High-quality mentorship is important in both encouraging vets to enter research and in supporting them to maximise their career opportunities once this journey has started.
Numerous scientific organisations offer mentorship programmes (see list below), with the Academy of Medical Sciences programme being particularly well established within the biomedical sector. Before now, however, the veterinary profession has not had a profession-wide, research-specific mentorship programme. This is what the VSC Research Mentoring Scheme seeks to address.
The scheme will work by connecting mentees with at least two experienced mentors who will be able to offer support on career development issues. For both mentees and mentors the scheme is open to all regardless of their current job role and sector, including practice, academia, industry, government and charitable organisations. Experience in clinical and non-clinical research is equally welcome.
Mentors at all career stages will be beneficial to the scheme, while early-to-middle career veterinary researchers can be particularly helpful role models to recent graduates considering embarking on a research career. Mentors without any veterinary qualifications, but experience in veterinary research, are welcome to be considered – the important thing is they are interested and willing to support veterinary graduates.
To ensure that mentees receive an outside perspective on their circumstances, they will be matched with mentors from different organisations.
Apply
Mentors and mentees will be matched by hand and linked through an introductory email. It is intended that this will lead to a dialogue and hopefully great value to the mentee. The extent, frequency and length of the interaction is down to the mentee and mentor.
Apply as a mentor
Apply as a mentee
- Academy of Medical Sciences Mentorship Scheme (the resources related to this scheme are also relevant to the VSC Research Mentoring Scheme)
- British Society of Immunology Mentorship Scheme
- The Royal Society Mentoring Scheme
- British Ecological Society Mentoring Scheme
- Royal Society of Edinburgh Mentoring Scheme
- Royal Society of Chemistry Mentoring Scheme
- British Toxicology Society Mentoring Scheme
- Royal Statistical Society Mentoring Scheme
- Society for Mucosal Immunology Mentoring Scheme
- BBSRC Mentoring Information
- RCVS Leadership Scheme
