Mentoring Program TANDEMdok

Career Management for women PhD Candidates

Copyright: © Martin Braun

The interdisciplinary program appeals to highly motivated women Ph.D. students, who are interested in a systematic development of their career and in an active configuration of their own professional biography.

Program Modules

Mentoring | Training | Networking

All participants receive individual advice and support from personal mentors of their own choice over the course of a one-year mentoring relationship.

In addition, they reflect on and expand their interdisciplinary skills in training courses and workshops designed specifically for the target group.

Numerous networking opportunities promote intensive exchange with other mentees and enable the formation of long-term sustainable contacts.

An obligatory component of each one-year round of TANDEMdok is participation in the welcome and closing ceremonies, theme evenings and quality-assuring feedback and evaluation units.

Benefit as Mentee

• Strategic incentives for the individual development of their career
• Structuring and concretization of professional targets after the doctorate
• Efficient preparation of the postdoc phase or the non-university career start
• Expansion of key competencies
• Expansion of knowledge about structures, processes and rules of the science game or in the economy
• Establishment and advancement of individual, interdisciplinary networks

A former Mentee about TANDEMdok:
I was sure what I didn't want professionally, but unsure where I saw myself after my doctorate. So I applied to the TANDEMdok mentoring program and recognized an ideal opportunity to further develop and improve my personal and professional qualifications through training, networking meetings, and mentoring.

Benefit as Mentor

• Enthusiasm for their encouragement for young talents
• Enjoyment of the commitment to young women scientists by passing on one's own experiential knowledge
• Professional exchange and insights into the current situation in the science system
• Reflection on one's own professional career and new impulses for one's own work
• Development of counseling skills

Participation Requirements, Application and Selection for Mentees

Women doctoral students from faculties 1 to 8 who are enrolled or employed at RWTH Aachen University are eligible to apply.

Participation in the program requires German language skills, but is also possible with a good passive knowledge of German.

A commitment to the development of the mentoring relationship is expected, as well as a commitment to seminar dates, the social program, and the program evaluation.

Applications for one of the 15 places can only be submitted by e-mail. The following documents are essential:

• a letter of motivation containing a meaningful explanation of your desire to participate,
• the completed application form,
• your curriculum vitae.

Please submit them in the order listed above in one .pdf document. Applications that do not meet these requirements will not be considered.

A selection committee decides on admission to the program. We will gladly take into account any possible need for the selection interview to be conducted without barriers. Please provide us with a brief indication of this as part of your application.