WCC UK: ‘Take a Grad Student to Lunch’ at CA/FIEC
by lizgloyn
We will once again be running our ‘Take a Grad Student to Lunch’ mentoring scheme at the CA/FIEC conference in London on 5th-8th July 2019. The scheme is open to WCC UK Members, and offers the opportunity for postgraduate students to seek a one-off mentoring session from a senior academic over lunch during the conference. Mentors and mentees will be matched by the WCC UK Mentoring Officer, and mentors will contact mentees directly prior to the beginning of the CA. Many mentees use the scheme to seek general advice and guidance, though more specific enquiries are welcome; mentees should note these on the application form to ensure matching with an appropriate mentor. This scheme requires a minimal time commitment on the part of the mentor: a brief email exchange to arrange the meeting, and the duration of the meeting, along with optional provision of feedback.
In order to be eligible as a mentee, you should currently be registered as an MA or PhD student or equivalent, at any stage of the process from registration through to final submission post-viva. In order to be eligible as a mentor, you should be employed on a permanent contract. We especially welcome more senior academics (e.g. Senior Lecturers, Professors) as mentors. The scheme is open to all genders. Mentors and mentees participating in the scheme are expected to abide by the WCC’s Mentoring Code of Conduct.
If you are a member of the WCC UK in good standing, you will have received an email containing details of how to sign up for the scheme. In these schemes, it is far more likely that mentees sign up than mentors, so we are keen to attract additional mentors from outside the organisation; if you are not a WCC UK member but would be willing to act as a mentor in the event of a shortage of mentors, please contact the Acting Mentoring Officer, Christine Plastow, at christine.plastow [at] open.ac.uk. Please also feel free to get in touch with any questions about the scheme