The Yorkshire Consortium for Equity in Doctoral Education (YCEDE) would like to invite you to our next cohort of Postgraduate Researcher (PGR) mentoring programme. 

The YCEDE PGR Mentoring programme has been created in consultation and collaboration with staff and PGRs from across the consortium to provide a bespoke mentoring programme for UK black, Asian and minority ethnic* PGRs. The purpose of this programme is to provide PGRs with a trained mentor with whom they are able to have supportive, non-judgemental conversations about their experiences of postgraduate research and their professional and career development. The YCEDE PGR Mentoring programme is part of a wider programme of opportunities and support that students can access.

Registration is now open for interested members of academic, research and professional services staff who have lived experience, research experience or awareness of the cultural context of underrepresented groups in higher education to become a YCEDE mentor.

What is the YCEDE PGR mentoring programme? 

The Yorkshire Consortium for Equity in Doctoral Education (YCEDE) is a collaboration between five universities in Yorkshire, 12 UKRI-funded Doctoral Training partnerships and Centres for Doctoral Training plus a number of external partners dedicated to equity at the doctoral level. The five Yorkshire universities involved are; Sheffield, Leeds, York, Bradford and Sheffield Hallam.

The YCEDE PGR mentoring programme forms part of our commitment to ensuring we deliver an equitable PhD experience for black, Asian and minority ethnic PGRs across the consortium.

This is a 6-month, one-to-one mentoring programme, which pairs a member of staff with a PGR, either at their own institution, or from a partnered university. All mentors will be provided with training and ongoing support.

Who is eligible to be a YCEDE mentor?

From consultation with our current PGRs, we welcome applications from research staff, academic staff and professional service staff who hold a PhD and have lived experience, research experience or awareness of the cultural context of underrepresented groups in higher education. We recognise that others may wish to participate and can discuss eligibility by emailing esther.allen@sheffield.ac.uk or info@ycede.ac.uk

We ask that interested individuals can commit the following to the programme:

  • Be able to meet with a mentee a minimum of 6 times between July 2023 and January 2024. Meetings can be held online or in person and we would suggest having an expectation of each meeting being approximately an hour in duration.
  • Be able to attend training which forms part of our support to both mentors and mentees. This includes an induction to the programme and mentoring practices and a bespoke session delivered by University of Bradford Centre for Inclusion and Diversity. These are two separate sessions (totalling 3.5 hours).
  • Are committed to providing feedback to the programme.

Eligible mentees are UK-domiciled black, Asian and minority ethnic PGRs currently enrolled at one of the five universities. This programme is open to all year groups. Mentees will also attend an induction session to the programme and be supported throughout their participation.

How will we recognise our mentors and what are the benefits of participating? 

Overwhelmingly, mentors find mentoring to be an enjoyable and mutually beneficial activity. The skills learnt through mentoring can be implemented elsewhere and mentors often report utilising mentoring practises to become better team members, managers and leaders.

We recognise that mentoring is a professional skill which is often under-recognised and valued and we are actively seeking ways to make sure that YCEDE mentors are formally recognised for their time and commitment. As part of this ongoing work, all mentors will receive certificates for attending training and participating in the programme. At individual and institutional level, YCEDE promotes discussions with line managers and leadership teams about mentors’ contribution to this programme and how this may be mapped onto development frameworks and be accounted for in work allocation models.

Please note all YCEDE members have committed to delivering the principles of the Concordat to support the career development of researchers, as such all research staff are entitled to 10 days per annum for professional development.

Any questions?

We welcome further questions by email to esther.allen@sheffield.ac.uk or info@ycede.ac.uk

How to register?

Please register by filling in this form. You will be asked to select training dates during registration.  The bespoke inclusion and diversity sessions are on the 8th and 15th June 2023, the programme induction / mentoring practices sessions are on the 8th, 9th and 15th of June 2023.

*We use the term black, Asian and minority ethnic student respectfully, although we know there are issues with this term. We recognise the importance of acknowledging and celebrating the cultural and ethnic identity of people within what is defined as black, Asian and minority ethnic.