III Edition – 2026

Join us for the information session : a Virtual Mentoring Information Meeting on Monday, 26 January at 5 P.M.

During this session, we’ll cover:

• The benefits of participating in a mentoring programme.
• How to get involved, whether as a mentee or mentor.
• What to expect throughout your mentoring journey.

The programme organization with all the key dates will be introduced. The kick-off meeting, which will officially open the programme, will happen at the end of April.

What’s changing this year

Based on feedback and observations from the previous edition, we are introducing a small but meaningful change to strengthen engagement and improve the quality of mentor–mentee matches. For the upcoming cycle, mentees will be able to consult a Mentor Profiles Document before submitting their application. This document will include short, anonymous mentor profiles (no names or identifying details), outlining:

• mentors’ career background, areas of expertise,
• topics they can support,
• and their personal view on mentoring.

Mentees will be invited to indicate their preferred mentor(s) and briefly explain their motivation. This added step encourages more intentional matching and helps ensure that mentoring relationships start with shared expectations and genuine interest from both sides.

The coordination team will then use these preferences, together with mentors’ stated areas of support, to make the final matches. Our goal is simple: more meaningful conversations, and mentoring relationships that actually take off.

II Edition – 2025

The 2025 Edition (II Edition) is now officialy closed. Thank you to all the participants, Mentors and Mentees!

The applications for metees started in late February, while mentors can apply all-year round.

The selection and matching happened in March-April. The first kick-off meeting happened on 14th April 2025, opening officially the Mentoring Program.

Besides individual meetings, during the programme trainings, networking events and catch-ups are being organized.

In January 2026, a survey has been distributed both to mentors and mentees.

I Edition – 2024 – Pilot run

In the first Edition of Mentoring@CERN, 91 pairs (14 alumni) were matched!

What worked well

• 90% satisfaction rate
• 84% appreciate the matching is taken care of by the organisers
• 67% achieved their goals (12% achieved them partially)
• 55% will continue meeting each other

What could be improved

• more networking opportunities​
• more assistance in establishing contact between mentee and mentor
• more guidelines on goal settings

“Really valuable experience, I think what helped a lot was that I was paired with a really great mentor who was able to give me some longer-term perspectives on career evolution and managing work-life balance in our discussions.”

“Being from a non-CERN member country, this acceptance gave me a huge boost and motivated me to keep going, no matter the challenges. As I had hoped at the start of this program, this experience has truly made me feel like a part of the big CERN community.”

“I’ve been part of the mentoring program since the beginning, two years ago. This was the opportunity for me to meet outstanding people I would not have met otherwise, to share our respective experiences. I learnt a lot from them, about team work, motivation, work-life balance and more. I hope that what they grabbed from my vision and knowledge about the laboratory will be useful to them in their career, here or outside”