Mentoring for female STEM students and (post-)doctoral students of all subjects

In both programs, a mentee works with a professionally experienced mentor for one year and is supported in her individual career planning. In ProCareer.Doc, a structured exchange within a peer group complements the one-to-one mentoring. Of course, Mentoring Hessen is also affected by the impact of the Corona pandemic, so almost all events are currently held digitally.

To ensure that Mentoring Hessen can continue its successful work over the next 5 years, the Conference of Hessian University Presidents (KHU), the Universities of Applied Sciences (HAW Hessen), and Geisenheim University of Applied Sciences decided in the summer semester of 2020. The University of Kassel has also made a strong case for this.

President Prof. Dr. Reiner Finkeldey is convinced: "Mentoring Hessen offers female STEM students and young scientists orientation and support for the phase of career entry. It makes an important contribution to the career advancement of women and helps to increase the proportion of women in specialist and management positions. The hurdles for women to make a career, especially in the STEM subjects, are still great. Supporting talented young women - that's what Mentoring Hessen has developed a concept for over the years that makes an important contribution to promoting women's careers."

In Mentoring Hessen, suitable female candidates are supported in a total of four different mentoring programs, from female students to professors. The aim is to further increase the proportion of women in attractive specialist and management positions in science, business and administration. Mentoring Hessen cooperates intensively with renowned business enterprises and non-university research institutions in order to provide optimal preparation for career paths outside of academia and to increase the permeability of career paths.

In 2020, a total of 31 female participants from the University of Kassel will take part in the four funding lines: 13 in the ProCareer.MINT funding line, 9 in ProCareer.Doc, 2 in ProAcademia, which is aimed at (post)doctoral students preparing for a career in science, and 7 in ProProfessur, which is aimed at female scientists who have the professional goal of becoming a professor directly in mind. The two funding lines, which are geared toward careers in science, start every 2 years and run for 18 months. Applications will be open again in fall 2021.

Katharina Dziuk Lameira, who is doing her doctorate in Romance studies, has also experienced how helpful mentoring is: "Working with my mentor has brought me a lot. I learned about different career fields, created a career plan for the next two to three years, had great motivation to work on my dissertation, and learned more about the work-life balance and the topic of time management. Also the exchange with other female doctoral students in the peer group was enormously helpful. The others had very similar topics and problems as I did and we supported and motivated each other. Through this exchange I became aware of the possibilities of a stay abroad during my doctorate and successfully applied for a scholarship."

And she can continue to benefit. Because like all participants in the mentoring programs, she remains a member of the Mentoring Hessen network and can take part in attractive training opportunities and networking events and exchange ideas with other members on various digital platforms. In total, the network has around 2,800 members - from bachelor's students to experienced professors and business executives.

Laura Krieger studies ecological agriculture and participated in ProCareer.MINT last year:  "I am glad that I had the opportunity to participate in ProCareer.MINT. Through the program I was able to connect with other female students, through the workshops I improved my soft skills and my self-confidence was further strengthened."

Anyone interested in participating in ProCareer.MINT or ProCareer.Doc should attend one of the digital info events that Mentoring Hessen will be offering in November. The dates will be announced at www.mentoringhessen.de.

All further information at www.mentoringhessen.de

Contact:

Simone Diehl
Mentoring Hessen
E-mail: diehl[at]mentoringhessen[dot]de

Angelika Flörke
University of Kassel
Equal Opportunity Office
E-mail: gleichstellung[at]uni-kassel[dot]de