University academics join Franklin Women mentoring program

Launched in June this year the program sees 54 mentors and mentees paired with each other for six months where they will attend one-on-one mentoring sessions and workshops organised by Serendis Leadership Consultants.

There are 12 participants from the University of Sydney, with mentors and mentees from the Faculty of Health Sciences, the Faculty of Science and the Sydney Medical School.

One of the mentors, Professor Leanne Togher from the Faculty of Health Sciences says mentoring is a fantastic way to ensure women are encouraged to lead science and health initiatives.

“Mentoring provides an exciting way to ensure that women lead health research initiatives, lead health research teams and lead the creation of new knowledge. I hope to learn new skills which will enable me to be a better mentor, researcher and leader in my organisation,” says Professor Togher.

“I hope that by the end of the program, my mentee and I will have engaged in a productive relationship that will lead us both to try new things, think about things differently and have the courage and confidence to set new goals which we may not have thought possible.”

Mentor from the School of Physics, Professor Tim Bedding says he’s looking forward to helping improve gender equity in science.

“Hopefully I can help the person I am mentoring to reflect on their career goals, and to examine some of the issues with leadership and communication that have come up in my own career,” Professor Bedding says.

“I am strongly committed to helping improve gender equity in science and the Franklin Women’s leadership program presents a great opportunity for me to make a difference.”

Academic Director of SAGE at Sydney and chair of the Sydney Medical School Gender Equality Committee, Associate Professor Renae Ryan says the program is a chance to train and form new connections for women in health and medical research.

“The Franklin Women Mentoring Program is unique in that it is a cross-institutional program facilitated by professionals that have successfully run cross-organisation mentoring schemes in other fields such as finance and real estate,” she says.

“Not only will the mentees benefit from a dedicated mentor and forming new connections, the mentors will also receive training through the program.”

This program supports the University-wide Women’s Career Acceleration and Leadership Strategy (WCALS) and also our commitment to recruiting and retaining the best female researchers through the Science in Australia Gender Equity (SAGE) program.

Sydney Medical School Mentors and Mentees:

- Associate Professor Sandra Cooper (mentor)

- Professor Nicholas King (mentor)

- Dr Susan Tomlinson (mentee)

- Dr Jesse Jansen (mentee)

Faculty of Science Mentors and Mentees:

- Professor Simon Ho (mentor)

- Professor Tim Bedding (mentor)

- Dr Hannah Nicholas (mentee)

- Dr Melkam Kebede (mentee)

Faculty of Health Sciences Mentors and Mentees:

- Professor Sharon Kilbreath (mentor)

- Professor Leanne Togher (mentor)

- Dr Margaret McGrath (mentee)

- Dr Cate Madill (mentee)