Being open to critique, transparent in your motives, and when needed, step out of the way

This is a guest post by Manuela Schmidt, currently working at Jönköping University and Linneaus University and Erika Hansson, of Kristianstad University. Manuela and Erika met during their respective doctoral programs. Manuela in health science and Erika in psychology. After reaching ‘the other side’, both with PhD’s after their names, they decided to ignore the …

Empowering researchers through ‘experienced uncertainty’

Ruth Albertyn and Kathy Bennett are both affiliated to Stellenbosch University in South Africa where they are involved in supervision and research development. Based on their research expertise in doctoral education and postgraduate supervision (Ruth) and experienced uncertainty and identity development (Kathy), they conducted a collaborative auto-ethnographic study to gain insight into the sources and …

Launching the Are You OK? supervisor toolkit

By Dr Kay Guccione I've been part of a fantastic research collaboration between the University of Glasgow, The University of Sheffield and Heriot Watt University. Our research has now completed and from our findings we have designed a toolkit for doctoral supervisors, that aims to enable good conversations around mental wellbeing and research degrees. Find …

How to be a supervision JEDI

This is part two of a double bill on supervision and diversity, by Dr Jessica Gagnon (@Jess_Gagnon) an educational sociologist, focused on inequalities in higher education. She has worked in higher education in the US and UK for more than 20 years. Jessica is a first-generation student from an American working-class, single mother family. She …

Developing PhD researchers’ supervisory skills as an antidote to pandemic frustrations

This is a guest post by Dr Abeer Hassan, Reader in Accounting at the University of the West of Scotland. Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash In this blog, I explain how in addition to supporting my PhD researchers mentally and emotionally during lockdown, I continued to support them to focus during this difficult time by enhancing their academic …

Three fundamental elements to PhD supervision: learning from self-determination theory

This is a guest post by Dr Suzanne Janssen, Assistant Professor at the University of Twente. She has studied mentoring practices in several organizational contexts.  The relationship between student and supervisor can make or break a PhD journey. And while many students are having an enjoyable and effective relationship with their supervisor, we all know the …

Community Acuity (31): The cost of academic mobility

‘Community Acuity’ blog posts are from supervisors, to supervisors. They share the thoughts, experiences and reflection of the highs and the challenges of supervising doctoral students. This is a guest post by Dr Cally Guerin, at The Australian National University. Cally is a co-editor of the excellent DoctoralWriting blog, and see also her recent article on the career transitions of PhD graduates in …

Community Acuity (27): keeping communications open during lockdown

‘Community Acuity’ blog posts are from supervisors, to supervisors. They share the thoughts, experiences and reflection of the highs and the challenges of supervising doctoral students. This is a guest post by Dr Abeer Hassan, Reader in Accounting at the University of the West of Scotland. Image by StockSnap from Pixabay  Once the decision to enter lockdown because of Covid-19 was announced, …

Graduate students’ motivations for (not) participating in development workshops

This is a guest post by Dr Eli Sætnan (@DrSaetnan), Senior Academic Developer at the University of Liverpool. Read her blog here, and read her latest paper, which this blog is based on, here. Photo by Rubén Rodriguez on Unsplash I am sitting in an empty classroom, ready for my next workshop to begin. Slides are loaded, …

Impostor Syndrome: When your accomplishments make you feel like a fraud!

This is a guest post by Assistant Prof. Devasmita Chakraverty, at the Ravi J. Matthai Centre for Educational Innovation, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad. She focuses on understanding why highly accomplished people feel like impostors. If you have an impostor story, she would love to hear from you. You can connect with her on Twitter @DevasmitaTweets. See …