The NIA Mentors bring a broad range of skills and experiences, and as such we try to match Fellows to mentors depending on their support needs. This means Fellows might not be assigned a single mentor for the duration of the NIA but are more likely to be able to draw on a range of expertise from different mentors throughout the year.
It is expected that Mentor interactions with Fellows will include:
- Introductions and representation to national leads e.g., National Clinical Directors, leads at NHS England, PHE etc.
- Introductions to national charities with the influence to be able to forge national-level partnerships
- Introductions to and championing of Fellows and their innovations to national level organisations and networks, e.g. the Association of UK University Hospitals, Royal Colleges etc.
- Sharing personal insights and empathy around the journey of an ‘innovator in to practice’
- Depending on the background of the mentor, sharing perspectives of either the NHS or commercial acumen to increase the Fellow’s understanding of how to engage key stakeholders
- Skills based advice/ training/ information. For example:
- Business case and pitching training for Fellows and potentially their wider company
- Commercial advice as to optimum business models for a Fellow’s innovation and support for implementing alternative models
The pool of mentors is expanded regularly following the experiences and identified needs of the Fellows.
Select the Mentor to find out more about them.
