SCS Mentoring Program

The goal of the program is to accelerate the personal and professional development of mentees. This is achieved by providing mentees with guidance, advice, and feedback from mentors with more experience than themselves. The focus of the SCS Mentoring Program is on career development.

The next class runs from June 1, 2023, to May 31, 2024. Application process is open until April 30, 2023.

The program runs under the auspices of the SCS Foundation and is supported by the youngSCS.
The program targets young scientists in the field of chemistry (MSc, PhD and postdocs) and creates platforms for interaction with their senior colleagues to build relationship. It should motivate participants to build mentor-mentee pairs and to follow-up on an individual/private and tailor-made basis. It’s not part of the program to force the 1:1 matching as successful relationships must be formed intrinsically.

The program is structured in four regional clusters:

• Leman Region: UniGE, EPFL Lausanne, EPFL Sion, HES-SO Sion.
• Bern Region: UniFR, UniNE, UniBE, HEIA-FR, HE-Arc, EPFL Neuchâtel
• Zürich Region: UZH, ETHZ, ZHAW, PSI, Eawag, EMPA
• Basel Region: UniBas, FHNW, PSI

Managing Team of each Cluster
There is a Master-Mentor per region that chairs the cluster together with representatives of the youngSCS and support of the SCS Executive Board.

• valid membership with the SCS.
• commitment to actively contribute to the program/active participation at least 2x per year.
• place of residence or place of work in the relevant region
• MSc or PhD student or Postdoc with valid matriculation/contract.

There may be a maximum of 15 mentees in a class, and the ratio of mentors to mentees may not be less than 1:3. If the need exists and the leadership is ensured, more than one class per region can be run.

The application to join the program for one year has to be submitted via the online form and must include:

• a CV
• a motivation letter by the mentee
• a supporting statement by the supervisor (max 500 words).

Deadline is April 30 of each year. The managing team of each cluster evaluates the application and selects the mentees. A mentoring class runs from June 1 to end of May in the following year.

The management team organizes at least two activities per year (one in each semester). These may be limited to participants in the program but may also be part of other events as satellite activities.

The team is free to organize any activity that fulfill the program’s goals, e.g.: