Mentoring Plus Program

Interdisciplinary support for female scientists in career orientation and planning*

Mentoring Plus offers three target group-specific training programs to support female scientists:

Mentoring Plus (MP PhD) for female PhD candidates,
Mentoring Plus (MP Postdocs) for female PhDs and newly appointed scientists, and
International Mentoring Plus (IMP) English-language program for foreign or internationally oriented female scientists.

* Mentoring Plus is aimed at all female doctoral and post-doctoral researchers who identify themselves permanently as women.

Photo: istock/Ada daSilva

Support in addition to the program

Continuing advice and support
Free child care
Barrier-free access

Program Details

Mentoring Plus is aimed at women who are looking for a career in science, who are planning a career in a science-related field, or who would like to switch to other areas such as business, politics or administration. The program supports young women scientists who would like to work actively and intensively in planning their future career and life goals. Mentees benefit from the three components of the one-year program:

Mentoring - professional biographical exchange with a specialist and/or manager
(individually designed in terms of content and time)
Training - further development of practical and leadership-oriented qualifications
Networking - with mentees and mentors within the program, in the Talent Network with other highly qualified junior staff, and across sectors with experts

Support in addition to the program

Continuing advice and support
Free child care
Barrier-free access

Program Goals

Women are still clearly under-represented in higher specialist and management positions. In this context, Mentoring Plus aims to:

increase career and promotion opportunities for highly qualified women
promote the visibility of young women scientists’ skills and potentials
provide opportunities for intergenerational exchange on career-related issues and
strengthen female leadership roles

Funding and partners

The Potsdam Graduate School implements the Mentoring Plus program for PhD candidates and postdocs in cooperation with the Coordination Office for Equal Opportunities which supports the programm via the Professorinnenprogramm III. The program works closely with the Career Service, which supervises the Mentoring Plus program for female students and the network Forum Mentoring.