PGR peer mentoring provides the opportunity for new researchers at Royal Holloway to benefit from informal peer-to-peer support from researchers in the later stages of their research degree.
All new postgraduate researchers and those who are entering their second year can apply for a mentor. If you would like a mentor, please email Laura.Christie@rhul.ac.uk with a brief description of your research interests. We aim to assign you a mentor as soon as possible.
PGR peer mentors are expected to provide mentees with advice on community and developmental aspects of PGR study.
You will have the freedom to focus on any aspect of your academic and professional life including, but not limited to, your current role as a researcher, your future career aspirations, work/life balance, working successfully with your supervisor, teaching demands, and research.
By meeting with your mentor and any other researchers they are mentoring, you will also have the opportunity to build a support network with other new researchers.
You can expect them to:
- be proactive in contacting you and providing you with support
- listen actively with interest, holding the focus on your agenda
- take appropriate approaches to help empower you to achieve your goals and to sufficiently convey a sense of belonging to the PGR community
- give you advice and point you in the direction of Royal Holloway's services in place to offer support, such as Wellbeing, Careers, Researcher Development Programme etc.,
- take an interest in your progress
- display discretion.
We want you to get the most out of this mentor/mentee relationship, so please consider the following:
- Your mentor will have their own research/teaching/commitments, so it’s important to respect that and not give your mentor a long list of things to do for you, or expect them to be free whenever is convenient for you
- You should work out a suitable time and set the expectations for meetings together
- Mentoring sessions are important, and should be commitments that you honour, not low-priority items to cancel or change last minute
- The more input you have into what to talk about, the more your mentor can help you
- Your mentor may not always have the answer, but they can signpost you to someone in your department or the Doctoral School who may be able to help
Once you have requested a mentor we will put a call out for a mentor and match you with one as soon as possible.
Most Mentoring groups meet online, but you may meet in person if this is more suitable. Mentors may be allocated more than one mentee and may hold group sessions. This has the added benefit of helping you to get to know other new researchers and expanding your support network. If you would prefer to have a one-to-one meeting instead, just let your mentor know.
Mentoring usually lasts for at least the first two terms of the academic year, but can be longer if mutually agreed between mentor and mentee.
Yes, Masters by Research students can request a mentor. However, all mentors are PhD students, so will not have specific knowledge about Masters programmes.