RESOURCES FOR RESEARCH MENTORS
Villanova Institute of Research and Scholarship (VIRS) staff are available to support faculty and postdoctoral scholars in their roles as research mentors and mentees. Contact us to schedule an individual consultation.
Postdoctoral Mentoring Plans
Thoughtful postdoctoral mentorship is critical to ensuring the success of Villanova’s postdoctoral scholars. Villanova faculty are expected to collaborate with their postdoctoral scholars to prepare a detailed mentoring plan.
Faculty supervisors are asked to formalize their plans by submitting them to VIRS for inclusion in our cross-college repository of postdoc mentoring plans.
Faculty are encouraged to consult the VIRS director with questions or concerns as they develop their plans.
Individual Development Plans
Individual Development Plans (IDPs) are a communication tool that help mentees and mentors identify a mentees career objectives and professional development needs. They can help mentees think through their short- and long-term career plans and create a path to achieve them with their mentor's support.
Mentors can use IDPs to have conversations about future directions for a mentee's research and career, identify short-term performance improvement needs, and structure timelines and and plans.
An IDP should be considered a dynamic document that is updated and reviewed periodically throughout an individual's training.
What is an IDP?
The postdoctoral training period is typically a relatively brief but intense period in an academic career. An Individual Development Plan (IDP) can help postdocs make the most of the experience in several ways. For instance:
- IDPs provide customized map of career goals based on a structured personal evaluation.
- IDPs help identify professional development needs and short-term performance improvement needs
- IDPs can help structure and guide conversations with supervisors and other career advising mentors.
IDPs supplement (but do not replace) postdoctoral mentoring plans. They are typically updated once a year.
Resources for Creating an IDP
There are several free and publicly available tools online for developing an IDP that lead users through exercises to set goals and develop a plan. Although most tools are framed in discipline-specific language, individuals can readily adapt them to fit their own discipline. Popular IDP tools include:
- MyIDP (life sciences)
- ImaginePhD (humanities and social sciences)
- ChemIDP (chemical sciences)
Additionally, the National Postdoctoral Association (NPA) Guide to IDPs is a valuable resource to consult prior to developing an IDP.