Postdoc Mentoring
This programme is open to all Queen Mary Postdocs* looking for supplemental career and professional development advice from a member of academic staff.
Mentees and mentors will engage in up to 20 hours of time over 6-months, which works out to roughly 15 hours of 1-to-1 mentoring time, and up to 5 hours of training and the support programme.
Postdocs will use approximately 3-4 of their 10 annual CPD days on this programme.
Important Dates
Registration opens: 15 September 2025
Training opens: w/c 13 October 2025
Registration and Training closes: 28 November 2025
If you have not completed both parts of your training by this date, you cannot participate further.
Mentee - Mentor Matching w/c 1 December
Mentoring pairings communicated by end of business 5 December
Mentoring Meetings December to June 2025
Mentoring Support Programme
We will consult with the 25/26 cohort on the days that work best, but this programme will include:
Half-day Mentoring Cohort Meeting: CPD and networking with programme participants (December or January)
Two lunchtime hour-long seminars (February and April)
Registration for the 2025/25 Mentoring programme opens on 15 September 2025
Participate in 3-easy steps
- Create your Mentee profile on MentorNet (5 min)
- Complete the Self-paced Online Training on QM+ (30-60 min)**
- Attend a Training and Information session running in October and November (30-60 min)
**training is valid for up to 3 years. You can participate in subsequent years without the need to retrain.
Benefits to Mentees
- Gain 1-to-1 support and perspectives on your career and development
- Reserve time to reflect on important career decisions (approx. 3-4/10 CPD days*)
- Broaden your professional network
- Receive bespoke support based on your development needs
It is expected that mentees will drive the process, and make good use of their time with a mentor.
Time Commitment
The aim of the scheme is to provide postdocs with 20 hours or more of dedicated reflection time and advice on their own personal career and development plans. This is made up of:
- 1-to-1 time with a mentor (13+ hours)
- Online Training (1-2 hours - mandatory - see Training Tab)
- Half-day networking and CPD-event (3 hr)
- Two lunchtime online seminars (2 x 1hr)
Once mentoring-pairs have been established, it will be left up to the individuals involved to decide on the duration, frequency and structure of their sessions.
Matching
Mentee-mentor matching will be supported through MentorNet. By recruiting an excess of academic staff from across the participating Schools and Institutes, we will build a robust pool of mentors to enable matching success.
Mentees short-list up to 5 academics (either from within your School or Institute or beyond, if you so wish). We then confirm one of your choices, and you can begin your meetings. We keep your previous choices on file, should you require re-matching.
Registration for the 2025/26 Mentoring programme opens on 15 September 2025.
Participate in 3-easy steps
- Create your Mentor profile on MentorNet (5 min)
- Complete the Self-paced Online Training on QM+ (30-60 min)
- Attend a Training and Information session running in January (30-60 min)
We are looking for members of academic staff to provide supplemental mentoring to postdoctoral researchers across research groups. We would like to recruit a robust pool of mentors in order to best enable mentor-mentee matching.
NB: training lasts up to three years, so you can participate in subsequent years without the need to retrain.
Benefits to Mentors
- Develop management and supervision skills and gain confidence in supporting researchers in different career situations
- Learn to apply a coaching approach to your management practice
- Mentoring is included in the Academic Careers Frameworkunder citizenship and inclusion, and can inform reflective narratives for AdvanceHE’s Fellowships
- Time to reflect on your own development and gain additional insight into issues impacting postdocs
It is expected that mentees will drive the process, and make good use of their time with a mentor.
Time Commitment
The aim of the scheme is to provide postdocs with 20 hours or more of dedicated reflection time and advice on their own personal career and development plans.
This is made up of
- 1-to-1 time with a mentor (13 hours)
- Online Training (1-2 hours - mandatory unless you hold a mentoring or coaching qualification)
- Half-day networking and CPD-event (3 hr)
- Two lunchtime seminars (2 x 1hr)
Once mentoring-pairs have been established, it will be left up to the individuals involved to decide on the duration, frequency and structure of their sessions.
Matching
Mentee-mentor matching will be supported through MentorNet. By recruiting an excess of academic staff from across the participating Schools and Institutes, we will build a robust pool of mentors to enable matching success. Mentees will short-list up to 5 academics (either from within their School or Institute or beyond, if they so wish). We then confirm one of their choices, thus enabling meetings to begin.
As we aim to recruit an excess of mentors, not all academics will be matched in this programme. We thank Academic staff colleagues who came forward and welcome non-matched mentors to participate in future rounds of this programme without needing to retrain during a 3-year period.
Exclusions: if you hold formal coaching or mentoring qualifications or if you have completed our training in a previous run (within 3 years), you do not have to complete the training programme. Please make sure you indicate this on your MentorNet profile.
Mandatory Training
- Complete a self-paced (asynchronous) module hosted on QM+ with approximately up to 1 hour of content
- Attend one of the the 30-60 min Training and Information sessions running in January. Visit the CPD-Training System to book on to these sessions.
Once participants have completed their training, they can be considered for mentee-mentor matching.
If you do not get matched with a mentee, or if you wish to return for successive rounds of this programme, you can do so without having to repeat the training for up to 3 years.
Additional Support Programme
- Mentoring Cohort Support Meeting and Lunch - This networking event will include seminars and a workshop to support the mentoring practice and experience for those involved in the programme.
- Two Lunchtime Webinars - subjects like managing power dynamics, or managing difficult discussions will be covered here. Topics will be finalised at the Cohort Support Meeting.
For the purposes of this mentoring programme, a "postdoc" mentee is a member of research staff with doctoral qualifications, and includes job titles like postdoctoral research assistant or associate, PDRA, postdoctoral research fellow, and clinical research fellow. Postdocs are in the career stage between doctoral qualification and their first academic staff appointment.
The mentoring programme is also open to other staff types who are actively involved in research (e.g., teaching fellows). Academic staff can only be mentors on this programme.
Late-stage doctoral students who will qualify and take up a postdoctoral research or teaching positions at Queen Mary in the next 6-months can also sign-up.