Last month the FW team went on the road to host our first face–to–face event in Melbourne! It was on a topic close to our hearts – mentoring. Here Dr Maithili Sashindranath, Translational Biology Lead within the executive team at Ternarx (a Walter and Eliza Hall Institute spin-off company developing therapies for solid cancers) and member of our Melbourne Working Group, writes about her takeaways from the event and what it means to be a true mentor.
When I began my career as a behavioural scientist and public health researcher, leadership wasn’t something I imagined for myself. I was drawn to research because I could see the direct benefits to society, especially when working in public health. And I wanted to help people. I had this quiet satisfaction of contributing knowledge that could make a difference in people’s lives. For many years, this work grounded me, and I was good at it. Over my career I achieved many things I am proud of – my research has contributed to public health policies, I have worked closely with health services to deliver public health programs, and I have connected with people and communities to understand what their needs are and how we can better meet those needs.
I have both coordinated and participated in mentoring programs and most of these felt like box-ticking exercises for mentors – being asked to do it, because it is the right thing to do. They are often paired with mentees based on their needs, i.e. do you want to learn more about juggling work, life and kids, or do you want to learn more about writing grants? But what mentees are looking for is beyond the daily grind. People who will really boost their careers with advice, referrals and vociferous support when they’re not in the room. They are usually looking for mentors who are sponsors.
Over several meetings in the lead-up to the launch of the Victorian chapter of Franklin Women, we had wracked our brains about what FW could genuinely bring to researchers employed by institutions that pride themselves on their in-house mentoring programs. Yet it became glaringly obvious that there remains a void in the mentoring space, when FW so elegantly managed to draw crowds of ambitious, successful female and non-binary researchers on what was arguably the coldest day of 2025 (until then). Faces from across Melbourne, excited to be away from home and work in a casual and relaxed environment where we, as volunteers from the Victorian working group, were advised to ensure that no one was left alone. As the chattering got louder, we realised we were all each other’s mentors, frantically “adding” each other on LinkedIn while shooting rapid-fire answers to questions like “what made you, why did you, how does it feel, and what is that like?”.
Following a captivating yet concise introduction from Dr Abby Jandro from Serendis Leadership about what formal mentoring should be like, panellists shared their experiences both as mentors and mentees, in a candid, honest way that mentors and mentees should. What stood out for me is that each of them had actively pinpointed mentors who they have unabashedly engaged with thereafter. A common theme of paying it forward resonated amongst the panellists, who all felt that just as one needs a mentor at any career stage, one should also learn to be a mentor at any career stage. Not everyone can be a mentor, and true sponsors are virtually non-existent, but I noted that the most successful researchers have not benefited from mentors who were ticking boxes, rather those who held their hands out.