Hugh Kearns, John Finn - Supervising PHD Students. 1-ThinkWell

SUPERVISING
PHD STUDENTS
A practical guide and toolkit
Hugh Kearns & John Finn
Purchased by arindam.basu@canterbury.ac.nz for their use only

A ThinkWell publication
www.ithinkwell.com.au
First published in Australia in 2017

©ThinkWell
ISBN: 978-0-9922750-4-4
Supervising PhD Students

Written by Hugh Kearns and John Finn

Illustrations by Kate Ledo and Jorge Cham
Layout by Blend Creative
Printed by Flinders Press, Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia
Published by ThinkWell, Adelaide, South Australia
Key Words
PhD supervision
Research supervision
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
This ebook took time and effort to produce. Please do not distribute without
permission.

SUPERVISING
PHD STUDENTS
Hugh Kearns & John Finn

FOREWORD
We wanted to write a book to guide the practical activities of effective PhD
supervision, and to focus on actions that supervisors could undertake. And so, we’ve
focused on some of the main processes that relate to PhD supervision: the personal
motivations of supervisors, recruitment, clarifying expectations, how to run productive
meetings, providing effective feedback, academic writing, the interpersonal challenges
that arise during the PhD, the PhD examination, and professional development. We
address these key supervisory practices by offering a range of practical advice and
activities that can inform and guide supervisors. Throughout the book, we highlight
examples of good and bad practice that are inspired by real-life examples.
We offer a range of templates and supports that supervisors can provide to their PhD
students. This reveals one of our strongest motivations for writing this text – to help
supervisors to improve the experience of doctoral research not just for themselves,
but also for their PhD students.
For convenience, we use the term ‘PhD student’ throughout the book, although we
acknowledge that the term ‘student’ inadequately recognises the level of research
competence, maturity and independence associated with the conduct of doctoral
research. We also assume that there is more than one supervisor involved, and hence
regularly refer to ‘supervisors’ throughout the book. For simplicity, we usually refer
to ‘the university’ as being the institution that awards the degree and where the PhD
student is located. Of course, there are other research
institutions that are not universities and which award
degrees and/or host PhD students.
We recognise that supervisors are faced with many

competing demands for their time. In tackling this
topic, we try to address the challenging question,
‘How can busy supervisors make the most of the time
that they devote to any one PhD student?’ By actively
managing the progress of the PhD project and the
development of the PhD student, this time can be
more productive for the supervisor and the PhD
student. Throughout the book, we make the point
that a little time spent on effective actions can make
a big difference.
Hugh Kearns, ThinkWell, Adelaide, Australia

John Finn, Wexford, Ireland
December 2017
2 THINKWELL

CONTENTS
1. What is good PhD supervision? 4
2. Recruitment and selection 14
3. Getting started: the first few weeks 36
4. Helping your student plan their PhD 58
5. Meetings 84
6. Writing 100
7. Feedback 116
8. Common challenges encountered by PhD supervisors 146
9. Thesis examination and the viva 166
10. Professional development of PhD students 184
11. Support your own professional development 200
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
For commenting on an early draft, we sincerely thank Susan Arthure, Lorraine Bateman, Fiona
Brennan, Lucy Byrnes, Julie Dowsett, Owen Fenton, Jane Kavanagh, Alan Kelly and Daire
Ó hUallacháin. We thank Claire Gubbins for useful advice on professional development and
for suggesting the tool for self-assessment of a professional network. This tool is adapted
from training materials that were designed and developed by Dr Claire Gubbins, HR &
Organisational Psychology Group, Dublin City University Business School, Dublin, Ireland.
SUPERVISING PHD STUDENTS 3

1. WHAT IS GOOD PHD
SUPERVISION?
Introduction
The supervision of postgraduate students career. For the university, effective

is an important milestone in a researcher’s supervision makes a major contribution to its
career, and one that can be a most fulfilling research output and reputation.
and rewarding experience. It’s an opportunity
to work with clever and motivated students, Despite the importance of supervision,
explore new research areas and (hopefully) supervisors far too often take on this
produce significant research outputs. responsibility with little or no formal training,
few supports, and scarcely any available
Supervision is also important for the PhD guidance when things go wrong. In this
student and the university. For the PhD chapter we describe what good supervision
student, the quality of supervision they receive looks like, and in the following chapters we
has a significant influence on their progress outline strategies and activities you can use to
in the PhD and often on their subsequent provide good research supervision.
4 THINKWELL

What does good supervision look like?
Over many years we have worked with This second purpose is often overlooked
thousands of supervisors and research or assumed to happen by itself. We take
students. We’ve learned about supervision the view that as a supervisor you are equally
ourselves by trial and error and by drawing on responsible, with the research student, for
our colleagues’ experience. As a result we have helping them develop into an independent
views on what works and what doesn’t, and researcher, and to prepare for their future
what good supervision looks like. career. We see this as an active process that
the supervisor needs to manage. And it
We see PhD supervision as having two main needn’t take much extra time. A little time
purposes: spent on effective actions can make a big
difference.
1. Developing the research
Creating new knowledge and making an
original contribution in the field. This
purpose is usually well understood and
often gets most of the attention during a
PhD.
2. Developing the researcher

An active process of teaching, training
and developing the student to become an
independent researcher.
RESEARCH SUPERVISION

Understand your motivations for
supervising
People come to PhD supervision in a variety of ways. Some choose to become supervisors and
some have supervision thrust upon them. Your reasons for becoming a supervisor will have a
big influence on your attitude to supervision and how you perform the role.
The table below outlines some of the motivations for taking on PhD supervision. As you read
through each one, reflect on how important that factor is for you .
Motivations for being a PhD supervisor
Exploring a core research interest of the supervisor

Having a PhD student gives you the opportunity to explore areas of research that you might
not otherwise have time or resources for. The student will have time to read the literature
thoroughly, gather data, and produce results and hopefully publications in your area of
interest and research.
Positives Negatives
You get an opportunity to experience You may impose too much of your
research supervision, which can be research approach and method, and this
rewarding and fulfilling. can stifle expression of independence by
the PhD student.
Institutional requirement to supervise a minimum

number of PhD students
Most universities are eager to increase their research profile and number of PhD students.
This means more demand for supervisors and so you may come under pressure to take on
PhD students.
Positives Negatives
You get an opportunity to experience Supervision as an obligation can result
research supervision, which can be in taking on topics that are outside of
rewarding and fulfilling. the supervisor’s competence and/or
interest. This can lead to a low degree of
engagement by a supervisor.
6 THINKWELL

Opportunity to recruit a highly skilled person to
implement a research plan from a funded project
You may have won a research grant that provides funding for a PhD student. This gives you
the chance to recruit an intelligent and motivated researcher.
Positives Negatives
You get a funded PhD student with a There is the possibility of conflicting
dedicated salary and research budget objectives by co-supervisors and with
(equipment, consumables, travel and a wider research team. The prepared
subsistence). It also provides opportunity project plan can stifle the expression of
for collaborations and teamwork within independence by the PhD student.
a wider project and, as part of a project,
it should provide structure and support Sometimes, the supervisor can be more
from a well-conceived plan. interested in producing research papers
and the final report for the funding
agency than the thesis.
Training and development of the next cohort of

professional researchers
You see supervision as an opportunity to develop future researchers and view the whole
process as a learning opportunity.
Positives Negatives
You actively support the student’s At the extreme, too much time can be
professional development through invested in training and development, and
coaching, mentoring, financial support not enough in progressing the research.
and encouragement to attend non-
research training events. This can put demands on your time and
effort. While it pays off in the long run, it
can be hard to find the time when you are
busy.

