Navigating a career in climate science takes more than research skills. The ESA Climate Office, in partnership with the European Geosciences Union (EGU), has opened a new round of its mentoring scheme. The programme connects PhD candidates directly with professionals at the Climate Office, who offer pastoral mentoring drawn from their own paths through academia, industry, and policy. Applications for the 2026–2027 cohort are open until 31 July 2026.
The scheme helps PhD candidates clarify their career goals, broaden their professional networks, and build on their personal strengths. As members of the Climate Office are drawn from various backgrounds and have different career trajectories, mentees gain access to a range of professional perspectives.
“My mentors Sophie and Paul inspired me with their perspectives on finishing a PhD and planning what’s next. Through ESA’s Climate Office mentoring scheme, I connected with people within and outside my field, and gained fresh perspectives on my own career.” — Julia Miller, Doctoral Researcher and former mentee of the ESA Climate Office & EGU mentoring scheme
What the scheme offers
The ESA Climate Office supports three mentorships per year, each lasting approximately one year, starting in October[JS1] [SC2] . Mentoring begins with introductory calls so mentees can learn about team members, their career paths, and projects. Each mentee is then paired one-to-one with an ESA Climate Office member based on shared interests, with monthly calls encouraged throughout the year. The process closes with a debriefing so the scheme can improve in future years.
Beyond one-to-one pastoral support, the Climate Office covers travel and accommodation costs for mentees to attend the annual ESA Climate Colocation meeting, an opportunity to engage directly with the Climate Change Initiative (CCI) science teams, experts, and data users. Through the partnership with EGU, mentees will receive a registration fee waiver to attend the EGU General Assembly - Europe's largest and most prominent geosciences event, which draws more than 18,000 scientists annually, over half of whom are early career researchers.
A one-month overlap at the start and end of each cohort allows outgoing mentees to connect with incoming students, building continuity and sharing experiences across years.
"When doing a PhD on uncertainty in satellite data for water and agriculture, it is rare to have the opportunity to sit down with the people who actually build those datasets and discuss how uncertainty is handled in practice. The ESA Climate Office mentoring scheme gave me exactly that. Over the past year, I had two mentors who were open about their own paths into ESA and encouraged me to look beyond my own research, and to see how Earth observation moves from satellite observations into climate services and real water-management decisions. The scheme also supported my participation in the CCI Colocation meeting in the UK, where I learned how CCI teams build and validate long-term climate records, and at the EGU General Assembly in Austria, where I presented my work and met scientists working across ESA and GDA activities, many of whom I am still in touch with. For an early-career researcher, this combination of mentoring, honest career conversations, and access to a high-level Earth observation network is hard to find. If you are a PhD student working in Earth observation, climate, water or a related field, I would strongly encourage you to apply." — Suzan Dehati, former mentee of the ESA Climate Office & EGU mentoring scheme
How to apply
The scheme is open to PhD candidates enrolled at institutions based in an ESA Member State, an ESA Associated Member, or a country with a Cooperation Agreement with ESA.
To apply, send a CV and a motivation letter of no more than two pages to Sarah Connors at sarah.connors@esa.int before 31 July 2026. The letter should explain why you would like to have a mentor, what you hope to get out of the scheme, and what you would like to learn about the ESA Climate Office.
For questions about the EGU Mentoring Partnership Scheme, contact Hazel Gibson at communications@egu.eu.
Full programme details: climate.esa.int/mentoring