The central aspect of the mentoring concept is the recognition that professional success is not only determined by the qualifications and commitment of the individual, but also and especially by supportive relationships. The Early Career Mentoring Program at MHH is designed to promote and support relationships in mentoring tandems and peer mentoring in networking.

The program has been running since October 2022 and has so far supported 36 qualified young female scientists.

Goals of the Early Career Mentoring Programme:

• Promote committed young female scientists and scholars
• strengthen their competencies and potential for their professional careers, and to support them in
• their careers with the experience of successful female researchers
• Transfer of experience and knowledge in the mentoring relationship
• Establishment of an interdisciplinary network

The ECM is explicitly aimed at women who want to actively shape their professional careers. The target group consists of female scientists who are pursuing an academic career and/or who wish to assume leadership responsibilities in research, teaching, clinical practice, or science administration.

• Female physicians in their second year of residency
• Female doctoral students in all sciences at the MHH
• early stage Postdocs 

The program thrives on the diversity of the mentee group! Therefore, the Early Career Mentoring  brings together female scientists and physicians with different professional and personal backgrounds and experiences. International researchers and scientists with other diversity characteristics are strongly encouraged to apply.

The mentoring program consists of three areas:

• Group mentoring - the mentoring in the narrower sense
• various seminars and workshops for extracurricular qualification
• as well as the development of an interdisciplinary, supporting network, which also lasts beyond the mentoring program.
• every two month a regular´s table 

An opening and closing event will form the framework for this program.

The ECM offers a comprehensive programme - this also means a certain time commitment for you.

When you start the ECM, you sign an agreement and commit yourself to

• active and committed participation in the workshops and face-to-face events
• participation in a conference with a poster and/or presentation as well as a publication (co-authorship)
• participation in the evaluation of the programme by means of questionnaires and, if necessary, interviews
• Writing a profile or short report with a photo for the final brochure
• Payment of €125 as an expense allowance for catering at events
• As a guideline for the time commitment, please take a look at the current event schedule (here) and only apply if you are able to attend the majority of the events.

The next application period is expected to in September 2025. 

Application requirements:

• Female physicians from the 2nd year of specialist medical training
• Female doctoral students of all sciences at the MHH
• Willingness to actively participate in group mentoring (2-3 mentees / 1 mentor)
• Willingness to exchange experiences with colleagues
• Commitment and responsibility: reliable participation in the joint framework and career programme as well as in evaluation and quality assurance

Step 1: Send us your written application during the application period with the following documents.

Application documents:

• Cover letter: Motivation & Expectations - Please describe what goals you have with regard to your future career / career planning. In what way could mentoring support you in realising your career goals? What would you personally like to achieve by participating in the mentoring programme? Please briefly state what expectations you have of the cooperation with the mentor. If available, please provide information on your socio-political commitment and/or parenting or caring responsibilities.
• Curriculum vitae in tabular form on previous education and professional career (in descending order)
• Profile sheet here

Please submit all application documents summarised in one PDF document:

• by e-mail to earlycareer@mh-hannover.de

Step 2: You will receive a confirmation of receipt after the end of the application period. After reviewing all applications, the candidates will be selected in cooperation with the Equal Opportunities Commission. This usually takes 4 weeks. Please refrain from enquiring about the status of your application during this time, thank you.

Step 3: If you are accepted onto the programme, you will be matched at and we will inform you of your mentoring group. You sign the mentoring agreement and the participation fee of 125 euros is due.