University of St Andrews

View the TRAMS Online Briefing to refresh your knowledge of the scheme and review your mentoring partnership goals. Have your Teaching, Research and Academic Mentoring Scheme handbook (PDF, 1,898 KB) on hand while you work through the briefing.

Mentoring partnerships offer a unique opportunity for mentees to focus on their own development as researchers, academics and leaders. The benefits that can derive from this focus, and the long-term contribution that such partnerships can make to developing careers, professional practice and leadership capability.

As we navigate this new and unprecedented set of circumstances, your mentoring partnership may offer valuable insights into your own challenges both now and in the future.

With the above in mind, your TRAMS coordinators would encourage you to continue with your mentoring partnership and to schedule meetings as you would in more normal times.

E-mentoring

Mentoring, as a one-to one process, is ideally suited to the use of remote working technology. Below are a few examples for you to explore:

Skype and Teams

Skype and Teams enable you to conduct your mentoring meetings from wherever you are, and whenever is convenient. They allow you to both see and hear each other – important when the communication that takes place needs to be as rich as possible – and allows you to share documents, slideshows and other media (through ‘screen sharing’). You will find that you very quickly adjust to holding mentoring conversations in this way and that you will enjoy and benefit from them almost as much as traditional face-to-face meetings.

Skype: https://www.skype.com/en/
Skype allows users to communicate with any other Skype user for free via IM, voice, video and screen sharing, and conference calls for up to 25 people.

Skype for Business: https://www.skype.com/en/business/
Skype for Business supports connectivity with the consumer version of Skype and supports a maximum of 250 participants.

Microsoft Teams:

Many Universities are already using Teams to make calls, collaborate, hold virtual meetups and create online communities with anyone inside or outside their organisation.

Alternative platforms

Appear.in: https://appear.in/
Appear.in is a browser based video meeting tool with an emphasis on ease of use. There are three different tiers of appear.in depending on your needs: Free, Pro and Business. All versions allow for fast and easy video collaboration from anywhere in the world.

Google Hangouts: https://hangouts.google.com/
Google Hangouts is a unified communications service that allows members to initiate and participate in text, voice or video chats, either one to one or in a group. Hangouts are built into Google+ and Gmail, and mobile Hangouts apps are available for iOS and Android devices.

St Andrews have recently launched TRAMS Participant Development, a collection continuing professional development (CPD) activities open to all those participating in the Teaching, Research and Academic Mentoring Scheme.

To view and book places on TRAMS Participant Development activities, select 'TRAMS Participant Development' from the Programme Filter on the Personal Development Management System (PDMS)

If you have not booked an event via the St Andrews booking system, PDMS, before, please register and set up your PDMS profile (including dietary requirements). If you any problems please e-mail osds@st-andrews.ac.uk.

Please only register on events which include ‘TRAMS Participant Development’ in the Programme section of the course description.

Hosted via Teams by St Andrews

Teaching, Research & Academic Mentoring Scheme Briefing Session – runs in Aug / Sept, prior to matching

Getting Started Session - Teaching, Research & Academic Mentoring Scheme

New Year partnership refresher - Teaching, Research and Academic Mentoring Scheme – runs in Jan

Writing Retreat - TRAMS participants

Thurs 24^th February, 09:30-13:00

Visit the new Online Writing Retreat webpage for more information

Hosted via Zoom by St Andrews

Attracting your own research funding: writing and applying for fellowships

Thurs 30^th June, 09:30-12:30 or Wed 6^th July 13:00-16:00

Careers beyond research: applying your skills outside academia

Wed 6^th July, 09:30-12:30 or Thurs 14^th July, 13:00-16:00

Planning and managing your research career

Thurs 21^st July, 09:30-12:30 or Tues 26^th July, 13:00-16:00

Professional networking for researchers: strategy & engaging

Thurs 30^th June, 13:00-16:00 or Tues 26^th July, 09:30-12:30

Innovation, collaboration & business insights

Thurs 14 July, 09:30-12:30 or Thurs 21 July, 13:00-16:00

Research Staff and Academics are welcome to continue their CPD online.  Please view the full range of interim, online offerings available at you home institution ….

Abertay University

Teaching and Learning Enhancement - CPD opportunities for staff who teach and support learning.

University of Dundee

Organisational and Professional Development (OPD) - the University’s central provider of professional development for all University staff

University of St Andrews

Organisational and Staff Development Services (OSDS) - the University’s central provider of professional development for all University staff.

Centre for Educational Enhancement and Development (CEED) – the University’s centre for supporting and developing teachers, and home to the Learning Technology & IT Skills team.

You’ll find a number of books signposted in the back of your Teaching, Research and Academic Mentoring Scheme handbook (PDF, 1,898 KB) but here are a few more you might find helpful.

• Mentoring in Action: a practical guide by David Megginson
• Mentoring Processes in Higher Education by DeAnna M. Laverick
• One Minute Mentoring by Ken Blanchard and Claire Diaz-Ortiz
• Mentoring Programs That Work by Jenn Labin
• The Mentoring Manual by Julie Starr

This travel funding is temporarily unavailable and will resume once travel is permitted again.

As a participant in the current partnership cycle, you may be eligible to apply for travel funding (up to £50 per applicant) to visit your mentoring partner during the current partnership cycle.

This is a trial travel fund sponsored by a University St Andrews Russell Trust Grant awarded to St Andrews Coordinator, Diane Munday. It has been set up to support those in long distance partnerships only, and is not available to those travelling between St Andrews and Dundee (and vice versa).

Funding is available to those participants whose mentoring partner's institution is more than 15 miles away from their home institution. Each participant in the long-distance partnership can travel once during the course of the current partnership cycle (equivalent to two face-to-face meetings if each partner takes a turn to travel)

To apply, please discuss your travel plans with your mentoring partner, read the *Guidelines* associated with the travel fund and submit your request via the online form.

Career Management for Early Career Academic Researchers

This free online course is open to research students and early career research staff at any institution in the UK and beyond and aims to support researchers to explore their career options and make career plans.

The content covers

• Making Career Plans 
• Exploring Career Options
• Careers in Higher Education 
• Job Search and Application Processes

Visit Career Management for Early Career Academic Researchers webpage to learn more and enrol.

St Andrews-Converge Collaboration: online workshops, resources and funding competitions

Applications now open for Converge 2022, Scotland’s Springboard for Academic Entrepreneurs.

Deadline Tuesday 5th April.

Are you considering entrepreneurship as a career option? To find out the essentials of starting a business, you can take part in the live, online Converge Workshop Series for 2022. Converge are the leading entrepreneurial development programme for Scottish University staff, students, and recent graduates. Tailored specifically for business propositions coming out of academia, the sessions cover everything from IP and routes to market to start-up finance and understanding customers. 

To learn more visit the Converge webpage or the St Andrews collaboration with Converge webpage.

You can find the full 2022 workshop schedule.

View the recorded 2021 workshops series