Mentoring Pathways: Reflection of a Mentor

Written by Anna Wesson (Occupational Psychology, 2012)

“Why do you want to be a mentor? Do you know what’s involved?”

These were the words that echoed in my head as I went into the training for the Mentoring Pathways programme. The blunt answer was no. I had some fuzzy ideas about making a difference, but beyond that, I wasn’t clear about what to expect.

As an alumnus of Birkbeck, I have first-hand experience of the magic of the place. The Master’s course I completed in 2012 overhauled my life, causing me to alter my perspective on myself and my career. For me, there was one piece missing. Going through the educational process, I wanted the opportunity to explore how to embed my learning into my life.

Fast forward six years, and I came across the mentoring programme by accident. I realised that this was my opportunity to support someone having an experience like mine all those years ago.

Mentoring was a fascinating experience and one with unexpected consequences. In working with my mentee, I was forced to get clear on my story, why I had made the choices I made, what served me, and what I would counsel against. It forced me to get under the skin of some of the commercial decisions I have made and justify them, which I really enjoyed.

My mentee and I spent time discussing her academic work, and in that, I discovered new writers and texts, and enriched my practice in unexpected ways.

I had expected to enjoy supporting a student in a way that allowed them to think about things differently. What I had not expected was the breadth of learning for me and the richness that it offered.

I can wholeheartedly recommend being part of the mentoring programme. As well as being run exceptionally smoothly, it offers a development opportunity for both mentors and mentees. I strongly encourage you to sign up next year.

Anna Wesson is an executive coach, working with emerging leaders in professional services.

The Mentoring Pathways programme offers Birkbeck graduates and corporate partners the opportunity to mentor a current Birkbeck undergraduate or postgraduate finalist.

The programme aims to support students’ career aspirations and expose them to professional networks, by bridging the gap between academic learning and workplace practices.

Applications have opened for the Mentoring Pathways 2019/20 intake, find out more about becoming a mentor.

Knowledge Transfer Opportunities for recent graduates and business leads

If you’ve recently graduated you could kick start your career…

Or you could transform your business…

…by taking part in a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) managed by Innovate UK.

These partnerships connect recent graduates with academic or research institutions and a UK business or not-for-profit. The three-way collaboration aims to solve a real-world issue that the business is facing.

KTPs are designed to help UK business’ stay competitive by encouraging them employ talented graduates while also keeping up with the latest industry innovation by taking advantage of advice and support provided by the academic partner.

The academic or research organisation partner (knowledge base) will help to recruit a suitable graduate. They will also act as the employer of the graduate, who then works at the company for the duration of the placement.

The scheme can last between 12 and 36 months, depending on what the project is and the needs of the business.

Benefits…

Graduates:

  • Fast track your career.
  • Competitive salary.
  • Enhance your project management and business strategy skills.
  • Take part in one of the largest graduate schemes in the UK.

Business:

  • Develop your business.
  • Obtain academic expertise that you don’t have in-house.
  • Improve your business performance
  • Help you to become more competitive and productive.

Applying…

Graduate opportunities can be found at:

  • KTP vacancies online
  • an academic or research organisation’s dedicated KTP office
  • university departments
  • career offices
  • recruitment websites
  • local newspapers

If you are part of a business with a problem that you think the College could help you solve, use our expert database to find a possible academic partner for a KTP project.

Costs…

A KTP is part-funded by a grant. You will need to contribute to the salary of the Associate who will work with your business, plus the cost of a supervisor who will oversee the scheme.

The amount you will need to contribute depends on the scale and length of the project. It will also depend on the size of your company. Typically:

  • small and medium-sized enterprises contribute around £35,000 per year, about one-third of the project costs
  • large businesses contribute around £55,000 per year, or half of the project costs

For more detailed information visit – http://ktp.innovateuk.org/

 

 

 

 

Sources:

https://www.manchester.ac.uk/collaborate/business-engagement/knowledge-exchange/transfer-partnerships/graduates/

http://www.ncub.co.uk

Information gathered from https://www.gov.uk/guidance/knowledge-transfer-partnerships-what-they-are-and-how-to-apply#lseans and used in accordance with the Open Governance License for Public Sector Information.

