Mentor project for female researchers at The Faculty of Science and Aarhus School of Business

Background
More women than men obtain their Master’s degree at the university today, but less than every third lector is female and only about every tenth professor is female. The mentor project is one of the initiatives to achieve more diversity at Aarhus University.

The report " Last Man Standing - køn og forskning på Aarhus Universitet” (2005) points to the fact that many women experience the research environments as tough and lonely and therefore these women leave their research careers. The mentor project is a concrete answer to this pattern and the goal is to give female researchers help to navigate in the research environments and to keep the research career on track.

Goal
A mentor course builds on the mentor and the mentee’s mutual interest and a wish to strengthen a younger researcher’s careers by the mentor acting as a sparring partner, motivator, contact and information provider, etc.

For the younger researcher the course will provide counsel, guidance and inspiration from a person who has more experience in the world of the university. Other than counsel on career planning a mentor course can be very helpful for a younger researcher to understand a research environment’s customs and culture.

Participants
The mentee group consists of 10 female researchers from each area, 20 in all.

The mentor group consists of a similar number of experienced researchers, both men and women.

It is important that the chosen mentors have management experience and abilities and time to guide a younger researcher.

Timeframe
The project begins in April 2010 and is completed in spring 2011.

The mentor and the mentee will meet at least four times during that period and have the opportunity to participate in three meetings.

The project is a pilot project, and after the evaluation it will be decided whether it should be offered at other faculties.

Mentoring - What is it?
Mentoring is a formal developmental relationship in which a mentor and mentee examine and build the mentee’s abilities together. The mentor’s experience, knowledge and insight are made available to the mentee who is then responsible for applying these to her own career.