One of our core aims in ACCESS is to empower environmental social scientists at different learning and career stages through training and building capacity. We facilitate this by hosting various events and activities aimed at the broader community of environmental social scientists, such as webinars and summer schools. We have also supported two cohorts to engage in peer-to-peer mentoring circles, co-deliver Fellows-led sessions at ACCESS events, attend training, and co-author academic articles and funding applications.

Mentoring is another mechanism for people development. Mentoring schemes can be rewarding for both mentor and mentee, bringing fresh perspectives to research and practice, and offering a space to reflect and develop. Quality mentorship is vital for both long term career success and overall job satisfaction.

We therefore developed our ACCESS 1-1 Mentoring Scheme to support the professional development of our Knowledge Exchange & Impact Fellows and Leadership College Fellows (the Mentees), by pairing them with more experienced colleagues. Mentors were drawn from the extensive set of Co-Investigators and partner organisations established by the ACCESS project.

In this report we outline the process of gathering a pool of mentors and mentees, pairing them, gathering their feedback and exploring the impact of the scheme. Through reflection, we offer insights and share copies of our supporting documents, for others designing a mentoring scheme.