Transform Africa's Postgraduate & Research Space
Mentor, Be Mentored ...and Spur Collaboration

For multi-level academic mentorship and collaboration, join our diverse community of postgraduate students, industry practicioners, early career and senior researchers from Africa and beyond

PostgradMentors phone screen
PostgradMentors mentor dashboard
PostgradMentors mentee dashboard
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About us

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Sharpen your confidence, research skills and depth of knowledge

Through micro research tasks and events, the platform seeks to foster confidence amongst its members and deep understanding on specific "topic" or research related activity by facilitating discussions and exploration of perspectives with members of its diverse community from Africa and beyond.

Beat the odds: tap into knowledge, resources and skills from a global community of researchers

Our commitment is to foster agency and expand local and global opportunities for accessible, efficient and effective research guidance, cross pollination of ideas and collaboration.

postgradmentors Illustration image
postgradmentors Illustration image

Be part of the revolution and transformation of Africa's postgraduate and research space

We are determined to tap into the individual and collective experiences, skills and knowledge of members from Africa, diaspora and beyond to address current challenges such as inadequate number of research supervisors, hierarchical supervision culture, siloed postgraduate process, prolonged period for postgraduate studies, limited collaboration opportunities, and low quality of research outputs.

Getting started

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1. Download WorkPilots app from Google Play Store or Apple store or use the WorkPilots service online

2. Register

In "Select your service"choose"Add private service"and write the required service code:MENTORPRO and then Submit

3. Set up location

On the Set up location page, choose your location by clicking on Your address and choose your location. Choose how far from your home address location Then choose Next.

As a worker (mentor or collaborator):

4. Choose categories

Choose the categories of your interest. You'll only see new opportunities related to your selected program. Then choose Next.

5. Creating a profile

  • On the dashboard, select the hamburger menuon your top left and choose profile settings.
  • Start by stating whether you are a Master's student, PhD student, Early Career Researcher (0-7 years post PhD); Senior researcher (more than 7 years post PhD graduation), or industry practitioner (Postgraduate working outside Academia ) Include your postgraduate qualification or current study.
    • - For example: Master of Science in Education Technology; or PhD in mathematics education
  • Include your institution or organization (industry)
  • Include your broad areas of research or work (industry)

Sample Profile

PhD (student) - Mathematics education at Sheffield Hallam University UK. Research interests include: self-regulated learning, assessment practices; teacher development

Masters (student/completed) - Science Education at the University of Rwanda. Research interests include: the use of technology in teaching physics; simulations of physics practicals; student competitions

Early Career Researcher - Computer Science at Computer Science Research Institute Kenya. Research interests include: computational thinking; Artificial intelligence

Senior Academic Researcher -Business at Makerere University Uganda. Research interests include: banking and digitization; saving societies

Industry practitioner -Education Technology at World Bank in Nigeria. Research interests include: Edtech and equity; education technology in higher education

5. Apply for open tasks

  • On the worker dashboard , select opportunities for you to see all the available jobs.
  • Select a job of your interest, review the details of the mentorship or collaboration task that is sent to you and the profile of the mentee/collaborator.
  • If it interests you and fits within your time availability apply for the task.
  • When selected as a worker (mentor/collaborator), you can schedule and exchange links for a virtual call through chat on the platform.
  • After the meeting and discussion mark the task as completed.

As an orderer (mentee or collaborator):

1. Sign up and create a profile as described in the above section.

To find a mentor/collaborator

2. Create a new order

On the mentee dashboard press the NEW ORDER button in order to create a new order.

3. Choose a category

Service

Choose a category that best fits the task for which you need guidance or collaboration.

4. Order details

Address: Indicate your city of residence.

Tick box for distance work (VERY IMPORTANT )

Prefered time

  • If you choose calendar choose the start and end date to indicate period within which the task needs to be implemented.
  • If you choose Free form, type below Free format schedule period with which the task has to be implemented. For example, "within the next two weeks."
  • Hours: Indicate the number of hours required for the task.

Short Description

Write a short description of your current research-related work from which your request for mentorship or collaboration is drawn.

Examples

  • Currently writing research papers for publication from my master's thesis us on improvisation in mathematics education.
  • I am a 2nd year Ph.D. student in education who has just completed coursework and proceeding to research.
  • I am currently leading the implementation of a project in child nutrition in 12 districts in Rwanda.
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Public or Private

Public

Task is shared with ALL the mentors/collaborators registered on the platform.

Private (not yet operational*)

If you want your task to be shared with mentors/collaborators in specific teams please click on teams and select the teams. For example, if you want to speak to a fellow student you will select either Student (Masters) or Student (PhD) team.

You can choose more than one team* the tasks will be shared ONLY with mentors/collaborators who fall in both teams.

5. Publish order

Press Next and then Publish Order You will get a notification Order Published and also receive an email containing the order summary. The order is now available to workers.

6. Choose applicant

When a worker (mentor or collaborator) selects the job you posted, you will receive a notification containing a list of workers interested in your project. press on the notification to view applicant(s). Select an applicant.

After selecting an applicant, you will see their application details on why they could be a good fit for your Project. Press Accept to select the applicant. Once a worker is chosen, you can select more workers for the same project. You will receive a notification that worker has been selected. Select Chat with user function under user details to communitate with the worker (mentor/collaborator) and discuss on the project further.

7. Project delivery

After the project is completed and delivered, you will receive a notification to Approve or Reject the work done and agreed upon. After approving, You are required to rate and give feedback on each task with each worker (mentor/collaborator).This is VERY important for continued improvement-personal but also collective for the platform.

After giving feedback, the project is now complete. You will see a summary of the task (project) and all the workers (mentor/collaborators) who worked on it.

Testimonials

OM

Daniel NIZERE (Postgraduate student-University of Rwanda)

@DanielNIZERE

I have recently used the postgradmentors platform to access mentors to discuss and reflect on my proposed research topic. Based on the experience, I can attest to the fact that the platform has a lot of potential in research industry. I can say that it is a complete gift to postgraduate not used to research who need ideas and even to those who are experienced, as there is always an expert more than you. I believe the platform will have mega impact as it will change the way traditional research is made. Being able to talk to many novice and experienced researcher about your work before meeting your supervisor is far beneficial to the researcher, the supervisor and the overall quality of work that will be produced afterward.
OM

Dr. Herine Otieno (Researcher/industry practitioner)

@DrotienoM

I have had the opportunity to seek and provide research guidance through the postgradmentors. The informal ‘relationship’ allowed for a very friendly, open and mutual bouncing of ideas and exchange of perspectives. As one of the postgraduate mentees commented, one does not get the same sense of feeling when talking with one's supervisor -because of the power relations. The fact that within a week I was able to engage on varied topics (creating a reference list, research topic in physics education and research lens on under-employment) with researchers/practitioners from Kenya, Rwanda and China without leaving my residence is also very exciting. I am looking forward to more mentorship and collaboration opportunities.
OM

Fásọ̀ràntì Dámilọ́lá (Researcher/Career catalyst)

@fashdami

I had an excellent conversation with Dr. Herine. It was truly a great match and we had excellent touch on the education sector in Rwanda, Africa and globally. And she shared various links and insights that is relevant to my research. This the beginning and I'm glad this platform was created. 100% recommended.

Frequently asked questions