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Reassess–Realign–Reimagine: A Guide for Mentors Pivoting to Remote Research Mentoring

*Address correspondence to: Christine Pfund (E-mail Address: [email protected]).

Institute for Clinical and Translational Research, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI 53705

Wisconsin Center for Education Research, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI 53705

Wisconsin Institute for Science Education and Community Engagement and Department of Kinesiology, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI 53706

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Melissa McDaniels

Wisconsin Center for Education Research, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI 53705

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Angela Byars-Winston

Department of Medicine, Center for Women’s Health Research, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI 53715

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Steven P. Lee

School of Humanities and Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305; and

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Bruce Birren

Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142

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Derek Braun, Monitoring Editor

Published Online:26 Feb 2021https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.20-07-0147

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Abstract

Maintaining your research team’s productivity during the COVID-19 era can be a challenge. Developing new strategies to mentor your research trainees in remote work environments will not only support research productivity and progress toward degree, but also help to keep your mentees’ academic and research careers on track. We describe a three-step process grounded in reflective practice that research mentors and mentees can use together to reassess, realign, and reimagine their mentoring relationships to enhance their effectiveness, both in the current circumstances and for the future. Drawing on evidence-based approaches, a series of questions for mentees around documented mentoring competencies provide structure for remote mentoring plans. Special consideration is given to how these plans must address the psychosocial needs and diverse backgrounds of mentors and mentees in the unique conditions that require remote interactions.

Vol. 20, No. 1

March 01, 2021

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Downloads: 908

Citations: 12

History

Submitted: 14 July 2020

Revised: 14 December 2020

Accepted: 30 December 2020

Information

© 2021 C. Pfund et al. CBE—Life Sciences Education © 2021 The American Society for Cell Biology. This article is distributed by The American Society for Cell Biology under license from the author(s). It is available to the public under an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0).

We thank Rick McGee, Pam Asquith, Stephanie House, and Sonia Zarate for their insightful feedback on this article. We also thank the following for their support of the authors: the University of Wisconsin–Madison (UW-Madison) Departments of Kinesiology (J.L.B.) and Medicine (A.B.-W.); the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (GT11808; B.B., C.P., A.B.-W.); the National Institutes of Health National Human Genome Research Institute to the Broad Institute (HG006682; B.B.) and National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences to the UW–Madison (UL1TR002373-01; C.P.).

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