StartScience – Empowered by Mentoring

Are you pursuing a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree at the University of Stuttgart and considering a future in academia? StartScience is a mentoring program for female students of all disciplines who want to sharpen their career orientation and actively plan an academic career.

We support participants in developing individual perspectives and making well-informed decisions about their next step – whether a PhD or alternative career paths. In doing so, you gain practical insights into everyday research life and learn which skills truly matter in academia.

In one-to-one mentoring, a student is mentored by a doctoral candidate, ideally from a similar field, over a period of 12 months. The focus of regular meetings with your assigned mentor is the pursuit of a doctoral degree and planning an academic career.

In addition, students support one another through peer mentoring in success teams. This well-established mentoring approach brings mentees together over a 10-month period to meet regularly, reflect on their progress toward goals, address challenges, exchange advice, and provide mutual motivation and support.

In addition, a supporting program featuring reflection sessions, workshops, and networking events runs throughout the mentoring process, with the aim of supporting and empowering participants beyond the mentoring itself.

• Unique insights into the everyday life of female scientists
• The opportunity to better evaluate oneself and one’s own abilities
• The opportunity to recognize and further develop your potential
• A free training program focused on key transferable skills
• The opportunity to meet many interesting and committed people and to gradually build an initial professional network at an early stage

• Critical reflection of your own professional development.
• Strengthening your own advisory and facilitation competencies.
• Fresh perspectives and valuable professional contacts.
• Networking with doctoral candidates from various disciplines at the University of Stuttgart.
• Broadening your life experience through a challenging role and the associated responsibilities.

Women are still underrepresented in science – particularly at higher career levels (leaky pipeline). StartScience addresses this issue and supports female students early on in embarking on an academic career path.

The program provides a safe space to reflect on key topics such as work-life balance, workplace culture, doubts, and further academic development. Experienced mentors – often former mentees themselves – accompany the process, provide insights into research practice, and strengthen participants through their role-model function.

Through mentoring, workshops, and networking, opportunities for exchange and concrete support are created to develop individual goals and actively pursue academic pathways – regardless of personal background.

In line with the State Higher Education Act on the promotion of equal opportunities, StartScience contributes to increasing the proportion of women in academia and provides targeted support on the path to a doctorate.

The program is open to all individuals who identify as women, as well as to non-binary individuals who feel it is relevant to them.

We would like to point out that our Mentoring Program is a German-language program: all further education events and program modules are conducted in German.