A formal requirement for promotion
PhD supervision is often a requirement for progression in your own career. Minimally it will
increase your research outputs (in relevant disciplines) but research supervision is often an
explicit requirement. Similarly, the winning of research awards that fund PhD fellowships
can also be an important criterion for promotion.
Positives Negatives
You get to experience research If you are supervising solely to meet
supervision, which can be rewarding and a promotion requirement, this can
fulfilling. undermine your degree of engagement,
and it can encourage the taking on of too
many PhD students.
A mechanism to produce journal articles

(in relevant disciplines)
Researchers are under intense pressure to publish journal articles. In many disciplines
where co-authorship between supervisors and PhD students is the norm, the papers from
PhD projects can comprise the vast majority of a researcher’s publication output.
Positives Negatives
This can be mutually beneficial for The supervisor may be more interested in
supervisors and PhD students. Writing a producing research papers than the thesis.
research article is an important part of the
student’s professional development. Some supervisors can be unwilling to
approve non-research activities that
detract from research outputs e.g.
professional development.
Others
Positives Negatives
8 THINKWELL

In practice, it’s likely that you will identify lend themselves to an effective supervisory
with several of these motivations. Indeed, relationship e.g. seeing students primarily
many of them are mutually beneficial for as a means to produce papers. If the focus is
supervisors and their PhD students e.g. exclusively on developing the research then
publishing journal articles benefits both the development of the researcher is ignored.
the student and supervisor(s). However, In our view, good supervision focuses on both
some of these motivations don’t necessarily developing the research and the researcher.
Good researcher = good supervisor?
What does it take to be a good supervisor? Well for a start you need to be a good researcher
yourself. You need to know the subject area of your research, the research methodologies and
be publishing in the area.
But being a good researcher is not enough. Many excellent researchers make very poor
supervisors. They focus on the research and forget about developing the researcher.
So a good supervisor is a good researcher who also pays attention to the needs of the student.
Supervising is a skill which you learn with practice and training. That’s what we cover in the
rest of this book. Read on!

Characteristics of good supervision
Based on our experience we’ve put together a list of characteristic practices associated with effective
supervision. As you go through it, consider how important you think each factor is, and rate
yourself on each characteristic. This list is not exhaustive. Feel free to add your own suggestions.
Characteristics of an effective PhD supervisor

1 = Needs more work
Item
5 = Doing well
1. Understands the qualities associated with doctoral level research in their
1 2 3 4 5
discipline, and communicates these to the PhD student
2. Gives time and thought to the selection and acceptance of students for PhD
1 2 3 4 5
research
3. Establishes a good working relationship with the student 1 2 3 4 5
4. Clarifies expectations throughout the PhD 1 2 3 4 5
5. Inspires and motivates the PhD student 1 2 3 4 5
6. Supports the conceptual development of the research 1 2 3 4 5
7. Guides the timing and sequencing of project activities 1 2 3 4 5
8. Monitors research activities to ensure timely completion 1 2 3 4 5
9. Supports the student through institutional processes for monitoring
1 2 3 4 5
progress and reporting
10. Provides constructive and timely feedback 1 2 3 4 5
11. Identifies and deals with potential conflicts and difficult situations
1 2 3 4 5
(academic and personal)
12. Ensures that the research is of publishable quality 1 2 3 4 5
13. Anticipates problems and assists the PhD student’s adaptation of their
1 2 3 4 5
research to cope with problems and challenges
14. Advises, and enforces where necessary, the academic and research standards
1 2 3 4 5
of the PhD research
15. Encourages and advises the PhD student on appropriate professional
1 2 3 4 5
development
16. Encourages the PhD student to have an appropriate work-life balance 1 2 3 4 5
17. Assists the PhD student with their preparation of the thesis and for the viva 1 2 3 4 5
18. Actively guides the PhD student’s preparation for their post-PhD career 1 2 3 4 5
19. Is aware of and responds to the changing relationship with the PhD student
1 2 3 4 5
over time, and especially the balance between structure and independence
20. Gives sufficient time to these responsibilities 1 2 3 4 5
21. Invests time in their own professional development as a PhD supervisor 1 2 3 4 5
22. Others (add your suggestions here):
1 2 3 4 5
10 THINKWELL

Reflect on your own supervisory
experiences
A useful way to reflect on supervision is to draw on your own experience. You have been
supervised yourself. What were the strengths and weaknesses of your PhD supervisor? How
did this influence the way you supervise? And what do you consider to be your strengths and
weaknesses as a supervisor?
Spend a few moments reflecting on the following questions. Jot down keywords of your
responses in the spaces provided. For supervisors wishing to improve their development as a
supervisor, these are important questions that help you reflect on your current PhD supervision
practice. (We develop this further in Chapter 11.)
Supervisory experience:
Self-reflection
What do you consider were the strengths and weaknesses of your
PhD supervisor?
Strengths: Weaknesses:
How did you learn the practices that you currently use to supervise?
What do you consider are your current strengths and weaknesses as

a PhD supervisor?
Strengths: Weaknesses:

Becoming a good supervisor
Speaking with experienced supervisors, it better supervisors. That said, there is plenty
is clear that no single course or book can that new or less experienced supervisors
adequately develop supervisory skills. They can learn to avoid common pitfalls, develop
constantly stress how their own supervisors good practice, and hasten their development
and previous PhD students have played as supervisors. These are the main aims of
an important part in their development as this book.
12 THINKWELL

AT A GLANCE
CHAPTER 1: WHAT IS GOOD PHD
SUPERVISION?
1 Postgraduate supervision is important for the supervisor, the

student and the university.
2 PhD supervision has two main purposes: developing the

research and developing the researcher.
3 Your motivation for becoming a supervisor greatly influences

how you approach the role.
4 Being a good researcher does not automatically mean you will

be a good supervisor.
5 Good supervision involves a wide range of activities: selecting

appropriate students; developing an appropriate research
project; spending time with the student; providing timely and
constructive feedback; dealing with challenges; and taking an
active role in the development of the student.
6 Reflective practice can be a powerful tool to help improve your

supervision skills. What is working? What isn’t? What do you
want to change? What practical actions should you take to
achieve this?

2. RECRUITMENT AND
SELECTION
Introduction
Supervisors generally enjoy supervising PhD also that problems in a student-supervisor

students. It is a collaborative activity with a relationship can also be due to the supervisor.
stimulating exchange of ideas. There is the
reward of training and coaching a researcher, It is important here to take a moment to
and seeing them successfully develop into discuss some broad differences in recruitment
an independent researcher. And there are that may occur between Science, Technology,
mutually rewarding outcomes in the form Engineering and Maths (STEM) subjects
of novel results, new understandings and and the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
research publications. However, for various (AHSS). Most of the rest of this chapter
reasons, supervisory relationships can break assumes that the supervisor is recruiting a
down and the remaining months and years PhD student, with the implication that they
of a PhD can seem like a jail sentence. There can select the best person from a pool of
is little joy in being a supervisor in such several applicants. This type of PhD project is
situations. often associated with a specific research topic
and a funded PhD scholarship (or salary). In
Recruitment is one of the most important our experience, this is the dominant model
activities that a supervisor undertakes in STEM subjects. By contrast, in the AHSS
during the life cycle of the PhD – and has as subjects, proposals can come from self-funded
great an impact on the supervisor as on the applicants. We will return to the STEM and
PhD student. Supervisors can often trace AHSS models again.
subsequent problems in a PhD project back
to inadequacies in the selection process. Note
“In the contexts in which I have worked, arguably the most

common approach is for students to apply to an institution.
An alarming application of this approach is when an
institution enrols students into doctoral programs (even
having them start coursework components) and then tries
to find supervisors for them among faculty.” – Eacott, 2013
14 THINKWELL

