Now entering its third year, McGill’s College of Graduate Mentorship pairs upper-year PhD students and post-docs interested in in pursuing an academic career with a faculty member from another discipline. Applications are now open for mentors; mentees will be able to apply in August. Pairings will be made in September.
Nearly 200 McGill advanced trainees have benefited from this initiative by McGill Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (GPS).
The 2024-2025 cohort comprised 95 mentees and their 63 faculty mentors. Mentor-mentee pairs meet virtually or in-person at least twice per semester, receive an orientation on mentorship best practices and are invited to social events.
For GPS Dean Josephine Nalbantoglu, the College is about helping PhD students and postdocs with career preparation while building resilient communities.
“We know that this transition is difficult. PhD students and postdocs are working hard on their research, while also having to think about the job search, and often they are quite isolated,” Nalbantoglu said. “We wanted to give these trainees the chance to learn from others who have already been in their shoes.”
Cross-disciplinary connections
A key feature of the program is that mentees are paired with mentors from a different unit, allowing for mentorship that complements the support from the mentee’s supervisor.
For mentor Daniel Pratt, Assistant Professor in Languages, Literature and Cultures, this structure allows for more frank and natural discussion.
“It’s different to talk to me as somebody who is not associated with anything that they do, which means I pass no judgment. It allowed them to be really open with me about their questions, their concerns,” Pratt said.
Former mentee and newly hired Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto Minghan Xu agrees. While preparing for his successful job search, he relied on the complementary perspectives of his supervisor and his mentor.
“I think it’s good to connect with someone outside of your research field. It was just nice to talk to [my mentor] and we didn’t have any sort of conflict of interest. He also had recently got his job, so: ‘I’m interested in getting a job, you have experience – let’s talk’,” Xu said.
Fresh perspectives
Apart from permitting freer discussions, the cross-disciplinary matches also help break academic siloing and bring fresh perspectives.
Mentor Ratna Ghosh, Distinguished James McGill Professor Emerita in Integrated Studies in Education and Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, enjoys sharing her lifetime of experience with her mentee. While topics range from navigating academic hierarchies to balancing work with raising a young family, Ghosh also highlights lesser-known opportunities, such as a Royal Society of Canada program for young scholars.
“I missed [this variety of opportunities] when I was doing my doctoral program,” she adds.
For mentees, simply conferring with a supporting ear is often beneficial.
“The mentorship has been really helpful because having people who’ve gone through this and are also still going through this – this being academia and this being life – helps me feel supported,” said mentee Jessica Bennett, a PhD student in Chemistry.
Bennett, who cowrote an article in University Affairs about her mentorship experience, said hearing the stories of people who have different perspectives has been enriching.
“That’s what it’s all about, really: those interactions and lessons that we can learn and teach each other,” Bennett said.
Learn more at the College of Graduate Mentorship website. The College of Graduate Mentorship is currently accepting applications from prospective cmentors. Application deadline is July 20, 2025. Apply here.