The uncertainly about how to continue with PhD study, and how to manage the transition to new working circumstances caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, has left early career colleagues feeling vulnerable, and therefore open to predatory approaches.
I was prompted to write this post because I saw that a former thesis mentee in my programme, now graduated and working as a postdoc, reached out on Twitter to offer to support other thesis writers through mentoring. Two other graduates of the Thesis Mentoring programme quickly followed suit in reply to that Tweet, and they approached me to see if I could offer any resources from my experience as programme leader for Thesis Mentoring and long-time champion of the role of early career researchers in doctoral education and thesis support.
I have put the following resources together to help them, and others in similar situations.
Resources for Thesis Mentors
To give you some brief context for the resources that follow, please read these statements before engaging with the materials:
- When I say ‘thesis mentor’, I mean anyone who has completed their PhD, and would like to volunteer some time to support others who are writing their thesis. This may be in the same group or dept, or across institutions.
- Whilst supervisors may find this material helpful, a mentor is separate from the PhD supervisor role, and not part of the official, candidate advisory team. Nor do they play any formal role in the mentee’s candidacy, on behalf of their university.
- The mentor is an independent supporter and champion who complements (does not substitute or contradict) those formal roles. They may be acting as part of a formal Thesis Mentoring programme, or just because they see a need and want to help.
- Mentors offering help e.g. through Twitter, should be mindful that policies and guidelines for PhD candidacy differ between institutions.
- I am not offering a mentoring service, as a mentor or as a programme leader. Nor am I able to give individual support or supervision to mentors. These resources are offered for you as ideas that may inform your professional development, and so please apply your own good judgement when you use them.
If you are happy to proceed on that basis, please help yourself to the resources below.
1. Read this version of the slides I used in the Thesis Mentor Induction workshop. They give an overview of the purpose, focus, role and value.
2. For more detailed writing on the conversational style, please see my post here on the pros and cons of giving advice, and my post here on the power of listening.
3. Download a template ‘Mentoring Agreement’ form. This will support you to set expectations with your mentee. Feel free to adapt this as you prefer.
4. Here are three short supporting videos for thesis mentors:
5. To read in more detail about coaching, and thesis writing, see:
- Kearns, Hugh, Gardiner, Maria and Marshall, Kelly (2008): Innovation in PhD completion: the hardy shall succeed (and be happy!), in Higher Education Research & Development
- Godskesen, Mirjam and Kobayashi, Sofie (2015): Coaching doctoral students – a means to enhance progress and support self-organisation in doctoral education, in Studies in Continuing Education.
All these resources can be shared with anyone who would benefit. All resources and text created by Dr Kay Guccione are licensed using Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike which means readers can share and republish them, as long as they credit me as the author and link back to this original article.
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