Peer mentoring for Docs/Postdocs – Graduate Academy

The Graduate Academy's peer mentoring programme also offers the opportunity to network online with other Ph.D. researchers and postdocs in times of home office or afterwards: to exchange ideas about your projects, your working and supervision situation, your next steps - completely off any "observation", and independent of your working and research context.

The topics of your exchange can be manifold: how you manage your projects (your own Ph.D. thesis, your research work as a postdoc, etc.); how you manage your time when you do contract work and research simultaneously; how you write your thesis; how you experience the supervision of your Ph.D. or your new role as a postdoc; but you may also meet to jointly explore upcoming career steps and how to manage them – be it a postdoc position or a profession outside university.... Take advantage of the opportunity to get independent opinions on your concerns and exchange ideas with comparatively little effort!

The application deadline for the programme start in February 2025 is January 12.

Please note that this programme is in German. However, non-native speakers/internationals are invited to apply provided they can understand and speak sufficient German.

The only fixed and compulsory dates for the programme in 2025 are:
February 6, 2025, 9 am-1.30 pm, March 6, 2025, 9 am-12.30 pm, June 19, 2025, 1-2 pm

What is Peer mentoring?

Peer mentoring is a form of exchange among peers and means mutual advisory of “equals within a mentee group". (See: https://forum-mentoring.de/mentoring/formen-von-mentoring/).
Whom does the Peer mentoring programme address?

All Ph.D. candidates and postdocs pf Leibniz University up to two years after the completion of their Ph.D. who would like to exchange ideas on research and work-related topics and/or deal with the development of next career steps, both within and outside university.
How is the programme structured?

The Graduate Academy allocates you to your peer mentoring group. In a kick-off workshop, a trainer provides you with a toolkit for strategic networking. Here you acquire the method of peer case consultation and learn how to form functioning peer mentoring groups. A follow-up event one month later serves to deepen your understanding of the methods.

The peer mentoring groups of up to eight participants per group then organise and continue their consultation process independently.
What dates do I need to consider? How long does the programme run? How often should peer mentoring groups meet?

The peer mentoring group meets regularly over a period of at least six months. A duration of up to one year has proven to be useful.

The groups themselves decide the frequency of their meetings, but we recommend at least one meeting every two months. You should aim at a minimum of three to four meetings within 6 months. The meetings may be organised online or in person.

The only fixed and compulsory dates for the programme in 2025 are:

Thursday, February 6, 2025, 9 am-1.30 pm: Kick-off event to learn peer mentoring and to set up the peer mentoring groups (in person event)

Thursday, March 6, 2025, 9 am-12.30 pm: Follow-up event to deepen peer mentoring methods (in person event)

Thursday, June 19, 2025, 1-2 pm: Final meeting to discuss intermediate results of peer mentoring group (Online).
How do you form the groups?

A peer mentoring group requires up to eight Ph.D. students and/or postdocs. If there are more applicants, the Graduate Academy forms the peer mentoring groups according to the application documents. The aim is to achieve the best possible match in terms of career phase, orientation of the applicant's own career planning and motivation for applying to the peer mentoring program.
How does the Graduate Academy support the groups?
We offer support...

in starting and doing the peer mentoring,

in finding a room for your peer mentoring group,

in finding an expert attending one of your peer mentoring meetings to provide impulses and information, for example on financial or organisational questions concerning the Ph.D., the postdoc period and further career planning... and much more.

If you are interested in a one-to-one tandem with a non-university mentor, we can contact one of our cooperation partners and help you establish an individual mentor-mentee relationship One-to-one mentoring.
How do I apply?
The application deadline for the programme start in February 2025 is January 12. Generally, you have to submit the following documents:

Application form

Curriculum vitae

Certificate of enrolment (for Ph.D. candidates)

Please send your documents under the keyword "Peer Mentoring" in one single pdf to: graduiertenakademie@zuv.uni-hannover.de.