The majority of early childhood practitioners in England receive little or no initial training in how to work in music with young children. To remedy this deficit, mentoring schemes place expert early childhood music educators to work alongside generalist practitioners. A review of literature revealed that little attention has been given to the processes of mentoring in early childhood music education. We invited a team of specialist music educators who had been involved in mentoring to participate in focus group discussions and found that, while they recognised the importance of interpersonal skills for music mentoring, they were less able to elucidate the content and processes of mentoring.

Undergraduate research experiences (UREs) are believed to benefit students, but there is little concrete evidence to support this claim. Likewise, faculty often see UREs as a burden, yet multiple studies show UREs benefit faculty. Outcomes could be improved for both parties if projects were designed better. We report a rational design and decision-making framework for project-based mentoring experiences like UREs to address this misalignment by helping mentors balance competing research and learning requirements. The method requires the mentor to identify factors that are important for success and evaluate their project on those factors. Responses are analyzed using possibility theory to account for uncertainty in these judgments. Three projects are analyzed as a demonstration. We show the method can be used to rank projects based on predicted outcomes and identify areas for improvement, and we describe a procedure for iterative design as evidence changes. Applying the tool to UREs, we show that the method is capable of identifying inconsistencies in the mentor’s beliefs and provides a clear and straightforward procedure for introspection and adaptation over time. More broadly, the method and analysis could be adapted to design and analyze other project-based experiences under uncertainty.

We conducted a multimethod program evaluation of alumni of a K12/KL2 program in the Western United States, including quantitative assessment of alumni’s career progression and research benefits, aligned with the Translational Science Benefits Model, and qualitative interviews within a subset of recent alumni and mentors. N = 29 alumni (72% female, 24% non-White) participated (74% response rate), and n = 10 alumni/mentors were interviewed. Retention in clinical and translational science research careers was high (86%), with exceptional track records in grants and mentoring. Qualitative themes that supported success were multilevel mentorship, protected time, comprehensive training for transitioning to independence, and opportunities for transdisciplinary teaming.

Sustaining a career in archaeology, particularly one in cultural resources management (CRM), requires more than technical expertise or academic credentialing. Career opportunities have expanded beyond traditional pathways, but the scaffolding that supports professionals across every career stage has not kept pace. Mentoring, in the form of knowledge sharing, advocacy, and intentional networking, can make the difference between leaving the field or thriving in it. This article contends that mentoring is essential career infrastructure, as fundamental to career sustainability as field school training or thesis research. Drawing on experience mentoring more than 75 students, colleagues, and job seekers, this discussion demonstrates how thoughtful mentoring fosters professional development, promotes access, and helps mentees navigate the complex intersections of client work, personal research interests, and public engagement. This article also introduces the concepts of sponsorship—the active promotion of mentees for advancement—and network weaving, the deliberate cultivation of professional connections across broader scales, as critical tools for career readiness, resilience, and inclusion. Case studies illustrate how these practices unlock doors to leadership, expand skill sets, and may help slow attrition. The article concludes with actionable and scalable recommendations for CRM organizations seeking to build the mentoring infrastructure that archaeological careers require.

Volunteer management practices have been shown to have positive effects on employees in terms of skill development, job success, organizational identity, and morale in the public, nonprofit, and corporate sectors. Despite considerable research on volunteering, questions remain about how management practices of volunteer programs may affect volunteer performance. Leveraging data comparing self-enrolled and corporate-recruited volunteer mentors into a large-scale online program for entrepreneurs, this study measures the impact of institutional support on volunteer intensity, persistence, and quality. It also presents a novel way to measure volunteer quality through sentiment analysis to measure the tone of online messages, an emerging statistical technique. Findings suggest that a high level of institutional support leads to higher quality mentor engagement, compared to self-enrolled volunteers, while a low level of support leads to mentor quality much lower than self-enrolled volunteers.

