A survey carried out by WICN in 2023 found a desire for support and mentorship that would help individuals further their careers. The continued need to improve support for women is motivated by the low number of female academics (clinician and non-clinician) advancing to senior positions.
The WICN 12-month pilot mentorship is the only mentorship programme available in the department. It specifically aims to addresses a gap in pastoral support identified by female clinician and non-clinician academics in NDCN.
Following on from the programme launch in March, over 30 people attended this event, including mentees and mentors from the department, mentors external to Oxford, and others interested in career development, ranging from DPhil students to PIs.
Inspiring talks
After a lunch and networking session the meeting featured three senior female academics across the University, who shared their reflections on mentoring during their own inspiring academic and professional journeys, followed by a panel discussion with a Q&A:
Melanie Fleming, an Associate Professor in NDCN working on stroke and brain injury, talked about her non-linear path to Oxford.
Andrea Kusec, postdoctoral researcher and NIHR DSE Fellow in NDCN, working on mental health and cognition after stroke and brain injury, shared her experience working with mentors at key transition points in her career.
Manjiri Gokhale Joshi, Former Diversity and Inclusion Head at Said Business School, Oxford University and former CEO of Global Talent Track, talked about her experience working with different mentors to make bold career choices, and supporting others in their careers through entrepreneurship.
These inspiring talks provided much food for thought on the importance of strategic advice through mentors in career development from postdoctoral to PI stage.
Programme evaluation
The other goal of the event was to summarise the results from a mid-point evaluation of the pilot scheme completed by mentees and mentors. 65% of participants (12/18 mentor-mentee pairs) had replied and provided further opportunities for feedback and discussion.
The key findings so far indicate that:
- All mentor and mentee pairs had met up at least once since the launch of the scheme
- A range of topics had been discussed by mentees in these meetings, including career development/pathways, work-life balance, funding applications, and academic promotion.
- Mentees had taken concrete steps to further their careers, either starting, stopping or continuing meaningful actions
Text responses also revealed that individuals “felt seen” and had “…more confidence in myself and my ability”, evidencing internal and external changes within the review period.
Participants of the scheme also commented wanting more material on how to get the most of the mentorship scheme, i.e. in terms of how to hold the meetings and setting expectations. A few felt that greater diversity of mentors would have been helpful to choose from to facilitate a better fit.
While the scheme has been successful so far, the WICN team identified participant engagement as a potential issue in rolling out the scheme more widely, as well as resource limitations.
COMING SOON...
A final mentorship event will be held in Spring 2026 to celebrate the end of the 12-month pilot, share outcomes of the final evaluation and to outline plans for the future of mentoring at NDCN.
In response to feedback, WICN will be reviewing their webpages to include clearer remit, better information for the target audience, and greater visibility of WICN activities.
Get involved!
WICN welcomes all who aim to achieve better a working environment for female clinician and non-clinician academics at NDCN and as a consequence provides a stepping stone to improve NDCN working culture for everyone.
If you are interested in hearing more about WICN and joining in WICN activities, please get in touch via Eugenie.Lagrange@ndcn.ox.ac.uk