Early Career Mentoring
The Faculty of Arts and Humanities has piloted Early Career Academic Mentoring in Maynooth University in 2020-21.
The rationale for the introduction of an Early Career Academic Mentoring programme is to support the professional growth of the individual in the early stage of their career and to promote excellence in teaching and learning, research, academic leadership and service. The rollout of early career mentoring aligned with recent supports for new employees will help create a culture of growth and support among our early career employees.
The overall aim of mentoring for early career academics is to provide a platform through which experiences can be shared on a one-to-one formal basis and provide development support to academics at this critical phase of their career. Achievement of this aim reflects Maynooth University’s strategic vision of being an excellent place to learn and work, an inclusive community where students and staff can flourish, and delivery on action 9.1 of the University’s Strategic Plan, the implementation of mentoring programmes for early career academics.
Mentoring, through reflection on the part of the mentee and guidance and support from the mentor, allows for a mutual beneficial learning exchange to occur, based on knowledge gained through experience. The focus of mentoring in this situation may include;
- Analysis of strengths, challenges and areas of development
- Setting career and short-term goals
- Developing a publications strategy
- Targeting external funding
- Honing teambuilding and interpersonal skills
- Developing leadership attributes and potential
- Developing collegial networks which are intra- and inter-disciplinary
- Managing workloads
You can read more about Mentoring Supports available at Maynooth University's on the webpage of Learning and Development.
You can download an overview of the Early Career Academic Mentoring Scheme from here.