Musings on mentorship

Significance: Mentorship has always been a key component of postgraduate student education, and it is becoming increasingly important in the academic environment. Strong mentorship is widely recognised as a key aspect of professional development and career success. Our view is that mentorship is a lifelong process extending beyond just teaching, and encompasses a wide range of aspects of the relationship between someone who is more experienced and someone who is less experienced. We see this as a two-way process, where both mentee and mentor benefit. It is ideally a personal relationship in which mentors are well respected in their fields, earning the respect of their mentees, who benefit from the ideas, insights and skills of their mentors. We argue that the lives and careers of both students and academics would benefit from universities establishing formal, non-bureaucratic structures to promote positive mentorship.