Capacity strengthening is an important partof many research consortia. This may include individual focussed career development support, through a mentoring programme, or career development planning. Here we describe what we have learnt from the mentoring activitites in TriageTB and offer some recommendations for establishing successful mentoring programmes.
To deliver capacity building activities that will make a difference needs buy-in from all the members of a research project or consortium. Too often, capacity strengthening can be seen as a secondary objective that is less important than the actual research, even though well-trained and motivated staff are essential if the project is to succeed.Thus it is important for capacity strengthening activities to be recognised as central to the project.
Recommendation 1. Hold capacity strengthening-focussed sessions as part of the formal programme at all annual meetings to reinforce the importance of capacity strengthening.
Mentoring is designed to offer the menteean opportunity to discuss, in confidence, their current challenges and career goals. Many individuals will already know about mentoring, but in some institutions, this is a novel concept which needs to be introduced. This could be done through a presentation at a project or consortium meeting, in person or virtually. Time should be available for participants to ask questions and for discussion. It is also a topic that benefits from informal discussion within small groups, or with dedicated time for face-to-face meetings of mentors and mentees during project meetings.
Recommendation 2. If launching a mentoring programme, it is important to introduce the concept of mentoring, including what it does and does not include, and the type of mentoring programme that is planned.
In most cases, the more senior members of research consortia will provide the pool of mentors. If not already mentoring, mentors will need clarity about what is expected of them in the planned mentoring scheme, for example to be available to meet with their mentee at regular intervals that could be bi-monthly or quarterly. Many mentors find mentoring a very rewarding activity rather than a burden.
Mentoring (and appropriate training) should ideally be offered to all the members of the project, irrespective of location, role or seniority. However it is not realistic to expect anyone to be simultaneously mentored by more than one mentor, and should someone already have a mentor identified through another research consortium, or within their institution, this may be sufficient. Pairing mentors and mentees will depend on the pool of mentors available and how many individuals want to be mentored, but a mentor who is not working in the same research discipline, or from another institution may be more objective and enable the mentee to talk more freely. All conversations must however be regarded as confidential.
Recommendation 3. Identifying mentors and mentees, and pairing them, should be donein an equitable way, offering the opportunity to mentor or be a mentee to people at different stages of their careers, and across all the project partners.
Most mentoring programmes ask the mentee to arrange the mentoring meetings. At the start, the mentor and mentee will need to meet, and to discuss what the mentee’s goals and expectations are. There should also be agreement about how often the mentor and mentee should meet. Not all mentors will provide what the mentee wants, and if a mentoring relationshipis not working, an alternative mentor should be provided. Some mentoring programmes ask the mentor and mentee to sign an agreement, although it is not clear if this improves outcomes.
Recommendation 4. Review how well allocated mentor:mentee pairings are working on anannual basis and offer alternative mentors if needed.
Requests for participants to feed back their views on the value of mentoring and how such schemes could be evaluated may produce low response rates, unless this is done within a consortium meeting. Sponsors may also want to see recommendations and learnings published or made publicly available. However, the benefits of a mentoring relationship may not be immediately obvious, taking years or longer to occur, and ultimately any success is due to what the mentee achieves, rather than any help provided by the mentor.
Recommendation 5. Consider the best way to assess the perceived success of capacity strengthening activities conducted as part of a research consortium, and the best way to make what has been learnt publicly available, to help others wishing to establish similar mentoring programmes in the future.
On 25-26 Nov 2023, TriageTB and ENDxTB members could finally come together again for their joint project meeting, where four young researchers opened the plenary session on Day 2.