Recruit in haste, repent at leisure
What kind of applicants do you want to select, and what happens when you don’t make the
correct choices?
Every supervisor hopes to get a great fit

between the selected applicant and the PhD
project. In an ideal scenario, your new student
arrives with a master’s degree and has already
completed a small but impressive research
project on a very similar topic to the PhD.
They have a range of training in quantitative
methods, with a specialised taught module in
the quantitative analysis that is most needed
for the doctoral project. They are well able
to plan and complete their work, and present
written reports on time that only need minor
feedback. They find the research challenging
but rewarding and are obviously quite happy.
They rarely disturb you, except to inform you
of the significant progress made since they
last met you, or to discuss new insights into
theory and interpretation of the results. Even
when they have problems, they bring a choice
of effective solutions.
A jail sentence?
Supervisory relationships can break down and the remaining months and years of a PhD can
seem like a jail sentence; there is little joy in being a supervisor in such situations. Careful
recruitment can reduce the likelihood of this happening.

The reality can be far less rosy. In a different
scenario, the new recruit is delayed for three
months due to a problem with their visa,
or cannot start work on time because of an
administrative delay in their registration when
processing the finances of their fellowship.
The confident and assured person that you
interviewed has disappeared; they are nervous
about the work, and asking for lots of help
with the planning, the methodology and the
analysis of the results. Over time, you have
suspicions about the quality of the research
practices being employed. They attended
and passed a quantitative methods module
three years before starting the PhD, but have
forgotten everything since then, and you are
too busy to give them time on this. You are
about to leave on a three-month sabbatical,
and are worried about their lack of progress
and effort, plus their lack of engagement in
the rare discussions about the theoretical
issue and research questions. And you have
just learned that they have split up with their
long-term partner, and haven’t been seen in
the office for two weeks.
These two examples are a caricature of both Many problems are just part of life and
ends of the spectrum of student-supervisor unavoidable. PhD students will need visas,
relationships – both extremes can occur, but administrative delays will happen, family
are quite rare. In general, no one PhD student members will get sick, and some relationships
will be as well-prepared and impressive as in will fail. However, some problems (poor
the first example, and no one PhD student choice of applicants, lack of key skills, low
will have all of the problems (some of which levels of commitment) are more avoidable
are within the supervisor’s control) in the through improved recruitment practices. By
second example. So what can you do to ensure investing a little time in recruitment, you
that you have more situations like the former? increase your (and the student’s) chances of
success.
16 THINKWELL

Recruitment requires effort
So how do you attract students to your

PhD projects? First of all, you need to
know that not only are you competing
against other PhD supervisors, but also
against a marketplace that is offering jobs
and salaries that tend to out-compete the
pay and conditions associated with PhD
positions. We see a marked increase in the
number of applications for PhD positions
during economic downturns, and a marked
decrease when the economy recovers.
Importantly, many of the best and most
motivated individuals are likely to bypass
PhDs and research careers altogether be especially appealing topics (e.g. research
when they have a choice of other career on chocolate or dolphins) or superstar
options. PhD supervisors often have trouble researchers who have little difficulty in
generating interest in their projects, and it attracting students, the majority of PhD
is quite common to receive only a handful supervisors need to invest some effort.
of applicants in response to a recruitment
process. To get as many relevant and high-quality
applications as possible, the first goal is to
So, you need to work to attract good students ‘sell’ the project.
to your PhD projects. Although there may
The road less travelled still needs a signpost

Mary graduated with a first class degree. She received an excellent assessment of her final
year research project, which she completed in six months. She really enjoyed the project, and
showed a flair for research. After graduation, she was unsure of her options, and had never
visited the Careers Office in her university. She spotted a job advert in an industry related
to her degree, and was quickly recruited. Mary was not aware of the opportunities to pursue
research by master’s or PhD.
Do potential applicants know about your PhD position?
How do you inform them?

Clarity about the project will need to be clear about the project. Because
help you find the right skillset of the nature of research, this can be hard to
know for sure. Nevertheless, you need to give
Effective recruitment and selection requires some consideration to the project, typically
some thought about the broad skillset that an about the main theories, research objectives,
applicant must have if they are to successfully tasks, and research methodology. What will
complete the PhD. This in turn requires clarity be the likely modes of data collection and
about the project aims and methodologies analysis? Will the project require the use of
if there is to be a good match between the specialised equipment? Or privileged access
applicant and the project. It is astounding how to databases, sites or groups of people? Will
little thought can go into this sometimes! And the work be dominated by laboratory work
yet even a little effort can go a long way. or field work? Which skills can be taught
Before you can be clear on the type of person by supervisors, and which skills must the
who is suited to a PhD project, you first applicant bring with them?
Recruitment in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and

Maths) and AHSS (Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences)
In STEM disciplines, it is common for the Supervisors who have to submit a proposal
project to be broadly defined in terms of to a research competition for evaluation
the research questions, methodology and (whether STEM or AHSS) will usually
equipment before a PhD student starts. be sufficiently clear about the project to
STEM supervisors have often already address these issues, but still need to make
invested effort in describing the scope and an explicit link between the project activities
content of the PhD fellowship. This helps in and the required skills.
identifying the skills that the student needs,
and is a distinct advantage in selecting the In contrast, proposals that come from
right candidate. self-funded applicants are likely to have
less clarity. Without further input and
In AHSS disciplines, the project is often much attention from a more experienced
more open-ended at the start, especially when researcher, the project may be so unclear
undergraduate or master’s students approach that it is impossible to confidently assess the
a member of academic staff with an idea competencies needed by the PhD student.
for a PhD project. Here, the broad research There needs to be a check that the project
questions and most appropriate methodology requirements match the competencies of
may not be clear until the project has begun, the applicant, before a supervisor agrees
and may continue to be unclear for some time to supervise. If there is a poor match, then
after starting. This means it can be harder for a either the project needs to change, the
supervisor to be specific about the skills that are applicant needs to be provided with training,
required, although it is still useful to attempt to or the prospective supervisor has to say ‘no’.
do this. Nevertheless, the same principles apply
in terms of assessing applicants.
18 THINKWELL

Recruitment
The amount of effort invested in recruitment Arranged marriage

is exactly that – an investment. Attracting
the best students to apply for your PhD In some cases, you might have little say in
project will make everything easier for the the selection of a student. They may apply
next three to four years, and be academically to your department and be allocated to you.
more rewarding and productive for both of This can work but you need to put effort into
you. Recruitment practices by supervisors can making sure there is some fit between your
be incredibly diverse, and also very variable in research interests and the project, and that
the amount of effort that is invested. expectations are clear. There should still be a
good fit between the student and the project;
Passive recruitment if your gut instinct doesn’t feel right, ask more
questions.
Here are some ‘low-energy’ or ‘sit-and-wait’
modes of recruitment – you will be extremely On the rebound
lucky if these work well for you, and your
luck will soon run out if you rely on these Sometimes you have to take on a student
alone. If you are an experienced supervisor, where a previous supervisory relationship
or have a high profile in your field, perhaps has ended. Perhaps the original supervisor is
good students will seek you out. But if you are promoted or leaves for a new position, or the
new to supervision this is unlikely to be a very supervisory relationship breaks down. This
effective strategy. is not ideal but happens. In these cases, you
need to spend time building the student-
The supervisor of last resort supervisor relationship. This situation
becomes even more complicated if their
This is when the student has knocked on research area and methodological approaches
every door in your department and finally are not close to your own interests and
gets to your door. You need to ask yourself: abilities.
Why has everyone else passed up on this
opportunity? Be wary of being the supervisor
of last resort.

