What is meant by “mentoring”?
Accompanying of a person in a training perspective by a more experienced peer, regarding their professional objectives.
How does it work?
The accompanied person (the mentoree) and their mentor regularly meet in a more or less informal way to review previously identified questions.
What the mentoring is NOT?
The mentoring program is not part of any hierarchical framework. The primary goal is to transfer experience in a bounded time in order to answer an identified need. In no way does mentoring substitute for hierarchical supervision. It provides a complementary perspective. In particular, mentors will be trained to recognise issues falling outside the scope of the mentorship programme (psychological difficulties, workplace conflicts etc.) and guide mentorees towards the appropriate structures that already exist at Inria Lille and/or CRIStAL.
Who can request a mentor?
Any researcher belonging to an Inria and/or CRIStAL team. If there are not enough mentors available, priority will be given to female and to younger researchers.
What are the pre-requisites to enter the program?
You have to have an idea of something that you would like to achieve within roughly 12 months in terms of your career development or professional environment that you would not exactly know how to go about.
Who can be a mentor?
Any researcher belonging to an Inria and/or CRIStAL team.
What is the role of mentors?
Pass on their experience, be attentive and provide their point of view on the questions raised by the mentoree. The mentors are trained to keep a distance so that their point of view remains valuable by staying independent from that of the mentoree.
Why is it limited to 12 months ?
If the amount of information, which the mentor needs to transmit to the mentoree for the “project” to work out, does not fit into 12 months that means that the project could likely be cut into smaller sub-projects. This being said, once the formal mentor-mentoree relation has expired, nothing prevents the two persons in question to continue their discussions if they both so wish.
Why can’t I choose my mentor or mentoree?
To avoid any bias and to optimise associations between identified needs.
What are the key dates for the programme?
We will provide these shortly. Do not hesitate to get in touch with us if you need these urgently.