University of Newcastle upon Tyne – Mentoring

"Inspirations guided and motivated us to establish a mentoring scheme which suited our needs. It isn't text book, but that isn't the point – it's been really well received and has helped many of our contract researchers."
Barbara Cochrane; mentoring programme coordinator

The Challenge

"The aspiration of Newcastle University is to make knowledge in the North East play the role that coal once did."

Within Newcastle University, contract research staff have enjoyed a wealth of development opportunities, mainly through training workshops. However, extra support was required, especially during the early years of an academic career. Researchers have diverse needs; from help writing academic papers through to the development of interpersonal skills. Before the mentoring scheme, the feeling amongst new researchers can best be explained by the following poem:

"There is something I don't know that I am supposed to know.
I don't know what it is I don't know, and yet am supposed to know
And I feel I look stupid if I seem not to know it and not to know what it is I don't know
Therefore I pretend to know it.
This is nerve-wracking since I don't know what I must pretend to know
Therefore I pretend to know everything
I feel you know what I am supposed to know
But you can't tell me what it is because you don't know that I don't know what it is.
You may know what I don't know but not that I don't know it
And I can't tell you. So you will have to tell me everything."
R.D. Laing.
From Knots (1970) Vintage Books

The Solution

With the help of Inspirations, a mentoring scheme was launched, with several key features:

A Mentee-driven approach; the Mentees identify the individual who they feel will be the most appropriate mentor for them.
A mentoring coordinator; who acts as match-maker, pairing up the mentor and mentee;
Mandatory training for mentors to develop effective mentoring skills
Minimum paperwork; the success of the scheme depends on the quality of the relationships not on burdensome paperwork.

The Benefits

From small beginnings in the early days, the mentoring scheme has been rolled out across the University. Research institutes have championed the programme and, such is its success, a similar programme for administrative staff is about to be launched.

Testament to success is the fact that some of the early researchers who requested a Mentor have now become Mentors themselves!