Active recruitment
Active forms of recruitment typically involve The ‘grow your own’ approach is slower
some investment of energy and time (not too than recruiting through an advertisement,
much), and a longer-term perspective, but but it has a higher chance of success because
they are far more likely to be successful. you really know the student’s strengths
and weaknesses and whether you can work
Grow your own together.
One of the ways to make sure you know Personal networks
the student and that you can work together
is to ‘grow your own’. What this means is Academics usually have strong professional
you identify possible PhD candidates and networks, which should be willing to
nurture them. If you teach/lecture, then you advertise your PhD opportunities. This
probably have a pool of potential candidates. can be especially effective if it is targeted to
These will be the bright students who come undergraduate or postgraduate classes. If
up to you after a class asking questions and feasible, you could offer to give a lecture (few
showing interest. A way to grow your own academics turn down this offer!) to a final
is to show interest back. Talk to them about year undergraduate or postgraduate class that
your research, give them an opportunity specialises in your research topic. This is an
to be involved in some small way. If their opportunity to enthuse students about your
course involves a research project, encourage research, and you can mention that you are
them to do a small project with you. If they recruiting for a PhD project.
show promise, then you can provide other
opportunities. This is a great way to assess When a trusted colleague in your network
each other’s compatibility, as well as the gives a personal recommendation, this is
student’s ability and commitment. usually a great sign of an applicant’s potential.
Nevertheless, you should still apply a
Student placements and selection process (see below) to confirm that
exchanges the applicant meets your expectations.
This is another variant of ‘grow your own’. Online networks
Internships and summer research positions
are an excellent way to identify promising On your institutional webpage that describes
and committed students who may wish to do your research profile and projects, take
a PhD. In many universities, there are large advantage of the opportunity to mention
numbers of interns and short-term employees potential topics that you are interested in
who work on an area for a few months, and supervising. Of course, Twitter and LinkedIn
then go on to successfully apply for the next can also be good tools for developing your
PhD fellowship that is advertised in that group. network, and to let people know when you
are recruiting for a PhD project.
20 THINKWELL

Advertising Make the PhD sound appealing! When you
look at PhD adverts online, some of them
There are many great students out there do nothing to stand out or attract potential
wanting to do a PhD, but there are also a lot applicants. In the following example, there
of PhD opportunities. Some of those great is very little information that would entice
students are not sure whether they want to someone to devote three or four years of their
do a PhD, and need encouragement and/or a life to this project:
PhD that matches their interests. In addition,
those great students need to find out about ‘Applicants should have a good primary
your PhD opportunity. Thus, recruitment of degree (first or second class honours) and an
the best students is increasingly competitive, MSc in an appropriate discipline (geography,
and wider advertising is very advisable. soil or environmental science, environmental
engineering, etc.) is desirable. The successful
The results from wider advertising can be candidate should be highly self-motivated
variable. The numbers of applicants can and be prepared for laboratory work and
increase considerably, which increases the extended periods of field work with modern
effort for assessment of applications and analytical equipment. A full driving licence is
shortlisting. Despite this, you only need one also required.’
right applicant for it to be worthwhile, and we
strongly recommend wider advertising. In contrast, John once tweeted about a
PhD studentship to investigate species-rich
A range of media now exist to support grassland on the Aran Islands: ‘Carlsberg
effective advertising including your don’t do PhD projects, but if they did, it
institutional website, Nature Jobs, social would be this one’. There were 371 hits on
media, blogs, society newsletters and a personal blog post about the fellowship,
bulletins, society email lists. There are also in addition to many other hits on an
dedicated websites that advertise PhD institutional website.
projects e.g. www.findaphd.com, naturejobs.
com, www.phdseek.com (Australia), and
academicpositions.eu/ (Europe).

Advertisements work best when the
application criteria are clear
As part of the recruitment process, you get interest in the topic. What competencies
to determine the application criteria. Think have you identified for the position; which
carefully about these, as there is a balance to are essential, and which are desirable? For
be struck between getting too few and too example, is it essential that applicants have
many applications. Consider what you want a first class undergraduate degree, and
the applicant to provide, which may include must they have a relevant master’s degree
a CV, a list of two or three referees (do as well? The clearer you are, the easier it is
they have to be academic, or from part-time to make the advert more appropriate to the
jobs?), a statement of why they want to do a target audience of candidates with relevant
PhD (perhaps only if you are expecting lots of qualifications and skills.
good applicants), or a statement about their
Case study: Advertise your PhD fellowship

to maximise interest
Here, we present four different versions that reflect how you can advertise a PhD project.
Which do you think is most effective? Which best reflects your current approach?
Version A
Applications are invited for a PhD Fellowship to assess sediment flux and provenance
throughout two internationally important Freshwater Pearl Mussel catchments in south-
west Ireland and to evaluate the impact of implemented mitigation measures on sediment
dynamics.
Version B
Applications are invited for a PhD Fellowship to assess sediment flux and provenance
throughout two internationally important Freshwater Pearl Mussel catchments in SW
Ireland and to evaluate the impact of implemented mitigation measures on sediment
dynamics. The study will quantify the amount of sediment leaving a catchment and
relate this to the source of the sediment and to specific areas and land uses.
22 THINKWELL

Version C
Are you interested in doing a PhD on wildlife conservation in agricultural systems? Do
you want to produce high-quality research that makes a difference? Interested in working
with an experienced team on a stimulating mix of field work, laboratory work and desk
studies? There will be opportunities for international travel. See the following webpage
for details: www……
Version D
Carlsberg don’t do PhD projects, but if they did, it would be this one!
Are you interested in doing a PhD on wildlife conservation in agricultural systems? Do
you want to produce high-quality research that makes a difference? Do you want to
work with an experienced research team on a stimulating mix of field-work, laboratory
work and desk studies? We are looking for a motivated individual to conduct research to
support the conservation of an internationally-protected species, the Freshwater Pearl
Mussel. This species is particularly sensitive to diffuse sediment and nutrient losses
associated with agriculture and forestry.
This PhD project will assess sediment flux and provenance throughout two
internationally important Freshwater Pearl Mussel catchments in SW Ireland and
evaluate the impact of implemented mitigation measures on sediment dynamics. The
study will use highly novel methodologies to quantify the amount of sediment leaving a
catchment and relate this to the source of the sediment and to specific areas and land uses.
This Fellowship is part of a wider project which aims to demonstrate land use
management for conserving FPM populations in designated catchments. There will be
opportunities for international travel. See the following webpage for more information:
www……
How would you write an advert to increase interest among potential applicants in your own research
topic (even if you’re not currently looking for a PhD student)?
Write a tweetable (140 character) version of your PhD advert.
So that’s how to attract interested candidates. And once they apply, you need to select the most
appropriate one.

