Mentoring

The EAAE is committed to contribute to the career development and success of all its members, particularly early career agricultural economists. Therefore, the EAAE Board has established a mentoring program matching more established and senior members of the Association with early career members. By early career, we mean a researcher who has just finished a PhD program, a research associate or a post-doc or an assistant professor/lecturer or junior researcher in academia, public or private research institution.

The primary goal is to help younger members to acquire critical skills to help them achieve their career goals. A secondary goal is to cultivate a spirit of collaboration and cooperation between different generations of EAAE members. Each participant is matched based on special requests, on the needs of mentees and expertise of mentors, on common research/scholarly interest or expertise and on similar work conditions or institutions. Examples of goals the mentees generally want to develop include, but are not limited to, areas such as crafting research papers, grant writing, leadership, networking, project management, teaching, work-life balance and/or job market preparation. Both mentors and mentees should be members of the EAAE and all of them should be affiliate to a European academic institution.

The EAAE is now launching the second mentoring program for 2023/2024. Mentors will attend a mandatory training session. The pairings are expected to meet monthly, virtually and potentially in-person, based on the time commitments both participants have agreed to put in. The mentee and the mentor are encouraged to identify a set of goals to guide the discussions throughout the year. The goal can be ambitious but needs to be realistic.

The program will formally start at the upcoming EAAE Congress on 29 August - 1 September 2023 on the first experiences. The EAAE is committed to maintain its mentoring program in the long run as well as create other professional development opportunities for EAAE members, either at the start or throughout their careers.