
‘You can’t teach an old dog new tricks,’ or so we are told.
There are many senior research leaders in Southampton that will disagree. They are part of a growing scheme across our NIHR infrastructure that has flipped the traditional notion of mentorship.
There are great benefits for equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in our research communities.
The scheme is inspired by a programme that started in the University of Southampton’s Faculty of Medicine. This year, ten pairs of mentors and mentees have taken part.
What is reverse mentoring?
Usually, a mentor will be someone in a senior position, helping a mentee in a junior role. Reverse mentoring turns that upside down, with the person in the junior role being the mentor.
It means the person in the junior role can use their own lived experience to educate their mentee.
Achsah, a final year BSc Podiatry student, is a keen advocate for EDI in health research.
“Reverse mentoring is all about flipping the hierarchy,” she explains. “So, someone who is less experienced or a relatively new researcher can talk to someone in a more senior position, to help them understand the barriers they may face and their own unique experience.”
Achsah’s experience
Achsah first became involved in the NIHR Southampton Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) through the Confident to Talk project. This aimed to find and solve the barriers that resulted in under-reporting of racism on health placements.
She is now building on this experience as an intern in the University’s Long Term Conditions research group, alongside developing a self-management toolkit for people with arthritis in their big toe.
Achsah has been paired on the reverse mentoring scheme with BRC Senior Programme Manager Kay Mitchell.
She first became a mentor for Kay in February, and says she’s found the experience really insightful and enjoyable. She’s also found it relatively straightforward to do.
“For me, reverse mentoring has involved some planning,” she says, “but a lot of it has just been being open and having genuine conversations with someone who maybe I wouldn’t have met naturally.”
Being a mentor has enabled Achsah to help her mentee understand her background and how that shapes her as a researcher. It allowed them to discuss their similarities and differences.
“Reverse mentoring is really important,” she says, “because it fosters a research culture that’s a lot more empathetic and understanding of certain barriers that a new researcher might have.
“Even though everyone might have a different experience and a different background, we’re all working together to create a much more diverse and inclusive workplace.”

Kay’s experience
Kay decided to take part to challenge herself and examine her own way of thinking. While she doesn’t consider herself to have prejudices or a lack of insight, she cannot know that for certain.
“Reverse mentoring is important because it challenges people’s perceptions,” she says. “Sometimes we don’t even understand what our privileges are, or what is causing us to think or behave in a certain way.”
The scheme has allowed Kay to hear about Achsah’s experience and compare it to her own. This has involved reflecting on her own background and how society has changed since her childhood.
“It’s made me examine what’s maybe shaped the way I am,” she says.
Being a mentee might not come naturally to someone who is used to being in a position of authority, so mentees are given training on how to engage with their mentor.
“When you’re putting two individuals together and flipping the power balance, you need to make sure the people normally in a position of power understand how to behave,” Kay explains.
The next challenge for the BRC, she says, will be to use the insights she and other mentees have gained to drive culture change. She recognises this is not always easy.
“It’s a really difficult thing to do,” she says, “but we need to try to understand how to take that culture change on and to do it in a way that works for everybody. It’s our joint challenge.”
Kay says taking part in the scheme has been a really positive experience, and she would recommend it to other staff interested in becoming a mentee.
“I’ve enjoyed it,” she says. “It’s made me think about things that I’ve never thought about before.”
Next steps
The reverse mentoring scheme is coordinated by the NIHR Southampton BRC and also involves mentees from the university’s NIHR Southampton Clinical Research Facility and NIHR Applied Research Collaboration Wessex.
New mentors and mentees will be invited to apply in 2025.
If you would like more information on the scheme, please contact BRC Project Manager Matt Gale (matt.gale@uhs.nhs.uk).
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