Assessment of PhD applicants
This section describes a number of important example, review some literature (a key paper,
competencies that PhD supervisors should or one of your own research papers) by a given
seek in applicants and how to assess these deadline; prepare a four-slide presentation
competencies. on a research topic of their choosing, or of
your choosing; bring a portfolio of their work;
Ability bring a copy of their research report. Some
Although this is crucial, it’s difficult to assess. test of key skills (appropriate to an applicant’s
After a year of working with the student you level) is especially important if you don’t know
will have a good idea of their ability, but by then the student and you have some concerns.
it is too late. Everyone is invested by then. Getting an applicant to do some work helps
for two reasons. You see how they respond to
Some universities require students to write requests, and you see how they do the work.
a research proposal. It is helpful if you are
involved in this process, to get some sense of When considering ability, pay attention to
their writing and academic ability. their grades in research-relevant modules.
Have they conducted a master’s degree that
Even if a proposal is not required, you has developed them further? Have they
might ask a student to complete some tasks undertaken volunteer work, or participated in
in advance of a meeting or interview. For an internship program to do research?
Recruit applicants with as much experience as possible

“Over the past 20 years, I have witnessed grade inflation in undergraduate degrees. Now
I typically look for PhD applicants who have some additional experience after completing
their undergraduate degree. This could include relevant work experience, but I am most
impressed by a master’s degree in a relevant topic. Although there are certainly some
exceptional undergraduates and undergraduate program, I now prefer to recruit people who
have completed a master’s degree.” – PhD supervisor, UK university
Prevention is better than cure

“A few years ago I advertised a PhD position and received a very good application from a
woman in a distant country. She seemed very strong on some of the key techniques that we
would be using in the research. We offered her the position and she and her family moved
to Australia. However, within a few weeks it became clear that she did not have the level of
skills she had described in her CV. And that it was pretty unlikely that she would be able to
develop them quickly enough to complete the PhD. The meeting where I had to tell her this
and that her candidature would have to be terminated was one of the most difficult of my
career. More effort at the recruitment stage would have saved everyone a lot of trouble and
embarrassment.” – PhD supervisor, Australia
24 THINKWELL

Compatibility previous course co-ordinators, supervisors
and lecturers. Is the student willing to engage
During the PhD, you will be working closely with any tasks that you’ve set? Are they asking
with your PhD student, having academic questions that reflect a keen interest in the
discussions, disagreeing, giving difficult topic? Spending time together is much harder
feedback. So you need to consider whether with overseas applicants, but you can use
you will feel comfortable working with each Skype as an alternative.
other. You shouldn’t be best friends with your
PhD students, but if you actively hate them this Commitment
is going to make for a very long three to five
years. Sometimes people just don’t get along, You can train a PhD student on research
and you need to ensure that this is not the case. techniques, and it is expected that you will
mentor them over time to deal with the
To assess compatibility, we advise spending specific challenges of doctoral research.
some time together. If at all possible, meet However, unless they have a good attitude
the student a few times, and in a few different and are dedicated to the topic, no amount
contexts (e.g. in the office, over coffee with of training or mentoring will be effective.
other students, showing them the research Commitment is a tough characteristic to assess.
facilities). As with any relationship, spend a By meeting the student several times before
bit of time getting to know each other before they begin, and perhaps even assigning them
you commit. This might mean having a few some mini-tasks (e.g. a summary of some key
initial meetings just to discuss the topic, and articles), you can begin to assess commitment.
to see how you relate to each other. You It is also a good practice to check with their
might also contact their referees or talk to referees.
Here, we have focused on ability, compatibility and commitment,

but there are other relevant competencies. List five that are
important to you when selecting a PhD student. We will return to
these five competencies in a later exercise.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Conduct an interview
Some supervisors don’t conduct interviews, When interviewing PhD applicants, the usual
instead offering the PhD project to interview techniques apply. These are covered
an applicant on the basis of a personal by training and development courses at most
recommendation, outstanding CV, or lack of institutions, so we do not deal with them in
time! We strongly recommend an interview detail here. Instead, we strongly recommend
even if there is only one applicant. Going taking advantage of such courses as part of
through an interview process is always good your own development as a supervisor. For
practice. It is an opportunity to: many institutions, PhD students are not
members of staff, and the formal recruitment
1. Set out your stall as a supervisor, and process may not apply – check with your
describe the project in more detail (e.g. institution. Elsewhere, PhD students are
expected outputs, supervisory style, recruited as staff members, and the formal
research standards) recruitment process must be adopted.
2. Assess the fit of the applicant to the On the day of an interview, set up a time for
project and your supervision applicants to visit the lab/research area, and
3. Allow the applicant to assess their fit to to see the area where they will be working and
the project and to you as a supervisor writing. Provide them with an opportunity
to talk with other PhD students of yours
(without you present), and go for lunch with
those PhD students. Many supervisors ask
one of their current PhD students to organise
this.
26 THINKWELL

Make time to interview PhD applicants
“Over the years, I have become a strong advocate of interviewing PhD applicants. So many
strong applicants withdraw at the interview stage, and I often wonder how committed
they would have been to the project if they had been selected through assessment of their
CV alone. Some applicants are unwilling to travel modest distances to interview, which I
interpret as partly reflecting their lack of commitment to the project. On the other hand,
other applicants make great efforts to attend the interview. Applicants who appear average
in their CVs have shown a strong flair for research at interview, despite their CVs. Other
applicants with impressive CVs have been very disappointing, and while they show a flair for
coursework and exams, they don’t necessarily have good research experience or skills.
For every PhD position, I interview about four applicants, and spend about one hour with
each. I always involve a co-supervisor. This is not just because a second opinion is valuable,
but also because the co-supervisor needs to have an input to the decision, and to share
responsibility for the selection. I always get the applicants to make a ten minute presentation
about a previous research project that they have conducted (applicants don’t get shortlisted
if they have never conducted a research project). This is a great interview tool, as it is a test
of commitment (willingness to prepare in advance, and submit by a deadline e.g. 24 hours
before the interview). You get to see their presentation skills, and verbal communication.
It also provides a focus for discussion of research topics such as experimental treatments,
number of replicates, statistics, weaknesses and strengths of the research, and how they
would improve it. We also discuss their transferable skills, such as project management,
time management, and interaction with their previous supervisor. You also get to see how
applicants react under a little pressure – this can be very revealing!
I often present a research question or problem that relates to the PhD project, and ask how
they would go about addressing it. I always spend some time talking about the project and
my expectations, as well as about the local area and what to expect when living there. I give
the applicant plenty of time to ask questions about the project and life as a PhD student at
our institute – it’s the least they deserve for considering to commit four years of their life to
the project.” – Experienced PhD supervisor

For the important issues that you listed in the exercise earlier in
this chapter, list the practical strategies that will allow you to assess
these:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Check out claims through probing questions

“A colleague of mine had a visitor (Mike) who had just finished his undergraduate degree
and was interested in doing a PhD. My colleague knew that I was currently advertising
a PhD position, and introduced Mike to me with the intention of informing him about
the PhD topic. Mike was a very confident young man who knew the value of the first class
honours award that he had received in his degree. Pretty quickly, it seemed that I was
the one being interviewed (fair enough!). After a while, I started probing about Mike’s
experience in research, and he told me of his excellent research experience, having received
a 90% assessment of his final year research project. The topic of his research was broadly
similar to that of the PhD, and I was quite impressed at this point. I asked about the
experimental treatments that he had investigated in his research, and Mike told me he had
researched the contrasting effect of different fertilisers on grass growth. I enquired further
about the number of experimental levels and replicates that he had used, only to be told that
he hadn’t actually conducted a field experiment, but had summarised results from a review
of the literature. I then asked about the journals that he had most often read as part of the
literature review, to be told that he had mostly used online articles from fertiliser companies
and Wikipedia. I politely ended the meeting soon after this.” – PhD supervisor, Ireland
28 THINKWELL

