ALTA Mentoring Program
What is mentoring?
Mentoring is generally considered to be a voluntary relationship that gives people the opportunity to share their skills, knowledge and experiences, both personal and professional.
Three key benefits for the mentor
- Improve interpersonal skills in counselling, listening, modelling, and leading.
- Access new perspectives, information, and knowledge.
- Enhance professional relationships and networks.
Three key benefits for the mentee
- Receive valuable feedback from an experienced and subject-matter expert.
- Have opportunities to develop networks with experienced and positive role models.
- Have a supportive environment in which successes and failures can be evaluated in a non-confrontational manner and new ideas can be tested.
How does it work?
To initiate a mentoring session, a mentee should proactively organise a meeting with an ALTA mentor in advance during or after the ALTA workshop.
Step 1: Choose a mentor from the ALTA mentor list.
Step 2: Contact him/her via an email or Slack channel of the workshop.
Step 3: Organise a mentoring session either virtually (e.g., Zoom, Kumospace or Slack) or in person.
Boundaries of the mentor relationship
Professional and ethical behaviour is expected at all times in a mentor relationship. A mentor and a mentee should treat the relationship with respect and maintain privacy/confidentiality of conversations. It is important that the mentee makes his/her own decisions and is responsible for his/her own actions.
ALTA Mentors
| Name | Affiliation | Position | Taking Mentees?* | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afshin Rahimi | University of Queensland | Lecturer | a.rahimi@uq.edu.au | Yes |
| Bahar Salehi | Go1 | Senior Data Scientist | bahar.salehi@go1.com | Yes |
| Borhan Kazimipour | Australian Taxation Office | Director of Data Science | Borhan.Kazimipour@ato.gov.au | Yes |
| Daniel Beck | University of Melbourne | Lecturer | d.beck@unimelb.edu.au | Yes |
| David Powers | Flinders University | Professor | david.powers@flinders.edu.au | Yes |
| Diego Molla | Macquarie University | Senior Lecturer | diego.molla-aliod@mq.edu.au | Yes |
| Gabriela Ferraro | CSIRO Data61 | Researcher | gabriela.ferraro@data61.csiro.au | Yes |
| Jonathan Kummerfeld | University of Sydney | Senior Lecturer | jonathan.kummerfeld@sydney.edu.au | Yes |
| Jennifer Biggs | Defence Science and Technology Group | Defence Scientist | jennifer.biggs@dst.defence.gov.au | Yes |
| Jey Han Lau | University of Melbourne | Lecturer | jeyhan.lau@gmail.com | Yes |
| Maria Kim | Defence Science and Technology Group | Defence Scientist | maria.kim@dst.defence.gov.au | Yes |
| Massimo Piccardi | University of Technology Sydney | Professor | massimo.piccardi@uts.edu.au | Yes |
| Meladel Mistica | University of Melbourne | Research Data Specialist | misticam@unimelb.edu.au | Yes |
| Paulo E. Santos | Flinders University | Associate Professor | paulo.santos@flinders.edu.au | Yes |
| Richard Leibbrandt | Flinders University | Lecturer | Richard.leibbrandt@flinders.edu.au | Yes |
| Sarvnaz Karimi | CSIRO | Principal Scientist | sarvnaz.karimi@csiro.au | Yes |
| Shunichi Ishihara | Australian National University | Associate Professor | shunichi.ishihara@anu.edu.au | Yes |
| Stephen Wan | CSIRO | Senior Scientist | stephen.wan@data61.csiro.au | Yes |
| Timothy Baldwin | University of Melbourne | Professor | tb@ldwin.net | Yes |
| Xiuzhen Zhang | Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology | Professor | xiuzhen.zhang@rmit.edu.au | Yes |
*Mentors: When you are no longer accepting mentees, send an email to exec@alta.asn.au to have your status updated.
If you have any questions regarding the ALTA mentoring program, please contact president@alta.asn.au.