SSWG launched its student mentoring program in late 2020 and has an intake every year in February. Follow us on Twitter to keep up to date with the program news. Read more about the mentoring program below or in our program guide.
Who’s it for?
The SSWG mentoring program is for everyone involved in conservation social sciences whether engaged in research or practice. We aim to:
- guide mentees on how to gain a better grounding in the research and practice of social sciences within conservation;
- build networks within the conservation social science community,
- raise the profile and robustness of social science within conservation, and
- assist BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and female students to navigate barriers in conservation and academia.
What’s in it for me?
For mentees: It’s a chance for you to connect and learn from a someone experience who can help you progress in your career.
For mentors: This is a chance for you to provide advice and feedback to someone who can really use your help. It’s also a chance to learn new things, and improve your own leadership and management skills.
What’s the time commitment?
It’s mostly up to you to decide how much you want to connect, but most mentorships involve monthly communication via whatever communication channel suits you.
Who can sign-up?
Anyone involved in conservation social science, whether student, professional or retired! Unfortunately, due to the limited number of available mentors we are currently only able to pair mentees who are graduate students.
How to register?
Register your interests by clicking on one of the links below! Please check your firewall configuration if you encounter any issues with opening the links.
Ongoing improvements
The initial 2020 cohort was a pilot program with 30 pairings. We received a lot of positive remarks from mentors and mentees involved in the 2020 pilot and very helpful feedback to improve the experience of the mentoring program. Multiple mentors requested a more formalised mentor training program and in response this year we are hosting an online workshop to improve the mentoring experience. In addition, we are also offering training for mentees around maximizing the mentorship experience, with topics such as goal setting, and defining responsibilities.
‘One of the pleasant surprises was the connection my mentee made with one of my own grad
students- they’re using similar methods and have stayed in touch, helping each other out. They both very much appreciated this and I was thrilled.’
‘Thank you so much for organising this. I’m sure this was a lot of work
to put together and I feel one of the down sides of virtual events/opportunities like this are that the
organisers don’t see the fruit of their hard work. So, thank you very much, it was very worthwhile for me as a mentee (and unofficial mentor)’