Examples of interview questions
Here are some examples of questions that might be useful for exploring the applicant’s ability,
compatibility and commitment. It is well worth planning such questions in advance, and
tailoring them to reflect the research topic and your supervisory style.
Questions for potential PhD students

ABILITY
What research training have you received to date? (Methodologies, key equipment, statistical methods,
interpretation of data, problem-solving, project management)
What research experience do you have?
What relevant theory are you familiar with?
Have you conducted a research project as part of your undergraduate or postgraduate education?
• Can you describe the research very briefly?
• What did you enjoy about that research?
• What was most challenging?
• What was the methodology?
• Who devised the methodology?
• If you were to repeat that work, what would you do differently?
What journals do you read most often?
What recent research have you read and what impressed you about this research?
How do you manage your time?
Set a task as part of the interview, for example:
• Make a 10-minute presentation on a previous project or research topic (prepared in advance)
• Explain this graph
• Provide a written summary of this short paragraph in 25 words or less
• Can you identify these two pieces of equipment? What would you use them for?
COMPATIBILITY AND ATTITUDE
Have you worked in a team before now? If so, what were the pros and cons?
What are your expectations of:
• The kind of PhD supervision that you will receive?
• Working practices during the PhD?
• How to handle a problem that relates to the research?
Can you provide examples where you overcame adversity in your work?
COMMITMENT
Why do you want to do a PhD?
What are your career aims or preferences?
Why are you choosing this PhD topic?
Are you aware of other more recent research projects/interests in this research group? What is your
perception of doing a PhD?
• How much work do you think is involved, and what kind of work?
• What working hours do you expect?
• What elements do you expect to be most demanding?
• What elements of the project are you looking forward to?

Applicants need to assess they expected. Some supervisors arrange for
whether the offered PhD is a PhD applicant to meet with other PhD
appropriate for them students in the research group. This is an
opportunity for the applicant to find out
What does a PhD applicant need to know more about the place, the people and the
before they accept the opportunity to be supervisor. Before an applicant makes a final
supervised by you? It is important that both decision, you should ensure that they know
of you make an informed decision, and you about issues that include, but are not limited,
certainly want to avoid the student resigning to the following:
from the position because it wasn’t what
Supervision and working arrangements

Expected working hours
Expected frequency of meetings
Amount of assistance that they can expect to receive in relation to e.g. conceptualisation, refining
questions, methods, discussion, feedback
How will the research questions be developed, refined and decided? (This is really about degree of
independence and autonomy: some students have an exaggerated view of how much freedom they’ll
have; some supervisors have exaggerated views about how much and how little freedom a student can
have! Nevertheless, the applicant needs to know in advance, and make an informed decision.)
If there are co-supervisors, what will their roles be?
Will there be close interaction with other research partners e.g. other universities, private industry
and what will these partners contribute, and how will they share credit for this?
Will there be issues about intellectual property that will affect the dissemination and publication of results?
Is the PhD one part of a larger project that will necessitate additional commitments (travelling,
presenting results, meetings, reporting)?
What variety and number of research outputs are expected? e.g. how many seminars, conference
papers, journal articles, patents?
Are they expected to assist with the:
• Organisation and delivery of laboratory sessions for undergraduates?
• Organisation and delivery of tutorials for undergraduate or postgraduate students?
• Organisation of a major conference that you have planned?
• Delivery of lectures?
• Writing of research proposals?
• Supervision of final-year undergraduate students and their ‘mini-projects’?
30 THINKWELL

Trust your gut instinct
Interviews offer a 30- to 60-minute overview usually more willing to speak about than write
of a person with whom you are going to work any negative comments. Arrange to spend
for at least three years. As such, they’re a some more time with the applicant to get to
pretty coarse method of assessing people. But know them better, perhaps by showing them
if your gut feeling is not positive, listen to it. around the department or campus. The case
Don’t make a decision until you are satisfied. study below ‘Listen to your gut’ provides
Take time to have a second interview, or set an example of one supervisor who wasn’t
a relevant task that helps to improve your comfortable making a decision after the first
assessment. Ask for references, and contact interview.
referees with a phone call – referees are
Listen to your gut

The following case study is presented in a number of sections. After each section, take a
moment to consider your responses to the questions that are provided.
Sharon had advertised a four-year PhD position that was being funded through a research
grant from a Research Council. This would be her first time supervising a PhD student. The
project also had an industry partner on one of the tasks, but this was quite separate to the
PhD research. David had already completed a master’s in a very similar research topic and
was at the top of the shortlist. When Sharon rang to invite him to interview, he made it clear
that he was not willing to travel to the interview, which would have required a two-hour
plane journey. Sharon offered a telephone interview, and David instead suggested Skype.
He also asked for the date of the Skype interview to be changed to suit a visit by his parents,
but this was not possible as Sharon had arranged for a co-supervisor to also be part of the
interviewing process. During the interview, he was very professional and courteous, but
quite curt in some of his responses, and interrupted the interviewers mid-question on three
occasions. When he had the opportunity to ask questions, he spent a lot of time questioning
the four-year duration, and enquiring about reducing it to three years. He also spent a lot
of time probing the possibility of making major changes to the project design to be able
to pursue his personal research interest. After the interviews were completed, David was
definitely the most experienced person for the job.

Would you offer the PhD to David?
What strengths does David display? And what weaknesses?
What options does Sharon have at this stage of the interview process?
What support and advice is available to Sharon now?
In her position, what action would you take now?
Sharon was impressed by David’s academic ability, but had reservations that she excused as
reflecting the awkwardness of Skype as a medium for conducting an interview. Nevertheless,
she really wanted to meet him in person before offering him the position. She rang David a
few days later to tell him that she was impressed by his interview performance and that he
was the best candidate, and to invite him to visit her at her institution, to see the facilities
and possibly meet the other project partners, including a researcher from the industry
partner. David’s first question was to enquire whether his travel expenses would be paid. He
agreed to travel and they agreed a date. The next morning, Sharon received an email from
David. He made a very strong complaint that the project had an industry partner, and that
Sharon had withheld this important information from him.
What strong and weak practices of recruitment has Sharon displayed?
What options does Sharon have at this late stage of the interview process?
In her position, what specific action would you take now?
Sharon was extremely annoyed, but waited a day to calm down before replying. She prepared
a few notes, and rang David to explain why she considered it best if he did not pursue a PhD
under her supervision. David agreed and Sharon wished him well with his future plans.
How would you have dealt with this situation?
What kind of content would have been in Sharon’s notes?
How else (better and worse) might Sharon have dealt with this whole situation?
32 THINKWELL

