Mentoring to Empower Researchers

Sam studied BSc Zoology in the UK and then completed her MSc and PhD in South Africa. Following completion of her doctorate, she held positions as a Tutor and then a Lecturer at the University of the Western Cape. She then continued her post-doctoral research career in biological sciences at the University of Surrey and spent a short time at the Zoological Society of London creating a course for research fellows. Sam then became mentoring lead for the doctoral college at the University of Surrey working within the Researcher Development Programme. Sam is now applying these experiences to her role at Surrey where she works as a teaching fellow on the foundation year programme in the department of biosciences. .Professor Susan Brooks is Director of Researcher Development at Oxford Brookes University where she develops, oversees and delivers the professional development and skills training programmes for research students and research-active staff at all levels across the University. She began her academic career by completing a doctorate, in pathology, at University College London Medical School in 1990. She continued with post-doctoral cancer research at the same institution until 1995 when she joined Oxford Brookes University, initially as a Senior Lecturer in Cell Biology, and later as Reader. Her interest in researcher development began in 2006 when she took what was originally planned to be a 3-year half-time secondment that eventually turned into an ongoing passion - fuelled by her own experience of the joys and challenges of attempting to build a career from the starting point of being a researcher. She continues to teach biomedical sciences to undergraduates and heads a small cancer research team alongside her researcher development role. She was promoted to Professor in 2016, partly based on her researcher development work. Susan has a deep interest in mentoring, having established a University-wide research staff mentoring scheme in 2015 and, over the course of her career so far, having benefitted from the wisdom, experience and friendship of many formal and informal mentors. Alison is Academic Writing Consultant at Purely Academic Ltd. She has extensive experience of designing and delivering bespoke academic writing training programs to researchers at all stages of academic career in a wide range of research institutions. She has designed many different genres of writing material, including training resources for English language teachers, language resources for international executives, academic writing materials and programs for doctoral, and post-doctoral and researchers, as well as materials for workshops and writing retreats for academics across diverse disciplines. She has co-authored publications on mentoring and collaboration within academia and is part of the editorial team for the SAGE Success in Research series.

This is a genuinely helpful, approachable and timely contribution to the field of mentoring, which is rightly gaining recognition for its benefits to Higher Education in the UK and internationally.  The book is oriented towards practical usage by individuals who are looking to develop and hone key aspects of their skills for a variety of professional reasons (at all stages of their academic careers) and also Higher Education Institutions, not least in respect of the provisions that are made for staff (and doctoral researcher) development and training. While the book can usefully and enjoyably be read from cover-to-cover, it also has the added benefit of being structured in a way that lends itself to use as a ready reference tool, when looking for guidance and advice on any one of a broad range of topics associated with mentoring that it addresses.  The book covers topics that will intuitively be familiar to readers who are interested in matters relating to mentoring but then extends this into less familiar territory and thereby challenges its readers to think broadly and flexibly about the range and scope of uses to which a mentoring-based approach can be put, such as in the case of Mentoring to Support Cultural Adaptation, and also Reverse Mentoring.

• Chapter 1 IntroductionChapter 2 Mentoring for those entering doctoral educationChapter 3 Mentoring for early career researchersChapter 4 Mentoring for academic progression and promotionChapter 5 Mentoring to promote cultural awarenessChapter 6 Mentoring for the transition out of academiaChapter 7 Mentoring to Support PublicationChapter 8 Mentoring to support grant successChapter 9 Mentoring to support networkingChapter 10 Mentoring to support development of spoken communication skillsChapter 11 Incorporating good mentoring principles into doctoral supervisionChapter 12 Incorporating good mentoring principles as a Principal InvestigatorChapter 13 Reverse Mentoring