Acquiring the skills to obtain extramural funding is a major challenge for early- and mid-career investigators. The Professional Development Core (PDC) of the NIH-funded Mountain West Clinical and Translational Research Infrastructure Network (MW CTR-IN) aims to support early-stage and mid-career investigators pursuing independent careers in clinical and translational science research. Since 2018, the PDC’s Grant Writing Workshops (GWWs) have provided CTR investigators with didactic content and interactive feedback on their NIH grant applications, helping them reach this key career milestone. Four one-day GWWs were offered in person, and two half-day GWWs were offered virtually across two days during the COVID-19 pandemic. Evaluation data for each cohort revealed that participants’ knowledge and confidence in the relevant sections of NIH R-series grants consistently improved following GWW attendance and resulted in notable enhancements in participants’ feelings of positivity toward grant writing, regardless of delivery mode (virtual vs. in-person). Follow-up data showed that 12 GWW participants acquired external funding with a 21% success rate and $12,584,938 in total funding. This manuscript provides a roadmap for planning and implementing a successful virtual or in-person GWW that positively impacts the careers of early-stage and mid-career investigators.

We describe a training series using a scaffolded approach informed by Vygotsky’s Learning Theory to advance Hawai‘i -based faculty grant-writing skills. Sponsored by the Professional Development Core of the Center for Pacific Innovations, Knowledge, and Opportunities (PIKO) at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, the initiative includes a 2-week series of 1-hour introductory sessions on aspects of grant writing, a 3-session workshop to develop a specific aims page, and a 5-month training program in grant writing. Over three years, 202 Hawai‘i investigators attended at least one 1-hour introductory session, 62 completed the workshop on preparing specific aims, and 30 completed the 5-month training on grant writing. Participants rated all 3 programs as very useful. Of the 62 unique investigators who completed the Specific Aims Workshop, 21 (33%) submitted PIKO pilot grant applications, 4 (6%) submitted grants elsewhere, and 16 (30%) applied to the 5-month training on grant writing. The 30 GUMSHOE participants reported significant gains in their confidence in accomplishing 21 proposal-writing tasks and, as of May 2025, 26 (87%) submitted grants to the National Institutes of Health or another external funder. This scaffolded training approach is labor- and time-intensive for trainees and faculty mentors, but our outcomes demonstrate its success.

The evidence-based psychological therapy for obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) delivered by mental health professionals who are trained and regulated by a professional standards authority. In recent years, people with OCD have reported consulting unqualified and unregulated coaches. We aimed to explore the experience of people who sought unregulated coaching for OCD. Using semi-structured interviews, we explored the lived experiences of 13 people with OCD who have undertaken sessions with an unqualified individual (referred to as a ‘coach’). Thematic analysis was conducted. There were four coaches rated negatively and one rated positively. Four over-arching themes were identified in the coaches who were rated negatively: (1) Appealing content, (2) Vulnerability, (3) Cult-like experience, and (4) Complex peer relationships. There were some positive experiences of coaching described, such as positive peer support from others receiving coaching in group chats. Many of the experiences documented by people who received OCD coaching were negative. It was highlighted that unqualified coaches may increase vulnerability of people seeking OCD treatment, due to unprofessional conduct. We suggest that this unprofessional conduct may be investigated by a regulator. We suggest that people seeking OCD treatment seek help from qualified professionals and that clinicians are aware of the potential negative effects such coaches can have on people.

Key learning aims

1. (1) To understand the potential risks, vulnerabilities and potential positive aspects associated with unregulated coaching for individuals seeking OCD treatment.

2. (2) To discuss our findings to promote informed decision-making by encouraging individuals with OCD to seek treatment from regulated and qualified mental health professionals.

3. (3) Increase clinician awareness of the potential harms associated with unqualified coaching and equip them to guide patients towards evidence-based treatment options.

Engaging, accessible, evidence-based interventions are needed to support the professional development of research mentors within the clinical and translational sciences. This article reports on the usage and impact of the University of Minnesota Clinical and Translational Science Institute’s online mentor training module, Optimizing the Practice of Mentoring (OPM). Among the 1,124 OPM users in our contemporary evaluation sample (Feb 2019–June 2022), retrospective pre-to-post gains were observed in respondents’ self-rated mentorship skills (11 items), perceptions of the overall quality of mentoring they provide, and mentoring confidence. A high proportion (83%) of users reported making or intending to make changes in their mentoring practices as a result of the training. Example behavior changes included a greater focus on aligning expectations, more proactive attention to the relationship (overall and its distinct phases), increased usage of active communication skills, adoption of tools such as Individual Development Plans, and ongoing self-reflection. Over a 10-year period, 4,011 unique individuals registered for the module, representing over 650 different institutions (a majority being affiliated with past or current Clinical and Translational Science Hubs). OPM has the versatility to be employed as a standalone, asynchronous approach for mentor development or as one curricular component of more comprehensive, multimodal programs.