Common recruitment problems for PhD
positions
Due to various pressures including time Many PhD studentships are awarded by
and funding, supervisors often feel backed a funding agency, who pay for the PhD
into a corner by the selection process, and student’s salary and research costs. However,
believe that they have no choice but to with the funding comes a range of regulations
appoint someone who is the ‘best of a bad that usually include a requirement to recruit
lot’. A common problem is when only a small within a certain time period (‘use it or lose
number of people have applied for a PhD it’). This can lead to the selection of a good
position; in general, the lower the number but not brilliant candidate, simply because of
of applicants, the lower the probability of the lack of time to re-advertise the position.
getting very good or exceptional candidates. Similarly, there may be extra pressure to
Common strategies to overcome this include: accept an applicant who has their own funding
when your department needs the funding or
1. Extend the deadline and/or accept late wants to increase its number of PhD students.
applications. Note that it is important to
ensure that your PhD recruitment process When faced with pressure to accept an
complies with the legal requirements of any applicant with whom you are not wholly
funding agency that is involved, and your satisfied, remember the advice that is
own institution. In some countries, the provided by experienced supervisors – it
PhD is appointed as a research fellow who is is better to have no PhD student than an
not a legal employee of the institution, and inappropriate one. Making a decision not
formal HR rules may not apply. If the PhD to appoint a PhD position is a big one (and
applicant is a full employee, then you will be is even bigger if it means handing back a
required to use a more formal recruitment research grant), but so is deciding to take
process leaving you, for example, with less on an applicant who is not quite up to the
discretion in accepting late applications. job. Weigh up the pros and cons carefully.
However, you will probably still have the You might decide that you can provide
option not to accept any of the candidates
additional help with a key skill, and that
from the first round of advertising, and go
you are willing to make the time to do so.
to another formal round.
Remember, however, that if you decide to
2. Re-advertise across a wider range of media. take on an applicant who is not quite up to
the standard that you hoped for, then you are
3. Time your advertising and recruitment to also accepting the responsibility to provide
coincide with the end of undergraduate or this extra effort to help them. Maybe the
postgraduate courses. institution has excellent supports to assist
4. Use your networks to identify likely people with research skills, academic writing, and
and make personal contact with them. support for international students conducting
their PhD in a foreign language. Of all the
5. Have an online presence that makes competencies, the ones that you should
your research attractive to prospective be least flexible with are commitment and
researchers. compatibility.

Learning from past mistakes (learning the hard way)
“I urgently needed to get a PhD student for a funded PhD Fellowship. I only had
one applicant, an international student with quite poor English, but a highly relevant
degree. I approved his registration for the PhD despite his low scores in the language
assessment, and committed to enrol him on a course for conversational and academic
writing for international students. Despite all the help, his English never improved enough
to be adequate for research discussions or academic writing. We never had the same
understanding about the research methods, and this led to major mistakes in the work. I
found out later that other staff and students wrote most of the thesis. It was a disaster and
it was my fault. He took more of my time than my other four PhD students in total. I will
never make that mistake again.” – PhD supervisor, Australian university
Let’s say you weigh up the pros and cons, progression beyond the first year unless they
and decide to recruit an applicant whose attain the required standard in a language
competencies are not quite what you wanted. test. This might sound tough, but at least it
How do you make the best of the situation? is explained early on, and it is better than
It makes sense to identify the competencies wasting years of someone’s life on a PhD that
and skills that are most crucial to the project, they will not be able to finish. In general, you
and focus on bringing these up to the desired can expect to spend more time and energy in
standard as early as possible in the PhD. If these cases. Again, if you decide to take the
it’s a language requirement, for example, you student on, then you are also accepting the
could explain that you will not approve their responsibility to give this extra support.
Shortfalls in ability will require additional support

When you take on weaker PhD applicants, then you are also accepting the responsibility to
ensure they receive the additional support that will be needed.
Having successfully selected an applicant, the first few weeks are an important time. In the
next chapter, we present some ideas about how to help them through their first weeks as a PhD
student, and how to establish good supervisory practice from the start.
34 THINKWELL

AT A GLANCE
CHAPTER 2: RECRUITMENT AND
SELECTION
1 The amount of effort invested in recruitment is exactly that – an

investment.
2 You need to work to attract the best students to your PhD projects.
Advertise the position to get as many relevant and high-quality
applications as possible, and highlight the interesting aspects of the
research.
3 Develop long-term strategies to improve your ability to attract

good PhD applicants. These include: nurturing the academic
interest of student classes in your research area; participating in
student placements and exchanges; developing personal networks
that are willing to advertise your PhD opportunities to targeted
undergraduate or postgraduate classes.
4 Develop your online presence, and keep student recruitment in mind

in the material that you post on your website.
5 Good recruitment requires clarity about the PhD project. What skills
are needed to execute the project? Which skills are essential and
which are desirable? Which skills can the co-supervisors help the
PhD student to develop? Do not compromise on these without very
good reason.
6 Interview the applicants, and be clear on the selection criteria and

skills that you are assessing. Ask applicants to make a presentation,
and consider testing their skills with relevant tasks.
7 Talk with applicants about your expectations and supervisory style,

and assess whether you will be able to work with them.
8 Trust your gut instinct. If you’re not entirely satisfied, invest some
further effort before making any offer.
9 When you take on weaker PhD applicants, then you are also
accepting the responsibility to ensure they receive the additional
support that will be needed

3. GETTING STARTED:
THE FIRST FEW WEEKS
Introduction
So, you have a new PhD student, and they will In this chapter, we provide some practical
soon be arriving. Starting a PhD is a big event suggestions for supervisors to help their
for the new student. For you, the date of their new students in the first four weeks. You’ll
arrival is just one more day, but from the new notice that there is a lot of involvement by
student’s point of view, this is the first day the supervisor at this time, but this will (and
of a big new adventure. This is even more so should) decline over time. However, your
for students who are moving from another role for many of the issues can be as simple as
country with a very different culture. directing new recruits to the relevant part of
the university administration that provides
So make an effort to be there. Make some support, or directing them to the relevant
time to meet with them and help them get university website.
settled in. If they have moved from abroad,
maybe someone could pick them up from If you have been supervising for some time,
the airport. Help them settle into their you may already have an effective routine
accommodation. Show them around the that works for you and your students. For
university. It can be a good idea to assign anyone without a clear structure, however,
another student as a buddy who might keep our suggestions will help develop an outline of
a friendly eye out for them for the first few how the new student can be helped to settle
days/weeks, to help with things like getting an in to their new work and social environment.
email account, access to buildings, etc. If you find yourself disagreeing with our
sequence or timing of events during the first
In these very initial stages, the focus should be four weeks, that’s perfectly fine! There are
on settling in, and less so on the research. No- many ways to get it right. The most important
one can start thinking about strategic research point is that you have a sequence and a plan
issues until their more basic needs have been that helps your students to settle into a new
fulfilled, so the most important aim in the work environment, develop good habits for an
first two weeks is for the student to get settled effective working relationship, and begin their
in, feel welcome and comfortable in their new research
environment, and get themselves ready for the
more intellectual rigours to come.
36 THINKWELL

Structuring the first few weeks
This chapter assumes that the successful

applicant is new to the university. For
applicants who have already completed an
undergraduate or postgraduate course at the
same institution, some of these issues will
be addressed much more quickly. We have
grouped the activities under three broad
headings.
Settling in:
relates to the pastoral care of a new PhD
student;
Workplace:
focuses on the procedures, institutional
processes and expectations of the student-
supervisor relationship;
Research:
relates more directly to the research project.
“Actively manage the

early stages of the PhD.
The first three months
is just as precious as the
last three months.”
– John Finn

Take action before your new student
arrives
Before your new student arrives, there are It is important that university procedures for
a number of actions required to ensure that registration and administration are followed
they can integrate into their new environment so that registration proceeds without delay or
as easily as possible. Many of these are the complication.
student’s responsibility, but some are the
supervisor’s. • University registration and student card:
this often needs good choreography for
In general, personal arrangements are any new student, but especially for those
the student’s responsibility, although the travelling from abroad
supervisor can help. Remember, the sooner
your student can settle in, the sooner they can • Registration fees
start doing research. • Library access and entitlements
• Anticipate the need for visa and travel • Arrangements for payments of stipend/
permits well in advance. salary
• Provide (or indicate) sources of As a supervisor, you are in a position to make
information on accommodation. arrangements for the student to quickly
• Direct students with a family to university settle into their working environment. Some
advice on childcare and schools. priority items to arrange might include the
following:
• Direct new students to information
on getting social security numbers (or • Security keys and access to buildings
equivalent). What paperwork is required • Office space with desk and chair
and what can be prepared in advance?
• Book shelf and filing cabinet(s)
• Computer
• Internet access
• Institutional email
38 THINKWELL

