A National Mentoring Month

Greetings again. I hope you’re doing well.

Reading tweets about one’s work can be educational. Last week someone posted a tweet about an essay I recently wrote. The tweet mentioned National Mentoring Month.

Although mentoring is among my interests, I had not heard of National Mentoring Month. I learned that (US) National Mentoring Month was established 15 years ago and that it focuses largely on mentoring young people to improve their lives.

Although AuthorAID is international rather than national and serves researchers of all ages, maybe January should be a month for us to emphasize mentoring too. How can we do so? Here are some ideas:

• If you're in an AuthorAID mentoring relationship but you haven't communicated lately with your mentor or mentee, get in touch.
• If you have knowledge or skills to share, volunteer to be an AuthorAID mentor if you’re not one already. Or if you’re an AuthorAID mentor without a current mentee, seek one.
• If you want guidance on research communication, seek an AuthorAID mentor.
• Read about mentoring. For example, look at the AuthorAID Mentor Newsletter. Or access AuthorAID blog posts etc such as
  • “Finding an AuthorAID Mentor: Some Tips”
  • “How to Approach a Mentor”
  • “Keeping an AuthorAID Mentor: Some Tips”
  • “Working Productively with a Writing Mentor”
  • “Learning from Experience: The AuthorAID Mentoring Scheme in Action”
• Thank a mentor.

Indeed, as I learned too late, January 17 was International Mentoring Day and January 19 was #ThankYourMentor Day. But it’s never too late to express thanks for mentorship.

Many thanks to our mentors, both within and outside AuthorAID!

Until the next post—

Barbara