Academic Toolkit - ACT!

F-11 F-10 F-9
PhD
Pre-PhD preparation
Initial planning
Find a supervisor
Develop your research question
Plan for OOP and inform TPD
Find your collaborators
Investigate funders
Think about feasibility

Find a mentor

Start 11 months before funding application deadline and complete by 9 months before funding application deadline

Having a mentor is not essential, but is recommended.

Advice

Mentoring is not supervision or line management – the mentor steps back from the immediate and looks at the bigger picture. Their role is to facilitate you to progress your personal development, not to guide or direct you.  Having a mentor at the pre-Fellowship stage can be helpful but isn’t essential.

If you get a Fellowship through NIHR, Wellcome or a Research Council, you will be offered mentoring through the AMS.

Universities may also provide mentors if your funding comes from another source.

Having more than one mentor can help you cover different areas.

Resources
Mentee Missteps: Tales from the Academic Trenches External link

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2600471

An article about some pitfalls for mentees and mentors by Valerie Vaughn, MD, MSc; Sanjay Saint, MD, MPH; Vineet Chopra, MD, MSc.

Approvals for clinical projects
Check whether your study is research
F-11 F-10 F-9

Supported by