My mentoring philosophy is structured into five main pillars: Communication, Autonomy, Respect, Engagement, and CARE. I believe that a good mentor-mentee relationship is a key to a healthy working environment and, consequently, to success in doing research. As a mentor, I support a horizontal relationship (i.e., characterized by democracy, equality, and reciprocity) between me as a mentor and my mentees.

Communication
To me, communication is the foundation of a good mentor-mentee relationship. In addition to the communication of research and scheduling meetings, I also believe in communication to express our expectations, goals, and emotions. I believe that a safe space, where open communication is valued, can tie social relationships in the lab and positively impact the mental health and the productivity of both the mentee and the mentor.

Autonomy
I believe that diversity should be valued and celebrated in a lab through autonomy. As a mentor, I support my students to trace their own paths, even if their final goal is far from academia. Each student should have the autonomy to develop their own project in the lab (from designing an experiment to publishing it) and to organize their working hours to achieve a healthy work-life balance. I also encourage my students to share their knowledge with everyone in the lab and to train new lab members, preparing them to become mentors in the future.

Respect
I believe that communication and autonomy cannot exist in a lab without a mutual respect between the mentor and the mentee. As a mentor, I respect my students’ decisions and goals, their time, and their background. All students, regardless of their age, gender, sexual orientation, race, nationality, socioeconomic status, and religious beliefs, are equally valued. Furthermore, my students’ difficulties are taken as a learning opportunity, and not as a weakness. Besides respecting my students, I expect they respect me by working with professionalism and integrity.

Engagement
With good communication, autonomy, and respect, the lab environment is attractive enough to promote students’ motivation and engagement. I expect my students to participate in the lab activities, dedicate their time to the lab, and promote good research. On the other hand, as a mentor, I am engaged in my students’ projects and in helping them to achieve their goals.

Care
Finally, as a mentor, I care about my students. I am supportive of their work-life balance, their mental health, and their academic goals. I will always support my students by writing recommendation letters and reference forms for jobs in and out of academia, and by giving them constructive feedback on their work.