The AoU Mentoring Scheme links up-and-coming Young Urbanists (YUs) directly with seasoned Academicians for high-impact, two-way mentorship.

What YUs Get:

  • Senior-Level Insights: Tap into insider knowledge and strategic guidance from established industry leaders across urban design, planning, and development.
  • Career Acceleration: Get practical advice on sharpening your professional skill set, navigating your career path, and hitting the goals you’ve set for yourself.

What Mentors Get:

  • Fresh Perspectives: Stay plugged into the latest trends, emerging ideas, and research straight from the next generation.
  • Space to Reflect: Test new ideas, rethink your approach, and give back to the urbanist community.

Applications for the 2026/27 cycle are officially OPEN!

Ready to unlock your potential? 

Fill out the application form to get started.

What do our Mentees and Mentors say? 

It has been very valuable… My mentor is always insightful and able to relate to my perspective as a curious interdisciplinarian. The benefit of having a mentor who is a senior member of the AoU (as opposed to a straightforward planner or similar) is that they are able to think beyond professional boundaries and advise accordingly, John, Mentee
I found the Young Urbanists mentorship programme a great opportunity to both learn from young professionals at the start of their careers about new ideas of cities and urban life while having the chance to convey some of my experience in stimulating conversations and new thinking. I feel honoured to have had the opportunity to contribute to their professional development and welcome further opportunities through the Academy of Urbanism. George, Mentor
The mentoring scheme was excellent. I was very grateful for the generosity of my mentor. I was involved in the pilot scheme, so it was a learning process for everyone involved – but I think it works well that way, as different people will want to get different things out of the scheme. I found it particularly helpful to see and discuss my mentor’s work in relation to my own. It was also fantastic to build up a longer term relationship that led to good opportunities such as interviewing my mentor and his colleague for Here & Now.  Even now, we are still in regular contact, which might not be the case for all mentorships, but it’s testament to the possibility and opportunity the scheme offers that we are. I’d advise anyone interested to give it a go, and to not be afraid to ask questions and come up with ideas – after all, your mentor has volunteered their time and expertise, so they’ll definitely be keen to help and make the most out of it, Kieran, Mentee