Mentor and Trainee

Mentor / Trainee Responsibilities

Fraught with Challenges
 Mentor and Trainee

A mentor is a person who educates trainees about

research, and adhering to the standards of conduct.
He/she must function as a role model, and demonstrate
both professional and social responsibility in the context
of research. A mentor could be a student’s advisor,
advanced students, colleagues, faculty members, and
lab director.
A trainee is a person who is learning about research with
the guidance of a mentor in order to learn new or
advanced methods. A trainee could be a student, new
employee, or a post-doctor fellow.
Mentor and Trainee
Responsibilities
Mentor/Trainee Basic Responsibility

 Everything must be put into writing

 Integrity, clarity, reference,
consistency, flexibility
 A Trainee needs to know…

 How much time they will be expected to spend on their

mentor’s research
 The criteria that will be used for judging performance
and form the basis of letters of recommendation
 How responsibilities are shared or divided in the research
setting
 Standard operating procedures
 How credit is assigned, and how authorship and
ownership are established
 Responsibilities of a Trainee

 Trainee must identify goals and clarify expectations, seek

guidance, open communication with mentor
 Seek prospective mentors
 areas relevant to personal and career development
 interest in the trainee and his or her career

 Challenge misconduct and questionable conduct

Mentors need to know that a trainee
will:

 do assigned work in a conscientious way,

 respect the authority of others working in the research setting,
 follow research regulations and research protocols, and
 live by agreements established for authorship and ownership.
 Responsibilities of a Mentor

 Assure proper instruction in methodology

 Foster intellectual development of trainee
 Impart an understanding of responsible research
practices
 Routinely check to ensure trainee develops into
responsible researcher. Build regular communication
with trainee
 Discuss ethical challenges, encourage discussion and
feedback
 Ensures that appropriate credit is given to trainees for
their work
 Keep learning about effective mentoring
When mentors accept trainees, they assume responsibility for
assuring that the persons under their supervision are
appropriately and properly trained. This responsibility is
particularly important in research since for the most part there
are no other checks on the qualifications of new researchers.
Researchers do not take licensing exams.

They are judged primarily by the quality of their research, which

should be best known to the person directly supervising their
work, that is, to their mentor
Mentors do not need to check all aspects of a trainee’s work directly. In
large laboratories, postdocs often supervise graduate students and
laboratory technicians might teach specific laboratory skills. Training in the
responsible use of animals is often done through an animal care program.

However, the ultimate responsibility for training rests with the mentor.

Proper supervision and review play an important role in quality control.

Trainees can make mistakes. Some have deliberately falsified or fabricated
data. Mentors should review work done under their supervision carefully
enough to assure that it is well done and accurate
This can be accomplished by:

 reviewing laboratory notebooks and other compilations of

data;
 reading manuscripts prepared by trainees carefully to assure
that they are accurate, well-reasoned, and give proper
credit to others;
 meeting with trainees on a regular basis to keep in touch
with the work they are doing; and
 encouraging trainees to present and discuss data at
laboratory meetings
Different mentors establish different research environments.
Some laboratories are highly competitive; others emphasize
cooperation. Some mentors are intimately involved in all aspects
of the projects they supervise; others delegate authority. Similarly,
different researchers like to work in different environments. Some
enjoy independence; others like to have close working
relationships with colleagues. Some thrive in competitive
environments; others prefer cooperative working relationships.
Although there is no single formula for a “good” research
environment, there are some fundamentals that mentors and
trainees should keep
in mind.
 Case Study

“A couple of years later, I had a graduate student who was a bright and wonderful
person, but wasn’t getting anything done. I had tried all of my mentoring tricks, and
then borrowed some methods from others. In a fit of frustration, I encouraged the
student to take a break from the lab and think about what to do next. While she was
taking her break, she received an offer to complete her PhD in another lab. She did
published number of highly regarded papers, Landed great postdoc, and is now well-
funded faculty member at major research university.”
-Amended from Jo Handelsman, University of Wisconsin System, 2005.