Academic reaps rewards

University of Wolverhampton Associate Professor, Dr Jenni Jones, has been nominated for a Vitae Impact, Culture and Engagement (ICE) Award for her work on a reverse mentoring programme that establishes opportunities for Global Majority Postgraduate Researchers to positively influence senior leads and decision-making.

The awards recognise the contribution of the Researcher Development Community.

The That’s Me reverse mentoring team nominated Jenni Jones for her work training and supporting the 2 cohorts of reverse mentors and reverse mentees in this pilot scheme which aims to eliminate barriers to Postgraduate research study.

Jenni is working closely with University Professor Tracey Devonport, Associate Professor, Debra Cureton and Dr Suha Ahmed (a recent PGR graduate) supporting the reverse mentoring pilot; one of the That’s Me project streams working to enhance the PGR voice to higher levels.

Recognising a mismatch of lived experiences between Global Majority Doctoral Researchers and senior Higher Education (HE) staff, Tracey, Debra, Suha and Jenni, with the backing of the That’s Me project, created a reverse mentoring programme to provide an opportunity to foster meaningful connections between both parties. 

The objectives were to;

• Promote confidence within the Global Majority Doctoral Researchers population by recognising their skills and allowing them to ‘speak their truth.’
• Allow Global Majority Doctoral Researchers an opportunity to network with senior leaders/mentees and benefit from this exposure.
• Promote awareness of and drive equality, inclusion and cultural humility at senior level.
• Facilitate discussions to better understand the lived experience of staff and students.
• Facilitate purposeful conversations about racism, sexism, and other marginalisation

Jenni said: "In short, this reverse mentoring programme creates an opportunity for Global Majority Doctoral Researchers to share their lived experiences, and by doing so positively influence senior researchers thinking and decision making.

"The team has been involved in promoting the programme to all, training 2 cohorts of reverse mentors (Global Majority Doctoral Researchers), training 2 cohorts of mentees (Senior Research Staff), matching them across disciplines, running reflective sessions and offering follow up one to ones.

"This reverse mentoring programme has already had an impact with reverse mentors helping mentees develop new insights and taking action to enhance the research environment, and ultimately the policies that relate to the wellbeing and progress of our research students.

“It has been wonderful to hear the feedback coming through the reflective sessions. Reverse mentors seemed to be surprised how open their senior management mentees were, how interested they were in their lived experiences, and how well the first conversations had gone. Mentees state they are enjoying their discussions with students and were delighted to hear about their ideas for improvement to our research culture. Confirming both parties saw this as a great opportunity and beyond a tick box exercise.” 

Tracey Devonport, Professor of Applied Sport and Exercise Sciences at the University, said: "Jenni's extensive experience and genuine passion for mentoring as a means of maximising the potential of people has been invaluable in setting up and managing the reverse mentoring programme. Her authenticity has been recognised by both mentors and mentees, supporting their engagement with the reverse mentor programme and strengthening the benefits of doing so."

Winners will be announced at an awards ceremony on Monday 23 September at The Rep, Birmingham, UK.

Jenni has also recently won an Advance HE Award for Teaching Excellence. Advance HE’s national awards celebrate the impact of teaching in the UK higher education sector by recognising and celebrating teaching excellence on an individual, team and institutional basis.

The 2024 winners of the prestigious National Teaching Fellowship and Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence (CATE) were announced recently, recognised for their outstanding contribution to excellent teaching. 

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