Launching a sustainable career
Our peer group consists of passionate and committed female researchers that aim to acquire skills and competencies required to launch a sustainable career – a career that is tailored to our strengths, gives us a sense of meaning and integrates well with our personal lives.
As female researchers in the academic disciplines of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics), where female researchers still represent a minority group confronted with gender stereotypes, it is harder to maintain a sustainable career. Therefore, our progress is additionally supported by an external coach, who accompanies us with a co-created and custom-fit program to develop and maintain an impactful yet sustainable career. This includes the development of a versatile toolbox of techniques and strategies that can easily be integrated in one’s daily routine.
Moreover, as a peer group we aim to foster a community that openly discusses challenges, seeks advice in difficult situations and actively supports each member.
Contact: Anja Adamov
Setting yourself up for success (SYRUP)
Setting YouRself UP for success (SYRUP) is a peer group designed for female earlystage doctoral students.
We focus on building the skill set needed for success in and beyond our PhD studies, such as effective networking, expectation management, presentation skills, and storytelling.
Beyond workshops, we want to use the group as a playground for collaborative learning (e.g. science communication, social media for scientists, creativity tools), to share insights, opportunities and individual progress, and to create a safe space where we support each other on our PhD journey.
Contacts: Laura Endres and Carolin Beer
Women’s Peer Mentoring Group at WSL
The Women’s Peer Mentoring Group (PMG) is a self-organized group of early-career female scientists at the WSL/SLF.Our aim is to support the career development of our members by promoting skills and networking, on the journey of becoming recognized scientists.
We have a strong network of affirmed female scientists and mentors that support us sharing their insights into a life in research and help us develop important skills, from grant writing to career planning.
umerous speakers and coaches are invited throughout the year, to stimulate discussions on important questions. The main focus for the year 2022/2023 is “How to become a good female leader in academia” with a focus on female aspects of leadership (e.g. success, care, fair, conscious of bias) as well as different forms of leadership (e.g. managing projects, manuscript writing, workgroups).
Last but not least this group provides a space where not only to enhance skills and competences both form peer-based help and external support to achieve a fulfilling personal and professional life within or outside academia; but also, to provide a platform where we can support each other both emotionally and practically, striving for a healthier work-life-balanced and informed career path choices.
Contacts: Dr. Elisabet Martinez-Sancho, Dr. Maja Ilic
FLPeers: Developing together
Our objectives are to advance our personal career development, by learning strategies of self-branding and self-marketing, and by improving our leadership and project management skills. All members of the group recognise these as simultaneously vital for successful career prospects, and difficult to master. Combining our coaching sessions with the peer mentoring, we will target these areas where we would like to improve on, thus enabling us to achieve our individual career and personal aspirations. Project management skills will benefit us in the present as well. By developing more efficient time management, organisation and co-worker communication, we will see real-time improvement in our current projects.
Our peer group has peers who already participated in the programme. These peers can act as mentors and share the lessons learnt from last year’s experience with the newcomers, contributing to more effective peer mentoring.
By participating in the group, we are not only expanding our network but also creating a safe trusting space where we can help each other deal with the issues we are facing.
Contacts: Phoebe Tengdin, Corina Hadjicharalambous and Ulrike Hiltner