Creative Mentorship at the International School in Thessaloniki: Showcasing the Potential of Non-Academic Mentorship in the Academic Sector
At the end of September, our colleague Dragana Jevtić participated in the International School Interdisciplinarity and Innovation in Music Research, held from 23 to 26 September 2025 at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. The event was organized as part of the Erasmus+ project Music4Change, where Creative Mentorship is one of the partners.
Within the M4C project, Creative Mentorship implemented The Bridge Mentorship Programme, designed for PhD students, postdoctoral researchers, and recent graduates to help them transition more easily into the labor market with the support of experienced mentors. Drawing on the experience gained through this program, we gave a presentation in Thessaloniki titled Mentorship in Action: How to Find Your Mentor and Why it Matters, in which we spoke about the importance of non-academic mentorship for the academic community, and what this approach can offer to students, researchers, and institutions.
We highlighted several key benefits of mentorship, such as:
- professional and personal development
- support and solidarity
- exchange of knowledge and experience
- lifelong learning
- thinking beyond established academic frameworks
- connecting sectors, disciplines, cultures, and generations
The high level of interest, numerous questions during the lecture, as well as messages received afterwards, clearly showed that there is both a need and curiosity within the academic sector for such approaches and mentorship methodologies — the kind that our team has been developing since 2011.
The International School in Thessaloniki was the last in a series of schools organized within the Music4Change project. As with the previous schools in Bergen and Groningen, we enjoyed high-quality lectures and workshops, as well as the opportunity to network and deepen collaboration with colleagues involved in this international project.
