“You’ve got to be caring”—Geoff Richards on mentoring in research

Geoff Richards, Director of the AO Research Institute Davos (ARI) and the AO Foundation’s Executive Director Research and Development, has recently received the prestigious Klaas de Groot Award from the European Society for Biomaterials. The award recognizes his ability to guide young researchers and shines a spotlight on how his dedication to mentorship has shaped the culture and success of the ARI under his leadership. 

Mentorship has always come naturally to Richards: “I’m an open person and have always been fine with helping people, but only recently have I looked at that as mentoring,” he reflects. “I probably only realized I was mentoring when I took over as director. It’s fairly new within the AO Foundation and the ARI to discuss mentoring as such.” He names several key ARI figures—Stephan Perren, Berton Rahn, and Slobodan Tepic from the AO and Iolo ap Gwynn from Aberystwyth University—as his own mentors, recognizing the value of guidance and support across generations. 

For Richards, effective mentorship is built on authenticity, openness, and mutual respect. “I’m also happy if the people I mentor argue their points with me, as mentoring is a two-way process,” he explains. He encourages robust debate, understanding that challenge, feedback and reflection of both parties are essential elements of growth—both for mentor and mentee. “Part of being a mentor is the ability to accept being challenged by a mentee.” This two-way street creates a dynamic, supportive, and open environment where knowledge is shared in both directions and confidence is cultivated. 

Within the ARI, Richards’ approach to mentorship has helped foster a culture where everyone’s strengths are recognized and valued. “Everyone is unique, and the ARI would not work well if all the leaders were like me. I’m honest and direct—and that can be hard for some people. However, I have strong values, and I’m happy if someone takes some of them on.” He distinguishes between research supervision and mentorship: “Mentoring has little to do with research. Supervising is research-related, explaining techniques, facts and theories, explaining time management, ARI rules, etc, but when it comes to mentoring, I use my deep inner values and experience of time at the AO. You have to adapt to the human you’re mentoring. In some cases, this may be helping someone who is naturally shy and humble to find their strength and the power within themselves to make them realize how good they are.” 

Richards believes that mentoring goes far beyond the formal boundaries of a job or position. “Unlike coaching, mentoring is, to me, a lifelong thing. I don’t push this lifelong connection, but it often just happens, even after someone leaves the ARI. People will call me and ask me for advice, eg, when their job changes or they have trouble with a colleague. They don’t formally ask me to be their mentor, but I still consider it mentoring and I enjoy it.” His pride in others’ accomplishments is evident: “When you see someone doing well, and you’ve helped them do well, it gives you a warm feeling and is also motivating to continue to help people. Mentoring also goes way beyond the ARI, and many AO colleagues come to me for a chat to help them. My door has always been open to such requests.”