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Erste Generation Promotion Mentoring+

Supports doctoral candidates and advanced master’s students from non-academic family backgrounds through long-term mentoring, networking and training to improve access to informal knowledge in the academic system.

Who is it for?

Doctoral candidates and advanced master’s students from non-academic family backgrounds

About the program

Erste Generation Promotion Mentoring+ at the University of Cologne is aimed at doctoral candidates and advanced master’s students who are the first in their families to pursue an academic career. The program seeks to pair participants long-term with mentors who can contribute their own experience as first-generation academics, thereby facilitating access to informal knowledge within the academic system.

What is offered

Long-term mentoring by individuals who themselves are first-generation academics.
Conversations about decisions, daily life and perspectives of doctoral study, as well as about academic careers, belonging and personal challenges.
Supplementary networking and training opportunities that make informal practices in the academic system more accessible.

Who the program is for

The mentoring program is intended for doctoral candidates and advanced master’s students from families without an academic tradition who seek orientation, exchange of experience and access to academic networks.

Benefits for mentors

Mentors can contribute their own experience as first-generation academics, support early-career researchers and help strengthen equity of opportunity within the academic system.