AGRO: Postdoc mentorship pilot program

The mentorship pilot program for postdocs has been developed by a group of postdocs and senior VIP’s to support early-career researchers’ professional development and well-being at the Department of Agroecology.  

The mentor has no formal authority in relation to the mentee such as other roles in the department (ex. supervisor, project leader, section head).

Through mentoring meetings, the mentor offers their time and presence for confidential sparring and guidance on work-related topics and issues. These topics may include, but are not limited to the following:

• Career paths in and beyond academia.
• Cultural understanding and cross-cultural cooperation.
• Work-life balance and wellbeing.
• Feedback on CV’s and academic profiles.

The Secretariat facilitates the initial matching after which the mentor and mentee continue their collaboration independently with mutual commitment. It is recommended that mentors and mentees meet approximately once a month, but the frequency and lengths of meetings is ultimately up to each pair to decide based on their individual needs and schedules.

Please note that mentors cannot assist with:

• Get a position or promotion at the Department of Agroecology. 
• Supervision of daily work or research tasks. 

If, for any reason, the mentoring relationship is not working, you can withdraw from the program at any time by contacting Trine Tinggaard: trine.tinggaard@agro.au.dk

Mentees will be matched with mentors based on shared interests, professional fit, and complementary perspectives.

The Secretariat aims to make matches across sections but within the same location to ensure meetings take place in person and that the relationship fosters new perspectives and access to broader professional experiences. The matching process will happen in June 2025, so the mentorships meetings can begin from August 2025.

As we currently have a limited number of mentors available, participation is based on a first-come, first-served basis.

As this mentoring program is a pilot initiative, we are continuously learning from the process and will make improvements as needed based on the experiences and feedback we receive.

The program will initially run from August 2025 to June 2026. After that, we will evaluate will all parties whether it should continue and in what format.

If you have any questions or feedback don’t hesitate to reach out to Trine Tinggaard at trine.tinggaard@agro.au.dk or stop by her office in Foulum, room: 8822-301