The Health Economists’ Study Group Early to Mid-Career Mentoring programme launched in 2018, with seven mentoring pairs. Last year, 17 mentor-mentee pairs took part in the scheme. We expanded it specifically to support ECRs during the COVID-19 pandemic. We would like to thank everyone who has taken part in the programme to date.
The programme will not be running in 2023/24, but we will advertise the 2024/25 programme in October 2023.
Mentors and mentees should visit the mentoring resources page, which will be updated with new material throughout the course of the scheme.
Selection panel
- Professor Rhiannon Tudor Edwards, Centre for Health Economics and Medicines Evaluation (CHEME), Bangor University
- Professor Kara Hanson, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
- Professor Bruce Hollingsworth, Lancaster University
Expenses
Reasonable expenses (e.g. standard class, pre-booked train travel) can be claimed via HESG to enable mentees to travel to their mentor for meetings. To arrange an expenses claim, use the form on our Contact Us page and select ‘Mentoring’ as the subject.
Contact
Scheme co-ordinator: Professor Rhiannon Tudor Edwards
Why become a mentor?
The mentoring process supports and encourages people to manage their own learning, in order to maximise their potential, develop their skills, improve their performance and become the person they want to be (Eric Parsloe, the Oxford School of Coaching and Mentoring).
Mentoring is different from line management in a department, and it is different from PhD supervision. It is a way that senior health economists in this context, can guide an early career health economist, at another institution over a 12-month period in the first instance, with their career plans, publications, teaching and grant writing goals, and share their experience setting someone on their way in a career in health economics. This can be refreshing and rewarding and may bring benefits to your everyday life managing or working in your health economics centre.
Why become a mentee?
This is an opportunity for you as an early career researcher to benefit from guidance, over a 12-month period, from a senior health economist working at a health economics research centre other than your own. You can review your CV with them, discuss your short and medium term career plans, and talk over your experience of looking for jobs, publishing, teaching and writing grant applications. They are there to listen and often help you find your own answers about getting the most from your present job and thinking about your career in health economics.
Aims of the programme
To help foster a culture of mentorship at health economics research centres across the UK through this pilot voluntary inter-institutional scheme. This scheme is modelled on the Women in Universities Mentoring Scheme (WUMS).
How the scheme will work
In the first instance we are looking for 6 senior academics (Senior lecturer; Reader; Professor) and 6 early-to-mid career researchers (e.g. candidates who have almost or recently completed their PhD, or research officers, lecturers etc.). The scheme will match mentors and mentees based on shared interests in health economics methodology and/or an applied area of research. The scheme will particularly support mentees in the smaller or newer research centres, possibly through mentorship by mentors based in the larger or more established centres.
Timescale and time commitment
The mentoring programme starts in May and we would hope that mentors and mentees can meet at least four times over the 12-month period. This may include online or face-to-face meetings.