THE CORE AFRICA RESEARCH MENTORSHIP SCHEME
A Guide to walk you through...
the need
MENTORING PLAYS A SIGNIFICANT ROLE IN ENABLING RESEARCHERS TO USE THEIR SKILLS IN CONTRIBUTING TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF THEIR SOCIETY
OUR SOLUTION
The CORE Africa Research Mentorship Scheme (CARMS) provides an opportunity for students and young researchers to have access to an experienced, friendly and supportive research mentor. It’s a platform where researchers who have been ‘there and done that’ can support less experienced researchers through their challenges.
Mentors take a special interest in helping their mentees develop their research skills and mentees are able to benefit from real-life research experiences, guidance and advise from skilled researchers.
Our programme covers various aspects of research including research methods, research design, research writing, research publication, career prospects, research opportunities and much more.
Mentee Features: Three young African researchers talk about their mentorship experiences with CORE Africa
personal & professional development
Mentorship is important not only for the knowledge and skills that can be learnt, but also because it provides professional socialization and personal support to facilitate growth and development.
The CORE Africa Research Mentorship Scheme is helpful for individuals at any level.
A mentor can provide support to entry-level researchers in a number of ways, including developing a research strategy, helping to transform ideas into research projects, planning research activities, time management, and searching or applying for external research funding.
A mentor may also help a mid-career individual to refocus, change direction or improve their research status.
The mentorship process begins by the establishment of a friendly, encouraging and supportive mentor-mentee relationship. Mentees already have their research needs and are required to set for themselves, research targets, which they will aim to achieve, with their mentor’s support and encouragement. If the mentor feels that planned objectives are achievable and relevant to the individual’s work, they are agreed and ongoing support is provided.
Meetings can take place face-to-face or online, as well as other informal contacts in-between. This provides mentees sustainable access to their mentor so that the mentor and mentee can interact independently in a supportive and friendly manner.
You can find a CORE Africa research mentor in four easy steps:
– Fill in the “Find a mentor” form and submit
– We will contact you to know more about your research needs
– We will match your needs to our mentors database
– We then link you with an available mentor
CORE Africa is always on the lookout for skilled and experienced individuals to walk other researchers through their research journey. Becoming a mentor gives a great sense of purpose, personal achievement and satisfaction, from supporting another human being. You may be a current student, a researcher or even an employer with limited connections; mentoring broadens your sphere and gives a platform to utilise your skills for a good cause.
Whether you help shape the next great entrepreneur of our time or help someone achieve their dreams, you’re making a difference – and that’s all that matters. Being a mentor gives you the opportunity to:
-Reflect on your own development
-Develop key skills such as listening, questioning, facilitation, empathising and rapport building
-Develop self-confidence and esteem
-Get more involved in a particular area of research
-Give something back to your community
-Extend your people development experience
-Learn new things
When you become a mentor, you become a master in that specific area. You become and feel more relevant. In addition, mentoring enhances your leadership skills. Becoming a mentor with CORE Africa creates links between yourself and other CORE Africa mentors, as well as other external organisations which can be beneficial for your research career or profile. By becoming a mentor with us, you are joining the movement to strengthen research capacity and increase research collaboration in Africa.
If you would like to become a mentor, please, fill the “Expression of interest form” and submit to us. One of our advisors will be in touch to know more about you, your background and your research experience. We will then match your expertise to our database and link you with an available mentee.
Programme features
Ongoing personalised support
Mentees get access to an experienced mentor to support them whenever they need, for as long as required. Our mentors use a people-centred approach focusing on the mentee's needs
Open communication
Communication goes both ways and both mentors and mentees are able to freely express their ideas to each other
Clear expectations
Mentors and mentees are able to clearly outline and agree on what they can achieve from their mentorship
Flexibility
Mentor-mentee pairs adopt a working structure that suits their respective schedules or availabilities, and are free to make changes as needed
On 15 April 2021, the CORE Africa mentorship programme was presented at the Computational and Open Science community mentorship Indaba organised by ESCALATOR, a project of the South African Centre for Digital Language Resources (SADiLaR).
Representatives from seven other mentorship programmes were present, which included: – Open Life Science – Zindi Mentorship (CARMS) – She Code Africa Community Mentorship Project – WanaData – Deep Learning Indaba Mentorship Programme – Open Education for a Better World Online Mentoring Programme
Discussions covered five core topics: – Programme content/mentee projects – Pairing mentors/mentees – Mentor recruitment/reward/support – Measuring impact – Post programme support
Further details here
COMMENTS FROM CORE AFRICA MENTEES
