“One of the best I’ve experienced”—such is the praise for Global Talent Mentoring by Dr. Ruben Fair, magnet group leader of experimental nuclear physics at the respected Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility in the United States. Dr. Fair is one of the many distinguished STEMM experts from around the world who is volunteering his time and expertise to mentor an exceptionally talented youth in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medical sciences (STEMM) through Global Talent Mentoring.
Since the launch of Global Talent Mentoring’s pilot round in April of 2021, over 250 outstanding participants from more than 30 countries have been benefitting from the international online mentoring program. Outstandingly talented and highly motivated students (about age 16) in STEMM located around the globe were nominated by Global Talent Mentoring partner organizations, completed a comprehensive application, and were selected among a larger pool of applicants by Global Talent Mentoring to participate as mentees. Each mentee has been carefully matched with an expert sharing the same STEMM domain to form a mentoring pair, or dyad. The program is designed for mentees to participate for up to ten years, with students following individual learning pathways that guide them on their individual paths to STEMM excellence. To facilitate one-on-one mentoring, the online platform offers different communication channels such as emailing, instant messaging, and videoconferencing. The platform also serves as a members-only community space where all participants can interact with one another.
Global Talent Mentoring supports its participants through close, regular monitoring of the participants’ activity and experience with the help of trained program representatives who are ready to address participants’ needs in order to facilitate a positive mentoring experience. Additionally, research-based training materials covering topics such as aligning expectations and goal setting guide participants through the main stages of building a lasting and successful mentoring relationship.
In order to offer participants the best possible experience, four years of exhaustive preparation went into the program that included thorough research on which the program is based, the careful creation of a unique online platform, and close cooperation with its growing network of 48 partners and collaborators from six continents. Global Talent Mentoring is also completely free of charge, thanks to its owner, the UNESCO-recognized Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation for Distinguished Academic Performance (Dubai, UAE). The preparation of Global Talent Mentoring has been funded by a four-year research grant by the Hamdan Foundation and has taken place at the University of Regensburg (Germany). Global Talent Mentoring program director Prof. Dr. Heidrun Stoeger, Chair for School Research, Development, and Evaluation at the University of Regensburg, created the concept and, together with her team, built a global network of dedicated partners and custom designed an online platform that is now a meeting place for participants from around the world who are benefiting from this exclusive, evidence-based, long-term mentoring program. Global Talent Mentoring will start its second cycle of mentoring with new participants in the spring of 2022.
For more information about the program, partnering, and volunteering as a mentor, please visit www.globaltalentmentoring.org.
