Plan Your Path
Informed perspective on the academic road ahead.
Plan Your Path is the public home of Kerbona's Academic Pathway Consultation and Mentor Support: structured conversations for the longer view, when more than one direction in study or research looks reasonable and a student needs a clearer way to compare them. It is one of three Kerbona consultations — Academic Consultation is for the work in front of you now, Professional Consultation for the step from higher education into work. This page explains who this service is for, what Kerbona can and cannot do, and how a request will work once online requests open. Online requests are not yet open.
Appropriate use
When a consultation is the right tool.
A consultation is most useful when a student has real options and needs a clearer way to compare them, not when a decision has already been made.
- Choosing between subjects, streams, or research directions when several look reasonable.
- Understanding what a research-focused path asks of a student from day to day.
- Learning to present interests, work, and questions clearly to teachers, programs, or supervisors.
- Judging whether a Kerbona program or competition suits a student's current stage.
- Working out what a Student and Guardian should look into next, and in what order.
Scope
What Kerbona can and cannot do.
Within Kerbona's scope
- Explain how research pathways, programs, and competitions tend to work.
- Help a student ask sharper questions about their own interests and readiness.
- Describe the kinds of evidence, skills, and habits a direction usually calls for.
- Bring in staff-approved Mentors who speak from their own professional experience.
Outside Kerbona's scope
- Making or influencing a decision at any school, program, or funder.
- Promising an outcome. No conversation with Kerbona secures a place, a result, or an award anywhere.
- Giving personal advice on this public page. Every conversation happens through channels Kerbona manages.
- Sharing a Mentor's private contact details, or connecting a Mentor and a minor outside Kerbona's managed channels.
Advice from Kerbona is general and informational. It reflects the experience of the people offering it, not a decision anyone else will make, and it does not replace the guidance of a school or a family. Students and Guardians remain responsible for their own choices.
The service journey
How a request will work.
The steps below describe how a request will move to a conversation once online requests open. They are listed so that families know what to expect.
Open a request online
Once online requests open, a Student, or a Guardian acting for a linked Student, will start one from their own account. This public page collects nothing.
Describe the question
The request records the student's stage, interests, and what they hope to work out, in their own words.
Kerbona reviews the request
Staff read it and decide whether Kerbona can help, and who is best placed to. Not every request leads to a consultation.
The conversation
Consultation takes place through channels Kerbona manages. A Mentor's private contact details are never part of it.
What a student leaves with
Perspective, suggested next steps, and better questions to take elsewhere. Not a decision made on the student's behalf.
Online requests are not yet open. For inquiries, email info@kerbona.org. An email is an inquiry only: it is not a request or a payment.
Common questions
Which conversation is this?
How is this different from Academic Consultation?
Academic Consultation is a free, single short window for one specific question in your current study. Plan Your Path is for the longer view: which direction, and why.
How is this different from Professional Consultation?
Professional Consultation is for students in higher education preparing to move into work. Plan Your Path stays inside study and research, from Grade 8 onward.
Can I raise both my current work and my longer-term direction?
Yes. Once online requests open, describe both in your request; Kerbona staff will say which conversation fits, and may suggest Academic Consultation for the immediate question.
Contact
Start a conversation.
For program, partnership, mentorship, community, and general inquiries, please contact Kerbona Research Foundation by email.
Email KerbonaWe welcome inquiries from educators, mentors, community organizations, families, and prospective collaborators.