Mentor Programme

The PraxisAuril Mentor Programme is a 10-week plan connecting Knowledge Exchange Mentors and Mentees.

For Mentors, it is an opportunity to give back to the sector and connect with the wider community, and for Mentees, it is an opportunity to progress in your career and form new relationships outside of your institution. Typically, we recommend both Mentors and Mentees dedicate one-hour per week to the programme.

For the first week we suggest a one-hour phone call/skype call and then it is down to each Mentor and Mentee to arrange preferred contact methods for the remaining 9 weeks. Typically this would either be via email, phone or Skype. Spending just one hour a week will help the Mentor ensure the Mentee is on track.

 

Our Toolkits give a detailed overview of what a Mentor or Mentee can expect from our Mentor Programme. It describes the key steps in the programme, including some suggested timelines for keeping in touch.

You can download our Toolkits here; MENTOR ToolKit, MENTEE Toolkit.

First steps of the programme are to clarify roles and agree on a communication strategy, which should include feedback sessions between Mentor and Mentee.

 

Programme Schedule:

Programme One: 21st January 2019 - VIEW THE PROGRAMME ONE UPDATE
Programme Two: 8th April 2019
 

To find out more and get involved email georgina.wark@praxisauril.org.uk

There will be an opportunity for Mentors and Mentees across programmes to reconnect with a facilitated session at our Annual Conferences

 

The Mentor should:

  • Act as a source of technical/professional knowledge
  • Promote and encourage good behaviours
  • Provide constructive feedback
  • Encourage the achievement of goals and boost morale
  • Challenge assumptions and encourage alternative thinking.

The Mentee should:

  • Be honest and open
  • Be eager to learn
  • Have patience and be prepared to step out of their comfort zone – take some risks
  • Have a positive attitude
  • Be prepared to absorb knowledge and have the ambition and desire to know what to do with this knowledge
  • Take the initiative to ask for help/advice on tackling challenging assignments/projects
  • Be considerate and respectful.

 

 

Mentors will:

  • Get the opportunity to give back
  • Get recognition for their support
  • Be able to connect & engage with the wider community
  • Help add value to what we deliver
  • Condense their experience & pass it on
  • Be able to see people develop
  • Support new, younger people coming in
  • Share experience & tacit knowledge amongst the sector
  • Create and shape the profession

 

Mentees will:

  • Get career progression support
  • Get RTTP or Candidate RTTP support
  • Use live activities to test ideas
  • Better understanding of policy and process
  • Build powers of persuasion
  • Form new relationships outside of their institution
  • Learn how to manage upwards better
  • Identify strengths
  • Learn how to create the most impact
  • Understand different TTO approaches
  • Learn to unpick the extent of their role
  • Understand governance structure 
  • Learn to work with academic researchers better
  • Be more confident with writing, constructing or analysing agreements
  • Be able to better facilitate meetings

 

Get Involved

  1. Email georgina.wark@praxisauril.org.uk stating your preference for being a Mentor or a Mentee
  2. You will receive an email back within 3-days asking for specific information, or possibly for a phone call to better understand your needs
  3. You are placed into a database. The matching process takes between 4-6 weeks to complete and considers experience, needs, location, institution/industry size and numbers
  4. If a match is made, the Mentor and Mentee are emailed by the exec team at the start of the programme and are given a programme each (to fill in their objectives/feedback) and informed of expected contact dates. They are given a toolkit each which outlines expectations
  5. If no match can be found (currently Mentee/Mentor ratio is 2:1) then we keep on file for the next programme

Continuous Improvement

The Mentor Programmes support our member community by connecting KE practitioners new to the profession with experienced individuals. An important part of the process is to ensure that feedback is collected which helps to inform the Executive Team of ongoing future improvements for the PraxisAuril Mentoring Programme.

Ideally, every time a Mentor and Mentee meet, they will provide a summary report of discussions, actions and outcomes, recorded on the provided Programme Plan. This reflects the Continuous Improvement Process that is embedded within our skills training courses and will ensure we provide the best possible service time and time again.
 

 

 

What do our Mentors say?

“The profession has to be pro-active in generating a sense of what KE/KT/TT work is and what it requires across the sector. We are obligated to support not just new entrants to our own units in our own HEIs, but to support new entrants to the profession so as to generate an understanding of the skill range required in the field.”

“Over the years I have benefited from many people advising/helping me develop and feel now that I have reached a more senior stage in my career it is time to help out the tech transfer community more. Some of the most rewarding successes in my career to date have been from helping some of our staff develop and then really seeing them put the advice you’ve given into practice and becoming fully-fledged TT professionals. On a personal level, becoming more engaged in the wider UK TT community is a goal for my own development and assisting PraxisAuril is a good way to meet TT professionals beyond those you interact with naturally, in your role"