Bio Mentoring
is a program for early career researchers from the Faculty of Biology
It aims to support highly promising junior scientists in developing their academic career and building a personal support network. At the core of the mentoring program is the formation of a formal relationship between a mentor - a senior scientist, but not the direct project supervisor - and a mentee, an early career researcher during the postdoctoral phase (in exceptional cases at the end of the PhD phase).
The mentor provides career advice to the mentee while getting to know talented newcomers in their field. Additionally, the program provides direct financial support to the individual mentees and organizes workshops and events for all mentees.
The mentee finds a suitable senior scientist (within or outside the Faculty of Biology, within or outside the LMU, but not the direct project supervisor) that is willing to be his/her mentor. This mentor/mentee pair is expected to commit to regular meetings/discussions (min. once per semester) and formulate goals for the junior scientist.
Besides these informal contacts, the mentor, mentee and the direct project supervisor are expected to hold a formal “mentee advisory meeting” (MAC) at the beginning and end of the program. This MAC is in form and content meant to be similar to a thesis advisory meeting (TAC). Where applicable, this can also be merged with a habilitation committee meeting. Furthermore, the mentee has to provide a short written report at the end of the program.
Outside of the Meetings, the program offers mentees the ability to choose from a variety of seminars on soft skills and research skills they can attend to as a group. This is financed from a budget of 40 000 € a year that can also be used for research equipment, travel to conferences and the organization of the MACs and is evenly distributed among all mentees. The maximal duration of the program will be 2 years of support and one additional year of affiliation.
Invoices for deductable expenses are to be handed to the dean’s office according to the guidelines to be found in the downloads.
Applications are once per year with a deadline on the 15th of December.
To apply, please sent one pdf containing the Mentoring Application, the Mentoring Agreement form (both found in downloads), CVs of mentor and mentee, and consent from the direct supervisor (email is sufficient) via email to dekanat19@lmu.de.
A selection committee consisting of the program coordinators and two additional faculty members (currently Silke Werth and Thorben Cordes) will review the applications based on the expected benefit of the envisioned mentorship and on scientific excellence. Furthermore, the LMU has specified that at least 50% of the mentees have to be females.
Hence, female postdocs are especially encouraged to apply.
The BioMentoring program aims to have approximately 10 mentee-mentor pairs enrolled, i.e. on average five new mentee-mentor pairs are taken up each year.
Please note that participation in the program does require a contract at the faculty, but at the time point of the application it is not mandatory for your contract to cover the entire 2-years mentoring period. Please specify in the application your perspective for a contract at LMU so that the committee can judge your expected benefits from the program.
In case of questions, please contact the program coordinators!
Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Enard Anthropology and Human Genomics
Prof. Dr. Laura Busse Division of Neurobiology
Karin Bauer Secretary
Current Members
Dr. Ana Zippl Zoomorphology AG Haug
Dr. Anton Sumser Neurobiology AG Busse
Dr. Johanna Geuder Human Genomics AG Enard
Dr. Andrea Pozzi Evolutionary Biology AG Wolf
Dr. Arne Weinhold Center for Organismic Adaptation AG Keller
Dr. Tess Brewer Microbiology AG Lassak
Dr. Katarzyna Parys Plant genetics AG Parniske
Dr. Sebastian Riquelme Molecular Microbiology AG K. Jung
Associate members
Dr. Sarah Mueller Evolutionary Biology AG Wolf
Dr. Andrey Sobolev Neurobiology AG Pecka
Dr. José Antonio Villaécija Aguilar Genetics AG Becker
Dr. Julia Verba Ecology and Evolution AG Pereira
Dr. Eliana Mor Genetics AG Robatzek