Mentors

Are you an experienced research software engineer? Are you interested in helping early-career RSEs and maybe learning about a new domain? We are currently seeking mentors to advise early-career RSEs and newcomers to the profession in the preparation of their talks, posters, workshops, hackathons, walkthroughs, panels, and BoFs for RSECon24.

The conference committee is keen to encourage contributions from a wide variety of experience levels, however we recognise that many new RSEs may not yet have experience presenting at conferences, in particular research software engineering rather than discipline-specific events.

Following successful mentoring schemes in 2022 and 2023, we plan to offer mentoring by a more experienced member of the community to any accepted submission. As a mentor, you would have the opportunity to share your knowledge and expertise with speakers whose abstracts have been accepted and are in the process of preparing their contributions. You would provide guidance and support, helping them to refine their ideas and improve their material.

Responsibilities

The mentorship will be tailored to the needs of the mentee, but some potential activities include:

• Providing feedback on a draft of the material.
• Acting as a practice audience and offering suggestions.
• Answering questions and sharing relevant experience of similar events.

It is important to note that mentors are not being asked to assess or vet the material to be presented. All mentees’ submissions have gone through the same peer review process, and have been accepted into the programme. The main role of the mentor is to build the mentee’s confidence and help them feel prepared to deliver their material.

All interactions between mentors and mentees are bound by the conference’s Code of Conduct, which we encourage mentors to review in advance.

Time commitment

The time requirements for mentorship will vary depending on the needs of the mentee, but mentors should be prepared to dedicate at least:

• 30 minutes to read a draft of the materials.
• 1 hour to exchange emails with suggestions, feedback, and answers to questions.
• 2 hours for video conference meeting(s) to discuss in more detail.

Mentors should be available to provide the bulk of this support between June 14th (when the call for mentors closes) and August 23rd. We don’t expect mentors to offer last minute assistance, but you may choose to do so if you wish. As a mentor you could offer to meet with your mentee at the conference, as some mentees may require further support closer to delivery.

How to contribute

If you are interested in becoming a mentor, please sign up via this Google form.

We will be in touch to pair you with a mentee!