Mentorship Initiative

What is the IHSJR Mentorship Initiative?

The IHSJR Mentorship Initiative is one way that the IHSJR strives to reach it's goal of making research and professional development accessible, affordable, and transparent. Mentees are matched with mentors who hail from various backgrounds, professional affiliations, and professions to learn about career fields, gain guidance on life beyond high school and college, and potentially guidance/advice on an independent research project. Each mentorship is completely free, 4 weeks long, virtual, and according to mentee and mentor availability. To conclude the 4 weeks, Advanced and Research mentees present what they've learned in a "mini-symposium".

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Is there a cost associated with the Mentorship Initiative?

Nope! The IHSJR is committed to completely free open-access publishing for students and continues to uphold this through our Mentorship Initiative.

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What are the benefits of the Mentorship Initiative?

By participating in the Mentorship Initiative, you'll be able to better understand how college and professional life, personal and life skills, and possible research advice and feedback. Mentees get to network with professionals in fields that interest them and Advanced and Research mentees have the chance to explore topics with a research-aimed experience.

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Why is each session only 4 weeks long?

Similar programs have found that mentorship of around 4 weeks typically prevents poor mentor-mentee matches, works around mentor and mentee commitments, and allows for a "crash-course"-type learning experience. The frequency of meetings is dependent on mentor and mentee availability but typically ranges from 1-3 meetings a week.

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I'm from somewhere other than the U.S. and can't attend meetings. Can I still participate?

Yup! The IHSJR continues to serve an international audience through its Mentorship Initiative. Certain mentors have preferences for international/domestic mentees or mentees in similar timeframes but if a mentor and mentee are free at the same time, a mentorship can still be possible!

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What are the levels of mentorship that I can apply for?

The IHSJR is proud to offer 3 forms of mentorship: Guidance Mentorship, Advanced Mentorship, and Research Mentorship.

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Guidance Mentorships tend to require the least time commitment per week for both mentee and mentor and typically revolve around non-research-related topics like work-life balance, professional development, and more (though you may end up talking about research at some point!). Guidance Mentorships are great if you'll soon be going off to college, want some insight into how college life looks like, are looking to enter a career, or want to network with those in your field!

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Advanced Mentorships tend to be slightly more research-focused than Guidance Mentorships and focus on answering questions around the conceptualization (and possibly the carrying out of) research ideas you may have. Discussions may revolve around how to approach a topic, methodology, etc. or feature journal-club-type discussions over papers in the field of a mentor's specialty. Time commitment tends to be more than Guidance Mentorships but less than Research Mentorships. **

Research Mentorships are the most time-intensive and research-intensive of all mentorship forms. Mentees who qualify for a Research Mentorship often have some type of research experience under them, are previous participants of the IHSJR Student Research Program, or are previous mentees of the IHSJR Mentorship Initiative. If you don't have research experience but still believe you can benefit from this mentorship, please apply! Typical discussions between mentee and mentor may revolve around how to approach a topic, methodology, journal-club-type discussions over papers in the field of a mentor's specialty, guidance through independent research ideas/projects, and more. **

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** Please note that Advanced Mentors and Research Mentors ARE NOT required to write a paper or start a project with mentees. Though possible, each mentor's and mentee's access to resources, field(s)-of-focus, availability, etc. may make this difficult or impossible, especially over a virtual platform. Advanced and Research mentees will create a report by the end of the mentorship (that may be the start of a research paper), but mentors are not expected to start from scratch for mentees. If you already have a research project in mind but need help making it a reality, Advanced and/or Research Mentorships are the best place to start. But, if you don't already have a research idea formulated, you can still find an alternative topic to discuss if you're selected (like journal-club-style meetings)!

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I have another question. Where can I find the answer? 

For questions regarding the Student Research Program, please check out the FAQ page. If your answer isn't there, please email TheIHSJR@gmail.com or fill out the question form. We'll get back to you as soon as we can!

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Where can I apply?

If you're a potential future mentee, you can apply using the button below! If you're a potential future mentor looking to mentor some of the brightest mentees, you can apply here.