Imagine someone arriving at CERN for the first time. Their physics is solid, their code runs, their detector shifts are booked — but the unwritten rules? The career shortcuts? The moments when someone says, “I’ve been there — here’s what helped me”? Those are harder to find.

The Staff Association’s new diversity, equity, and inclusion working group^[1] highlights mentoring as one of the key initiatives for making CERN a more inclusive workplace, while also fostering growth and collaboration across all levels of the organisation.

Mentoring in context

Mentoring, coaching, and supervising are all forms of professional support, but they differ in scope and purpose. Coaching and supervision tend to be more task-oriented, time-limited, and tied to formal structures. Mentoring is broader and more personal: a voluntary, trust-based relationship that supports the whole person — their aspirations, doubts, and evolving place in the scientific or professional landscape.

In practice, mentoring can look like a conversation over coffee after a meeting, a regular monthly check-in, or an impromptu chat when things get tough. Done well, it creates space for reflection, encouragement, challenge, and change. This is particularly valuable in an international research centre like CERN, where people arrive from diverse cultures and academic systems, often without an established local network.

From Two Paths to One — The Story Behind Mentoring@CERN

The Mentoring@CERN  programme^[2] was born from the merger of two independent initiatives: the  Women in Technology (WIT) programme, launched in 2018 to support mostly female members of the CERN community and connect them with CERN and industry professionals (through a strong collaboration with the CERN alumni network), and the LHC Early Career (LHC-EC) programme, started in 2020 to strengthen networking across the LHC collaborations and help early career researchers advance in academia.

By joining forces, the reach of the programme expanded well beyond what each could achieve alone. The first joint round in 2024 matched 91 mentor–mentee pairs; in April 2025, the second round began, with 78 pairs.

As of today, more than 400 pairings have been made through the three programmes, proving it possible to build an inclusive mentoring program from the ground up which is meeting the needs of the wider CERN community. 

A survey at the end of the pilot round showed a 90% satisfaction rate, with 67% of respondents having achieved their goals through the programme. At the same time, the survey highlighted participants would have liked to have had more networking and training opportunities during the mentoring round, as well as more assistance in establishing contact between mentor and mentee. These are valuable additions that require sustained institutional resources to deliver. Mentoring@CERN demonstrates the appetite for and impact of mentoring here; the next step could be a CERN-run, fully resourced programme able to offer these benefits at scale.

Why mentoring matters – For people and for CERN

At the individual level, the benefits are clear. For mentees, mentoring can lead to increased confidence, clearer career planning, new skills, and expanded professional networks. But the relationship is far from one-sided — mentors consistently report gains in leadership, communication, and renewed purpose. Many describe learning just as much from their mentees as they give in return, highlighting the dynamic nature of what’s often called reverse mentoring.

For CERN as an institution, a strong mentoring culture supports professional growth, promotes peer learning, and strengthens connections across departments and experiments.

According to the Association for Talent Development, organisations with mentoring programmes see 57%  higher engagement and retention^[3] compared to those without.

For CERN, where teams are diverse, and contracts often short-term, this matters. A strong mentoring culture can provide continuity, foster belonging, and contribute to a workplace where individuals feel valued and supported.

Mentoring also complements formal training by sharing tacit knowledge, breaking down silos, and accelerating development through conversation and trust. It enhances CERN’s reputation as an employer of choice, signalling to prospective candidates that we invest in people, not just projects.

Earlier this year, Mentoring@CERN was presented at the eument conference^[4], alongside formal mentoring programmes from research institutions across Europe. One key takeaway was the level of institutional support these programmes receive — particularly in Germany, where such initiatives are often embedded in HR and talent strategies. With an official CERN programme, mentoring could become a recognised pillar of CERN’s commitment to people’s growth and collaboration.

Get Involved — Shaping the Future of Mentoring at CERN

Mentoring@CERN is currently run on a best-effort, volunteer basis — driven by the dedication of its organisers and participants. Despite limited resources, the programme strives to offer structured, well-matched mentoring relationships, and the results consistently demonstrate its value. But for mentoring to reach its full potential across the Organization, it needs a formal, institutionally supported programme that would allow it to become an embedded part of CERN’s development culture — systematic, inclusive, and scalable.

Many research institutions have already recognised this by establishing official mentoring programmes with dedicated resources. We hope CERN will soon join their ranks, embedding mentoring as a lasting part of its culture and ensuring that every member of our diverse community has access to the support, connection, and growth opportunities.

• If you are interested in becoming a mentor, contact us at mentoring.cern@cern.ch.
• If you would like to be a mentee, keep an eye on our communication channels; registration for the next round will open in early 2026.
• We also welcome offers to run skills workshops for our mentoring community. Whether your expertise is in presenting, networking, grant writing, or any other workplace-relevant skill, your contribution could make a real difference — get in touch via mentoring.cern@cern.ch.

[1] https://staff-association.web.cern.ch/article/moving-forward-diversity-equity-and-inclusion

[2] https://mentoring-cern.web.cern.ch/ ; https://indico.cern.ch/category/19143/

[3] https://www.td.org/content/press-release/new-research-by-atd-mentoring-helps-employees-and-leads-to-better-business

[4] European network for mentoring programmes: https://www.eument-net.eu/inclusive-research-cultures-through-mentorship-a-practitioner-researcher-dialogue/