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Goals of the Mentoring Program
The core idea of mentoring is that for professional success, it's not only qualifications and commitment that matter, but also supportive relationships. The mentoring program at Charité aims to address this by facilitating and supporting these supportive relationships in mentoring tandems, as well as in networking activities.
- To foster talented and committed female early-career researchers
- To strengthen their competencies and potentials for their professional careers
- To support them in their careers by providing them with the experiences of successful scientists
Target Groups (Mentees)
Women who aspire to further their academic careers or take on leadership responsibilities in research, teaching, or clinical practice, as well as in business or scientific administration:
- Doctoral candidates, postdoctoral researchers, and postdoctoral researchers with habilitation
- Junior professors
- Junior research group leaders at Charité
Program Structure
In the already successfully implemented mentoring program at Charité, qualified and committed early-career female researchers are specifically supported and challenged over a period of 12 months starting each September. They are guided by recognized personalities from research, business, scientific administration, and clinical practice.
The program is built on three essential pillars:
- Tandem Work - Mentoring in the narrower sense
- Various seminars and workshops
- Cross-disciplinary networking
An introductory workshop and a closing event provide the framework for this program.
Application and Selection
Mentees can either apply for the program or be nominated by Collaborative Research Centers or research groups that can invest funds from the DFG's equal opportunity resources.
For the selected mentees, an introductory workshop is held where they can get to know each other, discuss potential mentors, their own mentoring goals, and the current status of their careers. Subsequently, with the support of the mentoring coordination office, suitable mentors are identified.
The mentors demonstrate a particular commitment to and interest in young women academics and are happy to pass down their own knowledge and experience.
They will provide support in making professional goals tangible, in career planning and development, by pointing out alternative ways of doing things, by giving feedback, and by conveying the necessary informal know-how for working in academic organizations or in business. They will also provide counseling for the hiring process, job interviews, or regarding leadership skills. The length and frequency of each tandem session may vary for each individual tandem partnership.
Mentees will also be assisted with choosing a mentor by the Coordination Center. An enormous amount of trust and respect is reflected in the choice of mentor.
In (recommended) six to ten tandem sessions, mentors are available to mentees as coaches. They assist in clarifying career goals, planning and developing their careers, presenting alternative courses of action, providing feedback, and imparting necessary informal know-how for working in academic or corporate settings. They also provide guidance in preparation for appointment procedures, job interviews, or particular leadership situations. The duration and frequency of meetings can vary individually for each tandem.
Mentees select their mentors with the support of the coordination office. The choice of mentor reflects significant trust and utmost recognition.
- Establishing good contacts and providing content input to support research activities.
- Feedback on informal knowledge regarding appointment procedures, securing third-party funding, involvement in professional societies, publications, etc.
- Suggestions for balancing family and career responsibilities at the university hospital.
- Recommendations for exploring new desired fields of activity.
- Understanding processes, organizational culture, and networks at Charité.
- International networking and positioning.
- Insights into balancing clinical work and research.
- Advice and informal knowledge on setting up one's own laboratory or research group.
- Understanding the requirements, challenges, as well as opportunities and benefits associated with a professorship.
- Strategic career planning.
- Feedback on strengths and weaknesses.
- Managing conflicts with colleagues, employees, superiors, etc.
Women in university medicine still attain leadership positions significantly less frequently than men, and this stems from various causes, often linked to women bearing the primary responsibility for family duties. Consequently, academic careers for men and women often diverge significantly, with women becoming less visible as one ascends the career ladder. For instance, there are notably fewer women than men in habilitation positions and later in appointments.
The mentoring program at Charité seeks to counteract this "leaky pipeline" phenomenon. Through contact with highly successful mentors, women are exposed to role models for unconventional career paths, leadership behaviors, the art of diplomacy, strategic career decisions, and more. Often, men serving as mentors recognize the necessity of women's empowerment when they witness the obstacles, such as the "glass ceiling," that women may encounter in their careers.
In the seminar program, soft skills such as clear communication, confident presence, leadership behaviors, etc., are trained to expand individual resources and understand and practice the rules of assertiveness. The networking component of the program fosters relationships with female colleagues, providing opportunities to practice networking and, importantly, reaffirming that everyone faces similar career-related issues in each cohort.
