From Meeting to Peer Mentorship
We had our first CADP student meeting of 2018 on the 12th of June. Eleven postgraduates (PGRs) showed up. We kicked off our meeting with a quick introduction round during which we realised that the PGRs are either in the first year or in the final year PhD. We mainly discussed as to how we want to use the CADP student group this year.
In particular, the attendees were asked:
Please share your ideas, expectations and suggestions about how this CADP student group could be or/and should be used for our personal, academic and career development?
Feel free to suggest activities of your interest & share your concerns!
What could you offer to other PGRs?
There was a good spirited discussion. Our enthusiastic first year PhD buddies showed a keen interest to learn from their experienced buddies and the discussion showed a substantial consensus that relationships within the group need to be strengthened first. Therefore, it was decided to establish a peer mentorship program where our first year PGRs will be paired up with the final year student mentors as a way to build academic relationships between the two stages. Further, they will be encouraged to spend time together outside of meetings. We hope that this programme will lead to improved academic outcomes and many other social impacts.
Furthermore, we discussed that the final year PGRs are also in a learning phase and we do not want this peer mentorship relationship to be overwhelming for them. Recognising this, it was decided that some group activities will be included in future meetings that will target their needs as well. Each meeting will be led by a pair of the first year and the final year PGRs. This will not only help improve the mentoring relationship and empowering fresh PGRs but will also develop final year PGRs` leadership and problem-solving skills. We will plan ahead and create new activity options throughout the year that are responsive to match PGR community interests and needs.
We highly appreciate the diversity in our PGR community at the School of Health in Social Science – backgrounds, talents, and interests. Overall, this peer mentorship relationship will bring the PGR community together, we will learn from each other, support each other and of course, will create some enjoyable memories! Since we truly value a community environment, we hope to expand this peer mentorship program by coordinating events for all PGRs of our school to attend.
But for now, all that’s left for me to say is thank you and farewell! I look forward to our next CADP student meeting on the 23rd July 2018 – Stay tuned for some exciting blogs and updates from our fabulous PGRs.
With lots of best wishes,
Somia Imran
PhD Student in Clinical Psychology
School of Health in Social Science
