Intradisciplinary Program: Christine de Pizan Mentoring in the Humanities and Social Sciences

Application Cycle 2020

The Christine de Pizan mentoring program started into its 9th cycle last year.
You can find the invitation to apply here shortly, as well as further information on the program.
The deadline for the 10th application cycle will likely be late summer of 2020.


The Christine de Pizan program is an equal opportunity measure from the Equality and Diversity Office and is a mentoring program for young female scientists from the humanities, the social sciences, and music and the arts.

Program Goal

The program’s overarching goal is to support JGU’s young female academics – doctoral students or postdocs – in their occupational career goals. The university’s strategy is to increase the number of women in leading positions by a large margin in the long run.

The short- and medium-term goal of the mentoring program is to promote networking among the female academics active in the humanities and social sciences (Catholic and Protestant Theology; Social Sciences, Media, and Sports; Law, Management, and Economics; Philosophy and Philology; Translation Studies, Linguistics, and Cultural Studies; History and Cultural Studies; the Mainz School of Music and the Mainz Academy of Fine Arts) and support the doctoral students, postdocs, and future university professors in expanding their professional competencies and in creating informal structures and networks. Furthermore, the project serves to create important contacts, which can open new perspectives on the women’s’ further career path. They can familiarize themselves with the unwritten “rules of the game” of the scientific establishment.

Mid- to long-term, the program aims to offer targeted support for the young researchers in finding their way into a professorship, a leading position in university management, or into an extramural research institution and therefore increasing their chances for more job security. The program will therefore assess each woman’s individual starting position in order to support them on their career path.

 

Advantages for Mentees
Participating in the mentoring program/ process can have definite advantages for a mentee:

  • Development of an occupational personality profile
  • Personal and occupational orientation by getting to know other perspectives and experiences
  • Qualification by getting insight into occupational practices
  • Topics like leaderships techniques or preparing meetings/conferences/etc., which leads to achieving own soft skills
  • Training of social competencies
  • Career planning with help from a mentor
  • Access to social and professional networks

Feeling secure in one’s actions and planning for a work-life balance

 

Advantages for Mentors

Mentees are not the only ones who benefit from the program: Passing on one’s own knowledge is an exciting experience and brings joy and a sense of purpose.

It’s deeply satisfying to realize that younger people can benefit from one’s own experience and that it can even contribute to their success.

Mentors also report that they’re stimulated by their mentee’s inquiries and end up questioning their own career path, their behavior, structures, and values, which can lead to new insights.