About the MGA peer mentor program

Running twice a year, this program provides new graduate students (mentees) with guidance on surviving and thriving at Monash. It is also a great avenue for meeting other graduate students.

Being a mentor is a wonderful opportunity to enhance your leadership and communication skills, form new friendships, and give back to the graduate student community.

For mentees, it is a chance to build your student network and support system, increase self-confidence, develop communication skills, and learn useful tips to find your feet at the beginning of your graduate degree.

What’s special about our mentor program?

Unique: This is the only mentoring program at Monash for graduate students that runs across all faculties.

Flexible: The program is run both online and in person.

Personalised: Mentors and mentees will be grouped by the MGA’s mentor coordinator based on faculty/department/research topic. If this requirement cannot be met, the MGA mentor coordinator will reach out to the participant and potential mentor to assess suitability.

Structured: The program includes orientation sessions to kick off, dedicated touch points between mentor and mentees throughout the program and regular check-ins from the MGA’s mentor coordinator.

Engaged: Mentors will be well-prepared and trained for the program. Students can expect a high level of engagement and mentors can expect to receive excellent leadership skills development.

Guided: You will be in good hands. Mentors will be guided and nurtured by the MGA’s mentor coordinator throughout the program and all mentors are provided with a comprehensive mentor handbook, tailored specifically to HDRs students. 

Mentor program for HDR students

This program is designed specifically for graduate research students and aims to foster:

• interdisciplinary knowledge-sharing;
• expansion of HDR social circles;
• peer guidance on HDR-related issues such as how to approach milestones, effective communication with supervisors and useful tips for surviving your Masters by Research or PhD.

The program runs twice a year (with intakes in March and August). We group newly commencing HDR students who are in the early stages of their research with experienced PhD/Masters by Research students who are able to offer support and guidance to their mentees.

This 12-week program is open to all new research students within the first 6 months of their research degree who have not completed confirmation. There will be 6 touch points during the program, with a virtual orientation session to kick things off, followed by regular meetings amongst the mentoring groups every fortnight. Meetings can be done in person or online depending on the availability and suitability of the mentoring groups.

🌱 Get an HDR mentor

If you are a new student who would like to join the program as a mentee, you must register through the mentee registration form.

The HDR mentor program runs twice a year, in March and in August to accommodate for new graduate research students that start throughout the year.

Graduate students based overseas or off-campus are encouraged to apply, as the program is available online.

The 2025 program is underway. Please stay in touch with us for updates.

🌳 Become an HDR mentor

Students who would like to join the program as a mentor must register through the mentor registration form, which is open from February for the Semester 1 program and July for the Semester 2 program each year.

Eligibility:

To be eligible as a mentor, you must:

1. be currently enrolled in a PhD at Monash and be enrolled as a student for the duration of the program;
2. have at least passed your first milestone (post-confirmation);
3. be willing to share your expertise and know-how (especially with regards to effectively navigating the first 6-12 months of the research journey) and have an understanding of the overall PhD/research experience;
4. be able to commit to regular online or in-person meetings and make the time to invest in the mentor and mentee relationship.

The 2025 program is underway. Please stay in touch with us for updates.

 

Have you got any questions?

For any further queries, please contact the mentor coordinator:

Lisa Falla: mga-events@monash.edu

Testimonials from the MGA mentor program

 

I thoroughly enjoyed my time as a HDR PhD mentor in the MGA 12 week mentoring program. It was very rewarding to be able to teach early PhD students all the things I wish I knew when I started my PhD. It also allowed me to practice my leadership/mentoring skills and reflect on the things that have worked in my PhD, as well as build a lovely relationship with my mentees.

The program helped to develop my leadership skills. Additionally, my network has grown. The biggest benefit of the program was to hear the feedback from my mentees. They were always grateful for my work which was a really good feeling. Once when we caught up with one of my mentees, the mentee introduced me to her colleague. She was so proud and told to the colleague: “She is my mentor”. The colleague asked back: “Wow you have a mentor?” It was really heart warming, I felt super proud.

This program offered inspiration to follow my dream to successfully complete my PhD. I also benefited from the organisational tips, suggestions to develop successful relationships with supervisors, and the support, kindness and empathy offered by my mentor. I have created some new friends through the process! Thank you for this opportunity.