Mentoring Program

Our PhD students can profit from a one-to-one mentoring. This is a service provided voluntarily by experienced PhD students or alumni. The mentors will support the PhD students (also called "mentee") in social and professional issues, like:

Help with conflict management, i.e. discussing issues with the boss or with colleagues
Options: what options has the city you are living in to offer
Discussing problems in the PhD using well-established mentoring methods
Support in planning the curriculum
Provide guidance in the new (academic) environment
etc.

All our mentors are familiar with your academic environment and the requirements of the MIM PhD program, since they are current or former MIM members.

Our mentoring program is based on two main principles that all participating mentors and mentees need to respect:

Absolute confidentiality (neither the mentor nor the mentee talks about the context of the mentoring session to anyone else)

Mutual respect (showing up to the meetings, responding to emails, acknowledging the problem discussed as serious issue)

We think high of professionalism. Therefore, our mentors are trained by experts to ensure high quality mentor-mentee relationships.

* The Mentoring Program is supported by the Graduate Campus, UZH*

All MIM PhD students are welcome to participate in the MIM mentoring program. If you are open to advice, guidance and encouragement, apply to get a mentor! Contact the MIM PhD Program coordinator Judith Zingg. She will be happy to provide you with a list of available mentors. Requests will be processed at any time. Please note: by participating in this program, you accept our values.

1. If you are interested in getting a mentor, contact the MIM PhD Program coordinator Judith Zingg by email or phone. She will provide you with a list of available mentors.

2. Please hand in your preferences (a selection of suitable mentors) within 2 weeks after receiving the list with available mentors.

3. The matching process will be done by the program. The name and email address of your assigned mentor will be sent to you in an email and your mentor will contact you shortly afterwards.

Expectations and structure of the mentoring (as frequency of the meetings and focus) should be discussed at the beginning of the mentoring relationship. The following mentoring agreement can be applied voluntarily: link

Every year, a survey will be conducted among all participants to receive an impression of the individual satisfaction.

The mentoring relationship officially ends at the end of the mentee’s PhD study, unless otherwise agreed.

It is possible to change the mentor on request of the mentee. Please contact .

Are you an advanced PhD student and happy to support a mentee? Are you willing to take the time to chaperone a mentee and to share your knowledge? Then, please fill in the mentoring profile and return it to Judith. She will contact you for mentee assignment.

Once a year, the MIM program offers a special training for mentors. Furthermore, we conduct regular meetings to facilitate exchange of experiences and information among the MIM mentors.

We expect every participating person (mentors, mentees) to stick to these values:

1. Absolute confidentiality
2. Mutual respect

Judith Zingg

Phone: +41 44 633 04 06

Workshops and meetings for mentors plus kick off events for mentees and mentors will be organized regularly!

Past events

Mentor kickoff event - Becoming a mentor (16.08.2022)

with Dr. Annika Martin

Glühwein at Christmas Market

December 2021

Mentor kickoff event - Becoming a mentor (2.12.2021)

with Prof. Sophia Johler & Dr. Monika Clausen

Mentor get-together (18.3.2021)

with Dr. Monika Clausen