

What it is

Academic mentoring is an instrument for accompanying a university career that is complementary to the framework offered by the individual Faculties, and offers guidance in planning one's academic career, perfecting one's knowledge or expanding one's network of contacts in one's field of research.

In particular, USI's Academic Mentoring programme allows you to

• be associated with a mentor, i.e. a person-resource (professor, lecturer, researcher) who is an expert in the chosen field of activity. A mentor is a person who wishes to make his/her experience available to one or more researchers* at the start of their university career. A mentor is a person who wishes to make his/her experience available to one or more female researchers* at the beginning of their university career. Being accompanied by a mentor is a complementary framework to the one offered by the Faculty of reference: it is a form of personalised guidance, which contributes to the definition of a precise career path and to the achievement of one's objectives.
• apply for the Shadowing mobility grant and collaborate with a mentor working in another academic institution, benefiting from relief from work activities at USI for this period.

How to participate

To take part in the programme, you must submit the completed registration form.

Then, the mentee will be called in for an interview, and invited to define her objectives and draw up a profile of her ideal mentor. The mentor may be a person already known to the aspiring mentee; or someone who can be identified with the help of the Equal Opportunities Service, on the basis of the profile preferred by the mentee.

When the matching process has been completed, both mentee and mentor sign an Agreement. The agreement sets out the objectives to be reached, defines the boundaries of the collaboration, a schedule, and the conduct of the meetings. Both parties are expected to act in line with the terms of the agreement, and to contact the Equal Opportunities Service in the event of any changes or particular issues.