Call for Articles: Mentor-Mentee Relationships in Academia: Nature, Problems and Solutions

Mentoring, and being mentored, are key aspects of the academic experience. A successful mentor-mentee relationship is enriching for both. This is a call for articles that explore different perspectives of this relationship: what works, what doesn’t and how does one navigate this relationship in these changing times. We request contributions that analyze these issues, as detailed below.

Here are the published articles in the series:

The many ways of doing a PhD by Raghavendra Gadagkar
Not another brick in the wall by Anjali Monteiro and K.P. Jayasankar
Wind beneath the wings by V Madhurima
Mentoring the marginalized by Shobhana Narasimhan
Mentoring: an anti-view polemic by Jerry Pinto
Mentor-Mentee relationship: an industry perspective by Prasad Phatak
Academic and social intelligence in the mentoring process: a view from the social sciences by V. Sujatha
Of protégés and mentors by Ram Ramaswamy
Transitioning between mentor-mentee roles: a grad student’s reveries and woes by Arunita Banerjee
Mentor-Mentee relationship: the ideal and the real, a perspective by N Sathyamurthy
Mentoring as radical practice by Byasa Moharana
Practising art teaching by Krishnapriya C P
Feminist mentoring: reflections from the classroom and beyond by Deepa Srinivas
Disability, Difference and Inclusive Classroom: Some Challenges by Zarana Maheshwari
Mentor-Mentee: A New Relationship by Shivani Agrawal
Mentoring Mathematics Research by M S Raghunathan
Mentor-Mentee Relationship by Venkatesh Raman
A Friend Plus by Debabrata Majumdar
Deferred Question of Educational Justice? Unveiling the Brahminic Insouciance towards Dalits’ Education by Sanil M. Neelakandan
Mathematics Teaching in India: Present and Future by S. M. Srivastava
On Mentor-Mentee Relationship by Biman Bagchi
Teacher Student Relationship in a Classroom: Recognizing the Voices and Addressing the Silences by Anurekha Chari Wagh and students
Mentoring in Academia: One Size Does Not Fit All by Anindita Bhadra
Interview of Prof. S. Sivaram: Mentorship experiences

Also in the series:

Helping Hand, a cartoon by Sujit Kumar Chakrabarti
Response to “The many ways of doing a PhD” by Chitra Kannabiran

Details of the call

A. Mentor-Mentee Relationships

We plan to focus on three kinds of relationships:

A1. Teacher-student relationship in the context of classroom teaching

A2. Supervisor- PhD Student / Post Doc relationship in a research group

A3. Senior-Junior Faculty in a department / institute / university

B. Points of reference:

B1. The nature of the relationship,

This includes (but is not limited to) questions like:

i) Should there be a hierarchy in the relationship? If yes, then what should be the nature of the said hierarchy?

ii) What are the rights and duties of each party?

iii) How to deal with / address issues like class, caste, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, physical and mental ability, neuro divergence, mental health etc.?

iv) How to deal with challenging and being challenged, questioning, and critiquing each other, calling out, cancelling-being cancelled, in the context of the mentor-mentee relationship?

v) How to develop respect for each other and ensure a supportive ambience amidst the pressures of deadlines and general productivity?

vi) Motivating each other in the pursuit of knowledge and developing a belief in the importance/ worth of an academic life.

B2. When does the relationship break down and why?

For example, some possible reasons can be:

i) Performance / peer pressure (for both sides)

ii) Too high (overambitious) expectations

iii) Lack of responsibility/accountability from either side

iv) junior partner’s output being connected to senior partner’s performance etc.

B3. Possible solutions, including

i) Institutional remedial suggestions (both personal and administrative).

ii) Possible extra-institutional resolution strategies.

C. Guidelines:

a) Please comment on any 1, 2 or 3 of the above points of references (i.e. B1-B3), in the context of any one of the mentor-mentee relationships (i.e. A1-A3) stated above.

b) The style of the article should be simple, precise and lucid, presenting your thoughts and reflections on the theme. No personal attacks or statements targeting individuals please, such articles will be summarily rejected. The purpose of this series is not to merely focus on the hardships faced by any one side. The purpose is to define the nature of the relationship, identify the points of friction and the reasons for the same, and come up with concrete suggestions for resolving the issues.

c) The articles should be approximately 1,500 to 3000 words.

d) The articles should be written in English. Please distinguish between data and opinion. Cite sources for the former.

e) The editorial team will read and decide the merit of your article, and decide whether to publish it or not. We are primarily looking for well-written, logically well-constructed articles that present a relevant, and preferably fresh, point-of-view. We may also suggest you to revise the draft before publishing. In any case, the decisions of the editorial team will be final and binding.

f) Please email your article IN THE BODY OF THE EMAIL to confluence.caretakers@gmail.com on or before 31.10.2021 (Last Date extended). Please note that we are NOT going to open any attachments. Therefore, if you attach your article, we will simply not read it, and not get back to you either. It can take up to 2 weeks for us to get back to you with a decision.

g) Contributions must carry the real name of the author and aliases are not allowed. Please include a statement at the end of the article stating the name, status and affiliation of the author.
A sample author statement will look like: ABCD is a PhD scholar at XYZ University.

h) In case of any queries, please email: confluence.caretakers@gmail.com.

Confluence