WSG Support Network

The mentoring scheme ran as 1-1 support for 3 years. The scheme was very successful, but as the world returned to pre-pandemic activities, continuing to run it in this form was untenable. As such, the WSG re-devised the scheme so that we could continue supporting our members without overburdening individuals.

We will update the top of the pages with current information on the scheme. Information about the 2021-2023 scheme is at the bottom of the page.

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The WSG have set up a new WSG Support Network.

The aim of this Network is to run a series of virtual skills-based mentoring workshops, led by those WSG members who want to share their experiences and strategies for navigating the world of academia, broadly conceived. These workshops can be on any topic that members might find useful, such as

·        to develop their skills

·        for their personal or professional development

·        for social and networking purposes.

This series of WSG skills-based workshops is open to all WSG members and any member can submit a proposal to deliver a workshop. Please note, these workshops will be piloted this year, and will replace our WSG mentoring scheme, which will be ‘rested’ temporarily.

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Scheme 2021-2023

In 2021, we paired 4 mentors with 4 mentees.

In 2022, we paired 4 mentors with 4 mentees.

In 2023, we have paired 6 mentors with 6 mentees.

Want to read about how some of mentors and worked together? Please read the following blog posts:

The Mentor’s Experience by Gillian Williamson

The Mentee’s Experience by Eva Lippold

The Mentee’s Experience by Annalisa Nicholson

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Details about the scheme

Academia is becoming an increasingly competitive environment and some may feel at a loss when it comes to developing new research projects, producing publications, building networks and curating knowledge exchange events/resources. All of these activities are an important part of scholarly work and can help build a lucrative research portfolio (no matter the field). Yet, graduates may struggle to find specific support in these areas, especially if they do not belong to an institution.  

The WSG recognise that among its members is a diverse community with a wealth of expertise and experience, as well as those who would benefit from collegial support. With this in mind, we are implementing a mentoring scheme. The scheme hopes to pair mentees and mentors from similar fields to work together on one or more goals. A goal could be a mentee seeking advice on developing a fellowship application or a funding application, or perhaps developing a new research project, writing an article or book proposal or developing a knowledge exchange activity. We also strongly encourage mentees to work with their mentor to develop a WSG bursary application.

The WSG bursary is offered to an early career researcher*, independent scholar or PhD student who is a member of the WSG and the bursaries are intended to support research in any aspect of women’s studies in the period 1558-1837. The joint WSG / Foundling Museum bursary is also offered to the Foundling Hospital Research Forum (FHRF).For further information, please see our bursary page.

Mentors and Mentees will be members of the WSG and it is up to the mentor and mentee to decide how often they would like to meet. We recommend meeting at least three times, for 60-minutes over the course of an academic year. Topics for discussion at these meetings could consist of the following:

• Meeting 1: getting to know one another, establishing a goal/goals, considering if a project could be developed for a WSG bursary application, timeline.

• Meeting 2: catch up, is the goal/goals on track, re-evaluating the timeline, what will be achieved by the next meeting.

• Meeting 3: catch up, has the goal/goal been achieved (for example, is an application/article ready for submission), feedback on the mentorship process and are there any next steps.

This is just a suggested plan. Mentors and Mentees are welcome to devise meetings, goals, and/or plans as they see fit.

While we hope a small, tangible outcome will come from these mentorships, we also recognise that many will benefit from the advice offered and forming a collegial relationship, even if there is not tangible outcome. On completion of the mentorship, Mentors and Mentees will be asked to feed back about the process and they may be invited to contribute a short blog post about their experience for the WSG website.

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We ran our mentoring scheme for the first time in 2021 and we ran the scheme again in 2022 and 2023.

The downloadable application forms are available below: