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My mentor was honest and constructive in our discussions on the possibilities and challenges of academia in arts and humanities. They have helped me work towards realising career goals, and reminded me that there are passionate and generous people all around at UofG.

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Our meetings were informal, chats over a coffee, which was very pleasant, and helped me feel at home at the University beyond my direct colleagues. It was interesting to hear different perspective, hear how one might navigate work and life as new parent. I didn't have specific needs or expectations, and am very happy with how it went. Thanks a lot, Will!

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Clare took the time to meet and really listen to me, creating a welcome break from the day-to-day juggle and a time where I was able to contemplate barriers, priorities and my capabilities. She encouraged me to make time for what was really important at work and gave me the confidence to meet new people and seek out new opportunities. It has been brilliant to have Clare supporting me this year, thank you for all the advice and motivation!

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Sayantan is an excellent listener and guided me to reflect upon my career and how to navigate challenges in academia. I really appreciated his sharing of wisdom and caring about my concerns. Really great person to have conversations with.

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Great advices, great help, great listener.

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My mentor has really helped me to understand how to navigate academia and how to assert my place in research and plan for the future. I have really valued her calm and caring disposition and how she has guided me without adding any pressure or judgement.

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I was lucky to be paired with Christian! I joined the programme at a pretty state -starting my lab, juggling too many things, and constantly worrying about securing a permanent post. As a senior academic, he understands these pressures really well, and our sessions made a big difference. He is a great listener, asks the right questions, and cuts through the noise (and I can bring plenty of noise). Every meeting ended with very clear, realistic action points, which was exactly what I needed. I also found his small “homework” tasks surprisingly helpful for stepping back and reflecting. The clarity and focus I got from these sessions made this whole stage feel a lot less chaotic and a lot more manageable, and it definitely boosted my confidence.

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My mentor was extremely knowledgeable, supportive, gave me concrete advice and helped me understand my own identity as well as being open and able to learn from me. I think our interests overlapped a lot and I found conversations fascinating! I think we will be collaborating in future years on LTS projects!

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I would like to thank Will for his time. Will was a really good listener, and also asked pertinent questions that made me think. But most importantly his outside view, and shared experience of starting his own research group just gave much more confidence that I was doing the 'right' things - and perhaps I didn't need to worry quite so much!

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I have really enjoyed being paired with Lisa for the Catalyst Mentoring programme. I feel like I can relate to her and some of her career choices as we have a few things in common and seem to both value a good work/life balance. I have found it really helpful to discuss things with her as she is always asking thoughtful questions which get me talking about what I have been doing in the past month, or any challenges I have faced. She is also excellent at remembering what I have said in previous meetings and always encourages me to reflect on my progress. She also shares her own experiences with me which always reassures me that I’m not alone in what I’m going through. She always makes time to listen and assist me when needed which I really appreciate. This partnership has also really helped with how I approached my own mentoring sessions as a thesis mentor which I am very grateful for.

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Although mentoring is mainly about professional development, I’ve found it’s impossible to completely separate the personal from the professional. That’s why having a mentor who’s empathetic and understanding is so important. Catherine has been incredibly supportive and generous, sharing her own experiences openly and honestly, which has provided me with reassurance about my current path and future plans. The early years of an academic career are tough, and having a non-linear career path like mine makes it even more challenging. Catherine has offered valuable insights, considering the broader aspects of my life! She has been an exceptional listener and a reliable sounding board, while also providing constructive feedback on my presentations, interview preparation, and career strategies. On top of that, she’s been generous in pointing me toward networking opportunities. I would say Catherine has made me feel significantly more confident and well-prepared for the next steps in my journey.

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He gave me the opportunity the learn the rope of research and career development from an expert outside my own domain. My mentor is a very open person, very encouraging and supportive, he knows how to put himself into my shoes, have passed through similar route not too long ago and had the challenges I am facing but is currently advancing in his career. He also has good listening ability.

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I appreciate how friendly and candid Jaylan is as a mentor. Despite her impressive accomplishments, she remains grounded. She openly and willingly shares her expertise, knowledge, and experience. You can tell that she genuinely wants to support and shape early career researchers such as myself. Jaylan is an inspiring mentor. Academia would definitely be a much better and kinder place if established academics were more like Jaylan.

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Tiziana was really open to listening to me, and not making assumptions about 'typical' career paths or what might work for people on more standard journeys, and then because she had listened to me she was able to support me really well with what I wanted to achieve. I've made progress through the mentoring relationship on something I've felt really stuck on for years.

