Working with your supervisor

Dr Mark EricksonUniversity of Brighton

Doctoral CollegeDecember 2018

Outline

• What is supervision?• Expectations

• The importance of agreed expectations• Students’ expectations• Supervisors’ expectations• Reasonable expectations

• Roles and responsibilities• Communications and recording progress• Summary and group work• Advice from supervisors

What do you want / expect?

• What do you want from your supervisor(s)?

• What do you look for in your supervisor(s)

With a colleague, two or three points on each question – 5 mins max

What is supervision?

• UK PhDs often adopt an ‘apprenticeship’ model• Your supervisors guide you to achieve their level of skill and

competence in a specific topic / discipline / method• Supervision is based on a communicative model of incremental

progress through dialogue, critical reflection and production. • This is often a circular / spiral process:

• Project design emerges from dialogue, and students take ownership of research design through an ongoing process of dialogue and critical reflection.

• This leads to the initial production of work which is then subject to dialogue and critical reflection, and so on.

What is supervision?

• A regular opportunity for constructive dialogue between students and supervisors

• A supportive environment for (less-experienced) students to try out new ideas with (more experienced) academics

• A place and space to work collectively on a project

• Supervision is not:• Chalk and talk• Being told what to do• Superficial

Why think about supervision?

• A good supervision relationship and arrangement facilitates good doctoral research

• Getting supervision right will have a positive effect on completion rates and will lower the withdrawal rate

• Getting supervision right is good for all parties and leads to greater productivity

Expectations

The importance of agreed expectations

• You will have expectations of what your supervisors should provide, how often you should meet, and what their role is

• Your supervisors will, similarly, have expectations of you.• Expectations are often based on prior experience, but PhD

supervision is different in every case: it may be that our prior experiences are not helpful.

• At an early meeting, and at subsequent regular intervals, discuss expectations with your supervisors.

• The Doctoral College will regularly ask you and your supervisors about mutually agreed expectations.

Students’ expectations of supervisors

You are currently experiencing something which consumes a huge amount of your life, but a smaller portion of your supervisors’

Students’ expectations of supervisors

• Provide expert subject knowledge

• Guidance in the management of your research (including university processes)

• Supporting your development as a researcher

• Pastoral support

Supervisors’ expectations of students

• Supervisors expect their students to be independent• Supervisors expect their students to produce written work that is

not just a first draft• Supervisors expect to have regular meetings with their research

students• Supervisors expect their research students to be honest when

reporting on their progress• Supervisors expect their students to follow the advice that they give• Supervisors expect their students to be excited about their work,

able to surprise them and have positive experiences with

Reasonable Expectations

Students should:• Turn up to meetings, prepared for them• Write regularly and share drafts• Tell the truth about work done/not done• Keep in touch• Do the research tasks that have been agreed and scheduledIn return students can expect:• Regular supervision (20/30 times a year, full-time)• Written feedback on draft material(Delamont et al, 1997)

Putting this into practice

• Have an agreed arrangement on form, frequency and recording of supervision meetings – stick to this

• Discuss and decide on length, frequency, personnel at the meetings, amount of work to be brought to meetings

• Ensure meetings are productive – have an agenda, provide materials for the meetings, agree action points at the end of meetings

• Keep a record on PhD Manager of the meetings and their action points.

Formal expectations from Doctoral College

• All students have a minimum of two supervisors• The ‘lead supervisor’ is administratively responsible for the student

• Supervision teams are allocated 90 workload hours between them –to be divided up as the team sees fit

Responsibilities

Responsibilities

Students• Maintain contact with the

supervision team and regularly attend supervision meetings

• Keep a record of meetings• Take responsibility for the research

project• Exercise critical and independent

thought in the design and execution of their project

Supervisors• Supervisors should have adequate time for

dedicated supervision and be reliably and regularly available to their students

• Regularly reflect on their role and whether additional / alternative staff should be on the team

• Provide guidance on management of the project• Advise on scholarly debates and current

knowledge• Introduce major sources of information• Introduce student to the wider research

community• Ensure students understand the level of skill and

knowledge they need to achieve in doctoral studies

Two forms of responsibilities (for both students and supervisors)

Intellectual• Advance skills and knowledge• Write regularly and productively• Develop an original contribution

Processual• Prepare for and pass milestones• Follow the Doctoral College

guidelines and regulations• Plan ahead and ensure meetings

are booked in• Do risk assessments and adhere

to Health and Safety regulations and guidelines.

Communications

Communications and recording progress

• Compulsory: only use your University of Brighton (name@brighton.ac.uk) email for all communications related to your doctoral studies.

• Regular, open and honest communications

• Record all meetings in note form on PhD Manager. Ensure that supervisors see these and agree these notes.

• Upload all documents used in meetings to PhD Manager

Summary

• Supervision should be a productive relationship• It will be challenging at times, but this is part of ensuring that your

project is advancing• Make sure expectations are agreed• Communicate clearly and regularly• Ensure meetings are productive• Record your meetings and agree on outcomes and action points

Group work

• Complete the Role Perception Rating Scale (RPRS)

• What patterns can you see?

• How would you use this with your supervisor?

Finally…

Advice for students from experienced supervisors• It’s a PhD, not a Nobel Prize you are aiming for – be realistic• Keep a research diary, record everything to do with your project in it and make sure you

record the most important thing related to your project: your ideas. Don’t throw these away.

• Write a coherent research plan from scratch once a month – 1 side of A4. Check back to last month’s and think about any changes / progress. Note down what is moving and why.

• Write a lay person’s narrative for your PhD once a year. Think about how you will communicate and narrate your PhD. Try writing a newspaper article / press release about it.

• Start writing immediately and get into the habit of writing (supervisors – set writing-based tasks)

• Always have a notepad and pen: takes notes in meetings, write them up and share them• Have a wall planner / Gantt Chart with your own goals and milestones and track your

progress