What is mentoring?

Mentoring is a supportive relationship which supports learning and experimentation and helps individuals develop their potential. It involves someone sharing their knowledge, skills, and experience with another person to help them to progress.

Mentoring has continual long-term benefits, can help change habits and drive real positive change. Through a flexible mentoring approach, which supports staff across all roles, we aim to inspire and equip people to shape, influence, and lead across their fields in clinical trials and studies. 

Mentoring could be role-specific or for other goals such as career development, promotion, work-life balance, or building self-confidence. It is open to people at all stages of their career, including students.

Watch the recording of our webinar, Making the best of Mentoring, to find out more.

Watch webinar

Who can be a mentor?

Mentoring can be within the same country or outside. We particularly encourage mentors from Low and Middle Income Countries.

You could be a mentor if you have:

  • 3+ years of experience in your role

Or other experience - for example,

  • to mentor on grant applications - 1 successful proposal
  • to mentor on getting papers published – 1 successful publication.

How can a mentor support its mentee?

We are particularly looking for support with:

  • Data management
  • Trial management
  • Statistics
  • Being a PI
  • Grant or fellowship applications
  • Writing papers and getting published

LMIC Mentoring Scheme

Pilot for the scheme
The pilot of our new LMIC Mentoring Scheme began in February 2024. We are regularly matching more mentors and mentees and will be seeking feedback via a simple, anonymous form in June 2024 to find out individually from mentors and mentees how the mentoring is going.

Why was the scheme set up?
The scheme has been developed in response to a demand for mentoring expressed in the Needs Assessment conducted with LMIC partners of MRC Clinical Trials Unit at UCL in 2022.

What is the aim of the scheme?
The aim of the scheme is to link those working on clinical trials and studies in different organisations in LMIC (Low-and Middle-Income Countries) for online mentoring.

Joining the LMIC Mentoring Scheme

To help enhance the success of your mentoring relationship, we recommend that you read the ‘Documents to read before starting a mentoring relationship’ on this page

  1. Decide whether you would like to be a mentor, a mentee, or both
  2. Complete the Mentor Form and/or Mentee Form
  3. Watch a recorded presentation about the scheme, download the powerpoint and read Information for Mentees and Mentors [pdf 190kb]
  4. Complete the quiz. You could refer to the PDF version of the recorded presentation to find the answers to the questions. You can retake the quiz as many times as needed but need to score 80% to be matched with a mentor/mentee.
  5. Once you have scored 80% on the quiz, the team at MRC Clinical Trials Unit at UCL will then look at your mentee/mentor form and find a potential match - this may take a few weeks.
  6. The team at MRC Clinical Trials Unit at UCL will then contact you and your potential match so you can start a potential mentoring relationship.