Developing a pedagogical space for novice supervisors

This is a guest post by Dr Matthew Sillence, Lecturer in Postgraduate Education and Training, Faculty of Arts and Humanities at the University of East Anglia. Matthew teaches on the Masters in Higher Education Practice. The University of East Anglia has run a Masters in Higher Education Practice (MA HEP) for many years. This provides a route …

Why universities ought to prioritise development programs for experienced supervisors

This is a guest post by Gitte Wichmann-Hansen, Associate Professor and Educational Developer at Aarhus University in Denmark. She recently published an article on the challenges and value of development programs for experienced doctoral supervisors. The article was co-published with her Danish colleague Mirjam Godskesen (Independent Consultant) and international collaborator Margaret Kiley (Australian National University). You can find the whole …

stop reacting, and start supervising with intention

This is a guest post from Anna O’Connell, higher education consultant and Master Facilitator for the National Research Mentoring Network and Center for Improvement of Mentored Experiences in Research. Connect with Anna on Twitter at @annaboconnell or through her website. Image from https://broadlygenderphotos.vice.com/#Work Supervising PhD students can be deeply rewarding, but it comes with many challenges even for the most experienced …

developing staff for the six phases of the postgraduate supervision journey

This is a guest post by Dr Duncan Cross, and Dr Julie Prescott, Academic Developers from the University of Bolton. Julie and I (Duncan) started working together in 2015 on teaching and learning projects, including a HEFCE catalyst fund, which led to us working together on doctoral supervision teams.  Julie is a Psychology researcher by …

launching the UKCGE Supervisor Recognition Programme

This is a guest post from Ian Covey, of the UKCGE, a registered charity and not-for-profit membership organisation that’s run by the sector, for the sector.  This week we launched the Research Supervision Recognition Programme — a professional development toolkit designed to support supervisors as you navigate your complex and challenging role. It offers a framework within which the …

Community Acuity (19): a return to (lifelong?) learning

‘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 from Dr David Mathew, a doctoral supervisor for the Open University.  Now that I approach the end of my first year of undertaking the responsibility of doctoral …

developing supervision: research on practice, to action in practice

This is a guest post by Dr Sian Vaughan, Researcher into Supervisory Practice, Research Degrees Co-ordinator for Art and Design and Site Director for the AHRC-funded Midlands4Cities Doctoral Training Partnership (M4C). For several years I have been thinking about how we develop as research degree supervisors. It is a set of skills we learn mainly through doing, through …