A mentor is:
- “An experience and trusted advisor” (definitions from Oxford Languages)
- Person who can help you to shape your future and define career path, can give you a hand with:
- Understating academia
- Deciding which steps to take
- Writing grant or defining proper funding agencies
- Solve/understand misunderstandings with supervisor or other challenging organizational issues
- Give another view on your situation at work
- Introduce to the scientific network
- Different than supervisor or promotor
- Good to find a person from your discipline
- Be sure that this person will have time for you
- Possibilities to pair up with mentor:
- Mentoring program in your institution
- General national or international mentoring programs (e.g. https://www.cybermentor.de/)
- Asking privately (informal mentoring)