Mentoring and Career Guidance

“Mentoring is a brain to pick, an ear to listen, and a push in the right direction.”
John Crawford Crosby

Sometimes doctoral students suffer from psychological distress. Reasons behind these vary from one person to another. Since the LSM student council has become aware of the need to offer our support to those who ask for it, as a first point of contact, we have two excellent volunteers available, so that you are not alone in your time of need. So, feel free to contact us any time!

What we can offer?

Buddy support initiative 

The LSM student council just started a LSM buddy support initiative to ease the onboarding for our new LSM doctoral candidates in an unofficial manner. Each new student gets assigned a senior LSM colleague who may share their experience regarding all the LSM aspects i.e. enrolling at the LMU, fulfilling the LSM curriculum, organizing TAC meetings, etc… For all our students, this is also a perfect chance to expand their own network.

If interested in supporting our new LSM students by joining the buddy support initiative, please write an email to A.Kitashova@campus.lmu.de 

Mentoring 

Right now, there are two of us on the mentoring team. Annabel is an LSM Alumni. She has already acquired P2P mentoring certificates in her early years of study and has since then mentored many students. Mauricio is also an LSM Alumni and works in consulting. He likes to share his experiences during his own doctoral thesis and talks about the ups and downs of starting a career.

If you need to reachout, please do not hesitate to contact them by clicking on their names below and getting in touch to talk about your concerns. All information and conversations will be kept anonymous. Remember, we all went through more or less the same and therefore we might share similar experiences.

 Mentors:                                                                                                              LSM Ombudsperson:

                                  Dr. Tamara Mikeladze-Dvali & Prof. Korbinian Schneeberger

                   Annabel Dischinger                           Dr. Mauricio Toro-Nahuelpan                   

 Feel free to get connected on LinkedIn         Feel free to get connected on LinkedIn.   

or learn more about Annabel and Mauricio

Want to be part of the team?

LMU also offers mentoring programs. Doctoral students who want to join our mentoring team must participate first in the Peer-to-Peer-Mentoring Program and obtain relevant experience and certification. Moreover, doctoral students can seek further counseling through events organized by Intercultural Counseling Center at the LMU.

Gender equality officers and women role models at the faculty of Biology:

https://www.en.biologie.uni-muenchen.de/women-repres/index.html

Additional Mentoring Links:

• We care@LMU

• LMU Gateway
• Hochschulinitiative Deutschland
• International Student Guide
• Student und Arbeitsmarkt
• Studentenwerk München
• Beratungseinrichtungen der LMU

Interesting PhD Blogs:

Here are some of the blogs about PhD life that we found helpful and entertaining. Have fun checking them out:

• Podcast: The Struggling Scientists

• Book Recommendation: Managing your Mental Health during your PhD – A Survival Guide (available as an eBook in the University Library)
• The Thesis Whisperer
• From PhD to Life
• Get a Life, PhD
• Next Scientist
• James Hayton
• Susanna L Harris

PhD and Career Guidance Books: