The educational workshop for mentors of interdisciplinary doctoral studies was held on Monday, June 9, 2025, starting at 11:30 a.m., in a hybrid format - face-to-face in the Aula of the Rectorate of the Josip Juraj Strossmayer University in Osijek and online via the Zoom application for participants outside Osijek. The workshop was attended by about a hundred teachers who already act as mentors of doctoral theses or plan to take on a mentoring role in the future.
The workshop began with welcoming speeches by Prof. Dr. sc. Sonja Vila, Vice-Rector for Science, Technologies, Projects and International Cooperation of the Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, who welcomed the attendees and emphasized the importance of continuous training of mentors, with the aim of raising the quality of doctoral theses and the overall scientific excellence of the University. The attendees were also addressed by Prof. Dr. sc. Martina Smolić, head of the interdisciplinary doctoral study program in Molecular Biosciences, who expressed satisfaction with the large turnout and emphasized the importance of exchanging experiences and mutual learning in the mentoring process, especially in an interdisciplinary scientific environment.
Two lectures followed:
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“PhD supervision: one size does not fit all”, held by Prof. Dr. Sc. Leo van Grunsven, full professor at the Vrije Universiteit in Brussels (Belgium),
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“AI: your research assistant”, held by Dr. Sara Muršić, advisor for students with disabilities at Liverpool John Moores University (United Kingdom).
The workshop ended with an open discussion during which participants had the opportunity to ask questions, share their experiences, and discuss the challenges and opportunities of mentoring in a contemporary academic context.
