Research Mentoring Programme

SUMAC is a coaching and mentoring platform developed by learning and development professionals at the University of St Andrews. It is designed to support organisations in efficiently managing coaching and mentoring schemes.

SUMAC offers a number of key benefits, including:
Time Saving and flexibility
We are able to quickly create, configure and launch mentoring schemes that are fully customisable to meet the specific needs of staff within Ulster University.
Enhanced matching
A user defined matching algorithm improves mentor-mentee pairings leading to better outcomes.
Ease of access
The platform consolidates all mentoring and coaching schemes into one accessible location, allowing management from any device.
Automation and analytics
Routine tasks are automated and built-in analytics help track progress and effectiveness of the system.

As soon as you apply to become Mentor/Mentee, your details are added to the Sumac database. You remain in the scheme indefinitely, until such a time you wish to leave the scheme. Matches are made according to the unique combination of categories for mentorship support, matches also need to be made outside of the Mentee's School, so if you were not matched yet, it is entirely down to those reasons.

Firstly, try to make contact with them again. A single email can easily be missed at busy times. Sometimes, despite the best of intentions, a change of circumstances or unexpected obligations mean that a Mentor/Mentee is no longer able to commit sufficient time to mentoring. So if, in spite of your best efforts, you are unable to elicit a response, please contact the scheme co-ordinator (Connie Gerrow, Research Engagement Officer c.gerrow@ulster.ac.uk) as soon as possible, so that an alternative Mentee/Mentor can be put in place.

Evidence indicates that in order for the mentoring experience to be most effective, it is important to set a time limit to achieve the mentees goals. There is also the option to extend your mentoring partnership should both parties feel they need more time to develop the partnership and provide continuity of support.

Very occasionally the match just doesn't feel right, even after the initial rapport meeting and agreement of both parties to the partnership, and that is completely ok. if things aren't working out, for any reason, please contact the scheme co-ordinator (Connie Gerrow, Research Engagement Office, c.gerrow@ulster.ac.uk) and  a new mentee/mentor can be assigned.

If you are temporarily unavailable for mentoring , please let the scheme co-ordinator (Connie Gerrow, Research Engagement Officer, c.gerrow@ulster.ac.uk) know the dates you are unavailable and when you would like to be added to the system again. If you are unsure of the dates and want to be removed completely, that is an option too.