Mentoring Initiative
Applications for the 2026 edition are now open.
The ESG Project Mentoring Initiative is a one-year programme designed to support and guide early career ESG Research Fellows to help advance their career trajectories.
Mentors are distinguished scholars, invited from the ESG Lead Faculty and Senior Research Fellows, who share experiences and provide professional guidance for a small group of 2-4 Research Fellow mentees each. This initiative presents an opportunity to strengthen the ESG network by contributing to the development of future leaders in our field and bringing us closer together as a community.
The ESG Mentoring Initiative connects mentees and mentors that have signed up to partake, working to align the themes, research subject area, discipline and areas of career advice in which both parties have expressed interest. This effort is coordinated by the ESG International Office (IO).
Suggested structure of the Mentoring Initiative
The details and focus of each mentoring relationship will be agreed upon jointly by the mentor and mentees, but we have developed some suggestions based on past experiences.
- Mentors and mentees meet both as a small group and for one-on-one discussions.
- Four meetings are held over the course of the year, twice in the small mentoring group, and twice individually.
- The time commitment of the mentors vary depending on the number of mentees agreed to support. Maximum time commitment 6-10 hours/year.
Please note the following regarding the Mentoring Initiative:
- Mentees are required to be Research Fellows of the ESG Project.
- The number of mentees depend on the availability of mentors. In case of limited availability, preference is given to early career Research Fellows nearing the end of their PhD.
- Mentorship meetings are held online, unless opportunities arise for physical meetings.
- The mentees are responsible for taking action to arrange, prepare, and plan the meetings with the mentor.
- Mentors are expected to share general advice rather than solving specific issues. Mentors are not expected to act as informal research advisors, comment on specific thesis chapters or publications.
- In principle, mentors and mentees are asked to commit for one year; we recognize that a mentoring relationship might carry on informally after this commitment period but there is no obligation in this regard.
- We understand there may be cases where a mentor or mentee consider that the relationship does not work and decide to discontinue the arrangement – in this case we ask the partiers to contact the IO
- The IO will act as the primary contact point if any parties have questions or concerns about the ESG Mentoring Initiative.
- The IO will get in touch with mentors and mentees 6 months after commencement to ensure all mentorship groups have met and if necessary, provide support.
For any questions or concerns throughout the year, do not hesitate to reach out to the International Office: io@earthsystemgovernance.org
Experiences of mentees
“The initiative helped me to know more about my professional goals, saving me from time-wasting mistakes.”
“To be authentic in my research, to look for my style and follow my heart.”
“I learned that a PhD is a training process, you cannot do it all perfectly.”
“It helped me feel more confident about my PhD choices in terms of publication strategies, contribution etc.”
”I think this was a great initiative that impacted the way I now plan my career.”
Experiences of mentors
”I found it rewarding to try to help a young scholar in another country make their way in academia and widened my horizons in terms of learning how universities operate in different cultural settings.”
”The most interesting was how the conversations evolved and differed over time, with different issues and challenges they were facing”
”I appreciated the opportunity to get some understanding of academic life in a different cultural context and to try and find ways of using my own experience to help another academic build their professional career.”