The ICRS Mentorship and Belonging Committee started in 2023 with the broad goal of increasing networking opportunities among members of the ICRS community and to build a stronger sense of belonging for all members. We aim to make stronger connections between members across various career stages and experiences.
The primary goal is to encourage multidimensional mentorship given that no single mentor can provide guidance on all aspects of scientific life. The hope is that this program becomes a conduit for partnerships across different career stages, institutions, and experiences and promotes a sense of belonging for people who are underrepresented in our sphere. In this program, mentees will receive guidance (e.g., scientific, professional, work-life balance, diversity) from mentors who offer scientific expertise, professional affiliation, or lived experiences in order to nurture growth and retention of the next generation of coral reef scientists, practitioners, and conservationists. The program is also meant to build a stronger professional network where ICRS members can help and promote other ICRS members.
To that end, we ran our first successful Virtual Mentoring Event in September 2023 to kick start the Mentoring program, which is currently involves 40 mentors and 54 mentees across 20 countries! Stay tuned for more updates from the program over the coming year.
Four-year strategy plan
2023: Mentoring – ICRS Mentoring Program (Round 1 – completed)
2024: Belonging – ICRS Belonging workshop series
2025: Supporting: ICRS Mentoring Program to establish supporting peer to peer networks (Round 2 – will be open early 2025)
2026: Connecting: ICRS 2026 Mentorship and Belonging meeting in New Zealand