PhD Psychology Student Wikus Barkhuizen gives an inspiring speech at Birkbeck’s An Evening of Thanks 2018

Wikus Barkhuizen who received a fully funded scholarship spoke at last night’s An Evening of Thanks. Wikus described how the studentship transformed his life and enabled him to undertake important research linking smoking to mental health issues in young people. Read the full speech below. 

Good evening,

It is a real honour to be here tonight to tell you about my Birkbeck journey and the real difference that your donations make to students like me and to the research we do.

From a young age I knew that I wanted to spend my life helping others. My parents instilled in me a strong culture of the importance of giving back. So after school I decided to do a degree majoring in psychology and genetics.

But things did not go as planned and I had to take a break from my studies to work full time. And as I soon discovered, opportunities in South Africa where I grew up were few and far between without the right contacts or qualifications.

But I got a second chance. A good friend and her mum lent me the money for plane tickets and a visa application so that I could come to the UK to save money to finish my degree.

When I arrived, I worked as a care worker for people with dementia. I also volunteered at a drug service and six months later got a job as a case worker helping people to overcome their addictions. I loved that I could do something for a living that I found fulfilling and that helped others.

Several years later and I had settled in London. I was managing the drug service where I initially started as a volunteer. But working for front line services, especially after several waves of funding cuts, was not a long-term plan. The “more-for-less” culture started demanding too much. Friends and colleagues were burning out around me. Luckily, I had a plan.

You see, Birkbeck is all about second chances. For 4 years I rushed from work to attend evening lectures and finally got my psychology degree.

After graduating from Birkbeck, I was accepted to do a master’s degree at Kings College London researching early interventions in psychosis. While doing my master’s, a good friend from Birkbeck encouraged me to apply for a fully funded PhD studentship on adolescent mental health using genetic methods, supervised by Professor Angelica Ronald at the highly rated Department of Psychological Sciences.

It was perfect for me. And thanks to my experience working in clinical settings with people affected by mental health and substance use difficulties, and my academic background in early interventions, I got the studentship!

If it was not for the generosity of the Birkbeck alumni who funded the Camara-Rijvers David studentship, I would not have been able to dedicate three years of my life to researching a topic I am deeply passionate about.

So let me tell you a bit about my PhD research:

We all know that smoking tobacco is bad for you. If I ask you “What are the risks associated with tobacco use?”, what comes to mind?

Most people think of lung and heart disease and cancer, right? But I am guessing that not a lot of you knew that smoking may also affect your mental health, particularly in young people.

We can measure experiences that resemble psychotic symptoms, like paranoia and hallucinations, in the general population. So in people like you and me. We call these psychotic experiences. Psychotic experiences have been linked to an increased risk of developing mental health problems later on.

Tobacco use is linked to psychotic experiences in adults, but very few studies have been done on adolescents, which is key because it is during adolescence that most people start to smoke and when psychotic experiences often emerge.

So I wanted to know if there is a link between tobacco use and psychotic experiences after taking into account other factors. For instance, if a young person who smokes tobacco is more likely to feel paranoid, is this related to tobacco use or is it rather because they have also experienced more stressful life events or smoked cannabis?

My findings showed was that regular smoking during adolescence was associated with psychotic experiences and this was not just an artefact of other risk factors.

So there is a link. But why? To find out, I ran twin models that compare identical and non-identical twins in a sample of thousands of twins called the Twins Early Development Study. And what these models showed was that in most part, tobacco use and psychotic experiences are associated because of the same genetic influences.

What does this mean?

Finding shared genetic influences do not tell us anything about causality, and it is not to say that smoking and psychotic experiences are predetermined by our genes. What it does tell us is that if we want to understand why tobacco use and psychotic experiences are related, it is important to look at our DNA. And this is what I am currently looking at in my PhD.

Thanks to the opportunity to do a fully funded PhD I have just published the main findings from my first year in a leading adolescent mental health journal. I have developed research skills and got my foot in the door for a new career. This will put me in a good position this time next year when I apply for research positions as a post doc.

My funders not only supported my PhD but a future career that I believe will allow me to continue making a difference, and I could not have done this without their support. Thank you!