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My mentor is an excellent listener and was curious about my research, asking insightful questions and sharing ideas. He made stimulating and interesting connections between my work and ambitions and colleagues and initiatives inside and outside of the university that can support my goals. I really appreciated having the opportunity to discuss ideas and possibilities with a supportive senior colleague, thank you.

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Jan is a great listener, very structured, organised, friendly, and insightful. Conversations with him helped me get a new perspective on my current challenges - and a sense that I am not alone in facing them.

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My mentoring partnership with Stuart has been helpful in guiding my career development. His patience and flexibility in accommodating my schedule made it easy to balance mentoring sessions with my other commitments. Stuart’s honest, straightforward, and genuine approach created a comfortable environment where I could openly discuss my goals and concerns. One of the most valuable aspects of his mentorship was how he encouraged me to think more broadly about my future. He helped me consider different perspectives, which has been important in shaping my future path. Stuart’s advice and support have been practical and meaningful, and I’m grateful for the time and effort he dedicated to helping me grow.

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Mark made me feel comfortable asking questions that felt I couldn't ask anyone else--things that seem obvious to those familiar with UK higher education but less so to those like myself who come from academic backgrounds elsewhere in the world. Most importantly, he's helped me to better understand the requirements and demands of Glasgow's teaching and research cultures, and given me a road map to figure out how to best succeed in these areas. His perspective as someone adjacent to but not directly in my field has been one I've come to rely on for career guidance.

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Bryony has been a wonderful mentor.  She has listened with a sympathetic and patient ear while I have poured out my troubles with my mid-career stage and my post-maternity leave difficulties in managing my workload, and provided constructive advice about how to deal with everything based on her own experiences, very similar to mine. She is now a source of inspiration for me as I start to move forward to the next phase of my career.

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The mentoring partnership has been incredibly meaningful to me, especially during a pivotal time in my career. Transitioning to a new role in a different school within the University felt overwhelming, but my mentor’s support made the process much smoother.  He demonstrated exceptional qualities such as approachability, patience, and  wisdom. His willingness to share practical advice and valuable resources, like links to grant calls and training opportunities, has been instrumental in expanding my knowledge and confidence. What stood out the most was the ability to demystify complex processes, such as fellowship programs and navigating the intricacies of UK academia, which I found challenging as a foreigner. Working with my mentor has not only enhanced my career development but also boosted my confidence in achieving my long-term goals.

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Corey immediately identified the amount of pressure I was placing on myself and encouraged me to stop taking sole responsibility for the state of the job market. He created a safe and warm space in which to talk through my fears and concerns, helping me to develop creative and durable solutions to my problems.

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While I was very uncertain about how to progress my career while managing my personal life, Andrew's response was always tailored to me perfectly, either by helping me find practical resources or by listening and making me feel heard. Although I'm not where I thought I would be at the end of this programme, I am happy with my choices moving forward.

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Kathleen is an absolutely amazing person, academic and senior colleague.  I was incredibly lucky to have her as my mentor, with her immense academic experience and knowledge combined with patience, warmth, great sense of humour, practicality, ability to listen and hear the questions, and to respond with great understanding and sense of purpose. I do not have words to say how grateful I am and how lucky I feel.

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Alasdair was very engaged in our mentoring sessions. I found that he was able to offer useful insight into my own challenges around navigating career progression, based on his own experience of similar situations. I felt that he listened to my concerns about my ongoing work and career and was able to relate to these, which he articulated well. I also feel that his wider impressions of working for the university and in a research environment were helpful for me to understand and reflect back onto my own work environment. I believe that Alasdair has a genuine interest in sharing his experiences and supporting others at an earlier career stage than himself, which has made a difference in this mentoring partnership.

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My mentoring partnership has truly been great. She was a really nice person - easy to talk to, supportive, empathetic, a good listener and was really helpful with suggestions and solutions. Her insightful advice to some creative problem solving to my probems helped me structure a plan on how to exceute it with confidence. We have agreed to keep in touch through fostering an informal mentoring partnership.

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Bryony is a brilliant mentor - a very empathetic listener with a real knack for distilling and clarifying your thoughts and feelings on a given issue.

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No one deserves a shout-out more than Angela! Her warmth and openness from the start ensured I had a safe space to voice my worries and struggles, and her approach to questioning, facilitation and advice worked extremely well for me. She helped me trust my gut in tricky situations, and helped me remain true to my core values, all whilst being a friendly face and giving the space to laugh about shared challenges. Thank you Angela :-)

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The mentorship has helped me to take think about the priorities in my career and has facilitated taking important career decisions. My mentor has given me insights on different dimensions to consider when planning to move to the next career stage and has helped me to reflect over those dimensions in very productive way.

