Mentoring Opportunities

The Leadership Academy provides the opportunity for senior global leaders and alumni to invest in some of our most accomplished student leaders, providing 1:1 support to aid their personal, professional and leadership development across the academic year.

The Leadership Academy takes pride in fostering a strong culture of community amongst our students both past and present. Mentors receive monthly newsletters related to our programme of events and an invitation to attend our networking events, hosted in both London and Durham. We aim to keep mentors connected and maintain a strong sense of community throughout their journey with us.

Benefits to Mentoring

Community Engagement: Mentoring provides an opportunity to invest back into Durham, creating a direct link to the University. There are plenty of opportunities across the year to get involved in the programme's speaker series, networking events, workshops and Think Tanks.

Networking opportunities: Our mentors are part of a growing alumni and partner network at Durham, providing opportunities for mentors to connect with other alumni and senior global leaders mentoring on the programme. We host in-person networking events in London and Durham and host several speaker series and think tanks virtually. Providing everyone with the opportunity to get involved.

Reciprocal Learning and Development/New Perspectives: While the Academy is primarily designed to support our students, mentors often report gaining benefits from their partnerships too. The programme provides an opportunity for mentors to gain fresh insights and perspectives from their mentees. Understanding student experiences, challenges, and viewpoints can contribute to our mentors' growth and development.

Developing the leaders of tomorrow: Mentoring provides a unique opportunity for mentors to shape the future by imparting their knowledge, skills, and values to the leaders of tomorrow. This not only contributes to the growth of the mentee but also gives the mentor a sense of fulfilment and purpose.

Commitment to Mentoring

• Meeting with your mentee a minimum of once every 6 weeks across the academic year (October - June). Please note that meetings can be held either in person or virtually.
• Where possible, to attend one of our networking events.
• To read and sign the university’s volunteer agreement.
• To attend a 30-minute introduction call with our Leadership Team

The Leadership Academy mentoring falls into three main areas of support:

• Personal development: Looking at what your mentee may need to develop or strengthen to achieve their own goals. This could include being more globally or socially aware, improving communication skills, developing confidence, etc.
• Development as leaders: Creating goals for the teams that your mentee leads, understanding how to communicate these goals so that they are adopted and understood, knowing their team culture, and learning how to manage conflict.
• Future and careers: Understanding how to build a portfolio of evidence of your mentee’s strengths to use when applying for future jobs. Knowing how they are communicating, how are they preparing, and what they should be looking at to guide them.

Invest back into the community that helped to shape you through inspiring, empowering and shaping the next leaders of tomorrow.

Mentor Interest Form