Mentoring
Mentoring is an effective tool for promoting early-career researchers. It supports them in strategically planning and developing their academic careers. In addition to informal forms—such as support from colleagues—faculty mentoring programs provide structured guidance and targeted impulses.
Usually, mentoring is a medium- to long-term, trusting relationship in which an experienced person (mentor) accompanies a less experienced person (mentee) on their professional and personal development path. The focus is on individual support, sharing successes and failures in a safe space, and passing on experiential knowledge.
Mentoring relationships can be formed on an individual basis, e.g., by having doctoral candidates and postdoctoral researchers designate a mentor in their respective agreement, or within the scope of a faculty mentoring program with structured support and targeted guidance.
Individual mentoring
Every doctoral candidate and postdoctoral researcher at the University of Bern should have the chance to have a mentor if they wish.
Doctoral Agreements and Postdoctoral Agreements provide a straightforward framework for establishing mentoring relationships. Under these agreements, a mentor may serve as an additional supervisor, subject to consultation with the main supervisor.
Faculty-based mentoring programs
The University of Bern offers the following faculty-based mentoring programs. Most of these programs are open to all early-career researchers; the Faculty of Medicine’s mentoring program is specifically designed for female researchers.
COMET
COMET is a university support program for female postdocs and habilitation candidates, fostering targeted development of academic skills.