Building early academic career capacity through mentoring

A strong and resilient academic workforce is essential if we are to adequately prepare future generations of nurses. Currently, there is an international shortage of nursing faculty (McDermid, Peters, Jackson, & Daly, 2012), and these shortages are expected to grow (Reid, Hinderer, Jarosinski, Mister, & Seldomridge, 2013). Research suggest that there are a number of challenges for nurses transitioning from the health sector into academic life (Halcomb et al., 2015; Halcomb, Andrew, Peters, Salamonson, & Jackson, 2010; McDermid, Peters, Daly, & Jackson, 2013). One of these challenges is the need to develop research expertise and become an active researcher (Jackson, 2008b; Jackson, Peters, Andrew, Salamonson, & Halcomb, 2011). Associated with this is the need to form productive collaborations and relationships within and without of the academic environment (Cleary & Hunt, 2010; Horsfall, Cleary, &Hunt, 2011).