OxCAN-OCS Mentorship Programme
Oxford Climate Alumni Network (OxCAN) collaborates with Oxford Climate Society (OCS) to provide mentoring opportunities to students at the University of Oxford, pairing them with professionals across the climate sector.
The first round of the OxCAN-OCS Mentorship Programme has now concluded. Look out for our communications when the next round opens!
Objectives
OxCAN and OCS collaborate to provide mentoring opportunities to students at Oxford, pairing them with professionals in the climate sector. We aim to create a mentorship scheme that both mentors and mentees find enriching for their aspirations in environment and climate professions. This serves as a complementary programme to the flagship mentorship scheme offered by the Oxford Society for International Development (OxSID); indeed, if OxSID receives particularly climate-focused applicants, potential mentors may be suggested from this OxCAN-OCS scheme too.
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In this collaborative relationship, OxCAN provides the mentors for the Mentorship Programme from amongst our membership, whilst OCS provides the mentees from amongst theirs. This allows for the pairing of climate sector professionals in OxCAN's membership with current Oxford students in OCS' membership.
Eligibility Criteria for Mentors
OxCAN seeks mentors who have either gone on to study climate/sustainability/environment degrees at a higher level (whether a master's or a doctorate) or those currently working in a climate-adjacent field. We’re happy to accept mentors across a huge range of disciplines and at various career levels, including those who may have only recently made a shift into climate-related work. The objective is to help the Oxford students we work with get a better sense of career opportunities available in the climate sphere and a better understanding of what these career paths may look like.
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It it possible for a mentor to take on more than one mentee.
Once the mentors have been selected by OxCAN, OCS requests a brief bio about each mentor in order to best pair them with mentees.
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Mentors must be University of Oxford graduates and OxCAN members. If you are not yet an OxCAN member, you can register here.
Mentoring Process and Expectations
We ask mentors to commit to three sessions, ideally of an hour each, with the mentees. These may be online/telephone or in-person, whichever suits the mentor/mentees best. The mentorship period normally takes place over several months. The calls tend to cover career advancement/climate opportunities/reflections by the mentors on their own careers and could potentially branch into advice on applications for jobs and further study/work placement or networking opportunities. OCS circulates a booklet to the mentors and mentees with a rough structure of topics for discussion in each of the three sessions. It is up to the mentor/mentee pair how closely they would like to follow this structure.​
Expectations and Deliverables for Mentors
The expectation is that mentors respond promptly, wherever possible, to the introduction email from their mentee/mentees and organise the three sessions within the outlined timeframe. If mentors are no longer able to take part in the process, OxCAN/OCS should be informed before the start of the pairing. If mentors are unable to commit to the sessions once the mentorship has begun, they should look to rearrange the sessions at a later date, wherever possible. After the end of the mentorship scheme, we circulate a feedback form to the mentors. Mentors will have the opportunity to provide feedback on the process to OxCAN/OCS and to indicate whether they would be willing to take part in the programme again.
Expressions of Interest
The first round of the OxCAN-OCS Mentorship Programme has now concluded. If you would be interested in mentoring an Oxford student in the future, please keep an eye on this page and our social media for future rounds of mentorship.
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If you have any queries, please address them to Gautaam Borah, OxCAN's Director of Global Networks, or to Dr Andrew Lee, OxCAN's Director of Communications.
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If you are an Oxford student who would like to be a mentee, please get in touch with the Oxford Climate Society.