Advice on Mentor/Mentee Relationships

GWIS recommends trainees take the initiative to develop an agreement with their mentor, either at the beginning of their relationship, or at least prior to the trainee leaving the lab. Even if the relationship is in excellent shape, an agreement can still be a useful planning tool and can clarify topics that could turn into issues down the road. GWIS aims to empower trainees to have a voice in their professional relationships and to protect themselves and their future careers. 

Here is an excellent article from PLOS Computational Biology on steps for creating a trainee agreement (Masters and Kreeger, 2017): https://journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/article?id=10.1371/journal.pcbi.1005709

Here are some example mentor/mentee agreements/contracts:

• https://www.asn-online.org/education/training/mentors/resources/Mentor-Mentee_Agreement.pdf

• https://ictr.wisc.edu/mentoring/mentoring-compactscontracts-examples/

• https://icahn.mssm.edu/files/ISMMS/Assets/Files/Mentor-Mentee-Agreement-form.pdf

For example Mentor/Mentee Agreement templates click here.