NIHR Mentoring Programme - Cohort 3

The mentoring programme will enable you to develop your career. Mentees and mentors gain new perspectives, fresh ideas and expand their professional networks.

If your application is successful, a mentor will support your academic and career development over the course of a year.

Why apply?

The mentoring programme will enable you:

• To take part in mentoring - not all industries and professions have a strong mentoring tradition.
• To collaborate with professionals from other disciplines
• To build relationships with individuals from different organisations
• To engage with and learn from under-represented groups
• To access mentoring resources and professional development events

Read more about Sharin's experience with our Mentoring Programme.

Eligibility

Mentees

You will apply to 1 of 2 streams in this programme:

• the early career researcher stream if you are a final-year PhD student or if you are up to 2 years postdoctoral
• the mid-career researcher stream if you are 2 years postdoctoral and beyond

To apply for either stream, you should:

• be an NIHR Academy Member or be based in NIHR Infrastructure (e.g. an NIHR biomedical research centre), in an NIHR School or in an NIHR Research Unit and have a minimum of 6 months remaining on your funding or NIHR personal award from the close of applications to this programme
• be undertaking research in England; we are developing a mentoring programme for Global Health Research Academy Members

Mentors

There are 2 types of mentor:

Mid-career mentors

• these mentors are NIHR Academy Members or Associate Members who support early career researchers
• they may be an NIHR-based postdoctoral researcher with relevant postdoctoral experience (typically, more than 5 years) or an NIHR mid-career award holder.
• mentees, who have previously taken part in this programme, can become mentors

Research leader mentors

These mentors are senior leaders who are Academy Members or Associate Members. They support mid-career researchers.

Research leader mentors may contribute to NIHR at a senior leadership level. They often:

• hold an Research Professorship or a Senior Investigator award
• sit on our award panels
• are one of our senior leaders, including our Members in our centres, infrastructure and schools

Doctoral and postdoctoral award holders on the HEE/NIHR ICA Programme can access funded career mentorship through the ICA Programme’s bespoke Mentorship Scheme. See our ICA Programme page for further information.

What is involved?

The mentoring programme is a 12 month formal commitment. Mentoring pairs meet for a minimum of 6 hours during the duration of the programme. Optional continuous professional development (CPD) workshops and in person events are available for mentees and mentors to attend