Project Mentor Guide

• A project mentor can also propose a project idea and lead it. But the priority should be on enabling leadership and collaborative work by participants themselves. The project mentor shouldn’t be the center of attention.

• Monitor participation by everyone, to mitigate situations where extroverts dominate discussions or introverts don’t feel comfortable to participate. Suggest ways to rebalance participation so that everyone feels they have something to contribute.

• Provide scientific advisory support. Serve as a resource. Ideally the project will be in your broader scientific domains, but it’s not really necessary.

• Provide technical advisory support. Serve as a resource for Python, R, git/GitHub, sources of relevant data, analytical or data processing methods, etc. Help the team arrive at solutions to specific challenges.

• When you can’t help directly, help them seek help elsewhere in the OHW community. Link to other OHW helpers or participants who may have relevant expertise.

• Maintain regular communication with project team via a Slack channel, in person (as appropriate) and GitHub issues and PR discussions.

• Be a resource for the preparation of project presentations. Make suggestions if the team is stuck because the different strands of a project are not coming together semi cleanly.