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I got along really well with my matched mentor who had the relevant insights for helping me think more clearly about my future career goals and how to think about it. He challenged some of my thought processes and encouraged me to consider aspects I wasn't aware of.

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The informal and friendly relationship I have with Rea has worked incredibly well for me throughout the mentoring process. Rea's advice and experience have been invaluable for me as I begin the process of applying for Fellowships and planning the next steps in my career, and I hope that it will continue to benefit us both going forward. I especially appreciate Rea's ability to follow and understand my often chaotic trains of thought, which isn't always an easy thing to do (even for me), and helping me to formulate my thoughts on the next best steps for me.

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Through my conversations with Stephen, I gained confidence in the impact of the research I do, and the way that I constructively and positively manage my research team and laboratories. The programme has also pushed me into designating time for work and sticking to it, to make an academic career accessible - I now only work up to 2 evenings per week (if necessary) and only weekends where a deadline is imminent.

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Bastian is an experienced mentor, a good listener, and a wise senior colleague. His support helped me in a difficult period of my career journey and the most important thing he taught me is to be self-aware, and confident, to appreciate your strengths, and to work on your weaknesses. His support was precious during PDR in formulating my career goals and communicating more effectively with my line managers.

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Caroline has helped me feel more confident and to understand that my experiences, did not reflect that I was a 'bad researcher'.  it was validating to hear that my concerns were legitimate.

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Will is a great mentor! He is knowledgeable, diligent, honest, friendly, approachable and always willing to help. He listens, tries to understand your dilemmas and offers the best help he can. His academic experience within the UK and abroad helps him understand the challenges that non-British researchers face in academia in the UK, which I found very helpful. I also had lots of questions about what to do with my career and conversations with him helped me take more informed steps for my next move.

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Nicky is very experienced, particularly in research student supervision.  She was an excellent listener and asked very pertinent questions.  Often, the main output from our conversations was her reassuring me that I seemed to be on the right track.  I felt I could ask her advice, which I did a couple of times and the advice she gave me was extremely useful.

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Rea brought her unique and calm views of my chaotic 6 months. She was supportive in all stages of my job search and interview. By creating this safe place Rea allowed me to share with no shame or restriction on my thoughts, feelings and sometimes frustrations. By sharing some of her own experience Rea reassure me and help me navigate some tricky situations. Overall we established a relation of trust and respect that I will maintain and remember for a long time.

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Corey was fantastic support. Our meetings have been invaluable to helping me make decisions about my career. He helped me see my own strengths and to talk through options with him, which gave me clarity on what direction was best for me. I looked forward to our meetings and they helped me to de-stress. He was very friendly and made me feel comfortable to be honest. He has massively helped me progress my goals and deserves recognition for the valuable support he has provided. Thank you Corey!

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Angela was an absolutely perfect mentor throughout the programme. From the beginning, she was organised, responsive and enthusiastic about participating. In our meetings, she was approachable and empathetic, facilitating an environment in which I felt comfortable sharing both my successes and struggles. She went above and beyond by suggesting we have an in-person meeting in London when I was living there and she was visiting for personal reasons. This meeting was a turning point that helped me feel more connected to the University and hopeful for the future. I always left our meetings feeling motivated to act on the points we had discussed, which gave me clear direction when I was overwhelmed. Anyone would be lucky to have Angela as a mentor - I certainly was!

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Emily came across as genuine, interested, inspiring, encouraging, and human. All of these qualities made for an equitable relationship where we could exchange views and opinions really honestly.  I felt I really benefited from Emily's knowledge and experience of career progression in a single institution as I have dotted about unis getting nowhere fast (being a working mother as well). My mentor has helped me feel more confident about the range of future possibilities. I am now considering a next steps, the springboard I need on top of my recent publications to move upwards in academia. I also have an alternative career option to pursue in tandem.

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Kathleen has been a great mentor to me, because during our sessions, I felt like she listened and understood my challenges. She encouraged me to phrase my thoughts and think out loud and she was able to give measured advice that was very useful to me. I feel like I now know better which steps to take to reach my goal.

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I am very glad that I had an opportunity to have a mentor who is both a great researcher and a great person. I felt understood and as if I had someone rooting for me. I do not think it was particularly easy to mentor me, but I never felt that from the mentor. I hope to emulate her very calm, realistic and efficient attitude towards different kinds of problems - this I have observed in my mentor.

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It was great to share ideas with my mentor, including talking about life work balance because we both have families with kids. we also talked about some of my weaker points and how to try manage that, for my development.