AdvanceScience

AdvanceScience is a two-year mentoring program in a 1-on-1 format for postdocs, habilitation candidates, and junior research group leaders. In 1-on-1 mentoring, a mentee is brought together with an experienced mentor from the areas of academia, business, or society for a hierarchy-free, periodic exchange. Mentee and mentor define bilaterally how to work together during the mentoring. 

• Broad your perspectives: through exchanges with your mentor, you will gain new insights and perspectives that will enhance your personal and professional development.
• Professional orientation: Your mentor supports you in gaining clarity about your career path and in making career-relevant decisions.
• Develop your skills: Through targeted feedback and guidance, you become aware of and develop your strengths and potential.
• Expand and strengthen your network: The mentoring relationship gives you access to relevant networks and contacts that can be useful in your career.
• Goal setting and motivation: Your mentor encourages you to concretize your goals and inspires you to successfully implement them.
• Personal growth: Ongoing support and guidance promotes your self-awareness, self-reflection, and personal progress.
• Learn from experience: Your mentor shares valuable professional experiences and helps you better manage potential challenges.
• Access to specific knowledge: By sharing experiences with your mentor, you gain access to specific professional knowledge and expertise.

Step 1: In the application, including a personal interview with the Graduate Academy, the mentee indicates preferences regarding the mentor and his/her working background: 1) Academia, 2) Business or 3) Society.

Note: For those who are uncertain about which career to pursue or about the mentor’s working background, our decision workshop "Wissenschaft, Wirtschaft, Gesellschaft - welcher Karriereweg ist der richtige für mich? (in German) can help to get a clearer idea. Here you can find the next dates.

Step 2: According to these preferences, a suitable mentor is searched and mentee and mentor are brought into contact by GRADUS.

Step 3: After successful matching, the mentee takes the initiative. At the beginning of mentoring, mentee and mentor jointly define the conditions for their mentoring (how to meet, frequency of meetings, topics, etc.). In the mentoring, the mentee is the driving force.