Day 1: The very first meeting
Take some time to plan what you want to Workplace

cover in the very first meeting. Set aside
enough time so that you are not rushing. Take some time to indicate what will happen
You don’t have to cover everything in the over the next few weeks in terms of research
first meeting. If possible, it is better to have and follow-up meetings.
shorter meetings more frequently, rather • Provide the student with an outline of
than less frequent longer meetings. Use the what you expect them to do over the
checklist below to ensure that you cover next week or two. There is no point
important items, and to keep track of what overwhelming them with the wider
you have discussed, especially if you are expectations during the very first meetings.
covering these items across several meetings.
Here are some other suggestions that you • The next meeting – when is it and what
might introduce in the first meeting. will it cover? The next meeting could be
the next day, and may depend on whether
Settling in they need to search for accommodation,
• Quickly work through the “Settling in: queue for university administration for
Checklist for new PhD students” tool on registration, get library cards, etc.
the next page. Research
• Arrange personal introductions (as well as Have you provided guidance on what your
a general email) to a wide range of relevant new student should do when they leave your
people in the workplace, including other office? Some suggestions include:
PhD students.
• Guide them to relevant readings about the
• Ask one of your current PhD students to process of doing a PhD.
be the first point of contact for questions
about local arrangements and facilities • Direct them to a relevant literature review.
(buddy system). Better still, provide a copy.
• Ensure that your new student has company

for coffee and lunch for the first few days.
• Advise on the social framework of the
existing cohort of PhD students, and any
forthcoming events such as social events,
journal clubs, student seminars.
• Have they any questions?

Settling in: Checklist for new PhD students
University registration
Student card
Registration process and who to contact (fees)
Arrangements for payments of stipend/salary
Library card (access and entitlements)
Access and security to the building?
Provide institutional policies for research students (handbooks, website)
Health and Safety policy
Induction courses
Available supports when research problems arise
Are they expected to assist with the:
• Organisation and delivery of laboratory sessions for undergraduates?
• Organisation and delivery of tutorials for undergraduate or postgraduate students?
• Organisation of a major conference that you have planned?
• Delivery of lectures?
• Writing of research proposals?
• Supervision of final-year undergraduate students and their ‘mini-projects’?
Holidays: number of days, formal notification required or not
Sick leave (if applicable)
LOCAL ADMINISTRATION
Introductions to key people
Travel and subsistence expenses
Booking of institutional transport e.g. for fieldwork
Photocopying facilities
Working hours
Coffee times, lunch times
LOCAL FACILITIES
Office space with desk and chair
Book shelf and filing cabinet(s)
Computer
Internet access
Printing facilities
Software permissions
Institutional email
Internet access
ADD YOUR OWN SUGGESTIONS HERE:
40 THINKWELL

Week 1
During the first week, the priority is to ensure Research

that the new student settles in. In addition
to addressing all of the items in the tool, Have you provided guidance on what your
‘Settling in: Checklist for new PhD students’, new student should do next when they leave
some suggestions to focus your meetings in your office? Some suggestions include:
the first week are provided here. • Read a copy of the most recent PhD thesis
Settling in from your research group or department
that is on a similar topic to that of the new
• Enquire about progress on PhD student.
accommodation.
• Read a copy of your own most recent
• Enquire about interactions with other PhD publication that is relevant to their topic.
students and plans for university activities.
Workplace
• Introduce the PhD student to all of the
co-supervisors. Highlight the specific
contributions that each of the co-
supervisors can make.
• Provide a copy of your institution’s guide
or handbook for postgraduate research
students.
• Begin a discussion around your
expectations, and what the student should
expect from you. You may need to build
this up over a few weeks. To start, it
may help to revisit the list of topics in
“Supervision and working arrangements”.
(Chapter 2).
Next Steps
• Establish effective working practices early.
For example, ask the student to send you Before your meetings finish make sure the
short minutes of action points from these PhD student is clear about what they should
meetings. do next, and on what should be completed
before the next meeting.

Week 2
Settling in Research
• Enquire about progress on • Check on progress with the reading,
accommodation. writing or other research tasks that you
have set earlier.
• Enquire about social integration with
other researchers and plans for university • Start a process that clarifies the research
activities. questions and develops a project plan (see
‘Planning’ chapter).
• Identify and suggest induction courses for
new researchers and PhD students. • Discuss and identify training needs from
basic to advanced (writing, lab methods,
Workplace qualitative methods and quantitative
• Check progress on the workplace matters analysis). Most institutions provide a list
from Week 1. of available training. Training may include
local induction courses on safety, data
• Review relevant policies and procedures gathering techniques, field work methods,
that apply to all staff e.g. health and safety, specific equipment, specific software, etc.
bullying and harassment, procedures for The ‘Core competencies self-assessment
taking holidays and sick leave. checklist’ in Chapter 10 can be used as a
training needs analysis.
• Review relevant policies and procedures
that apply to PhD students. • Discuss project finances, if relevant. For
funded projects, explain what budgets are
• Review information on the formal
available for consumables, equipment,
university requirements for PhD students
travel and subsistence. Explain the ordering
e.g. submission dates of research reports,
process, how the budget can be used, and
review committees, timing of annual
how it cannot. Encourage students to take
reviews.
an active role in managing their budget, as
• Discuss in more detail your expectations of this is a valuable experience.
the student, and what they should expect
Next steps
from you. This may be easiest by referring
to written guidelines that are provided by Advise the PhD student on what they should
most universities, then discussing them. do next, and on what should be completed
(See below for more on expectations). before the next meeting.
42 THINKWELL

Week 3
Settling in Research
• Ask more open questions about how they • Discuss the identification of training needs
are settling in, and listen to the responses. from week 2. What is the relative priority
What is going well, and not so well? What and timing of these? How do they register
is causing difficulty, and what is enjoyable? for training?
Workplace • Are there commitments to a larger project
e.g. reporting and presenting at project
• Enquire about progress with meeting the meetings with the funding agency or wider
other PhD students and staff and getting research team?
to know them. If a buddy system is not in
place, has one of the PhD students been Next steps
especially helpful in assisting them? If so,
be sure to thank that student – they are Advise the PhD student on what they should
making your life a lot easier! do next, and on what should be completed
• Check whether they have successfully
registered for induction courses that may
have been agreed in week 2.
• Ensure that any health and safety
requirements are discussed before any
practical work begins.

Week 4
Settling in • Ensure that your new student is writing

just as regularly as they are reading. Set
• Ask open questions about how they are regular writing tasks. See ‘Develop key
settling in. skills early and often’ (below) and Chapter
Workplace 6 for suggested approaches.
• Check that all of the matters discussed so • Based on the analysis of training needs,
far have been dealt with. identify how relevant training will be
provided. Depending on the research topic,
Research what research skills need to be learned and
practised? The initial stage of the PhD
At this point, you can expect the new PhD
is often a good time to take advantage of
student to be settling in well, and to now be
more generic training in academic writing,
devoting most of their time to research issues
critical thinking, project management,
(although it is still likely to be preparation for
quantitative methods and research
research activity).
integrity.
• Check that the new student has
• Provide the PhD student with a copy of
familiarised themselves with procedural
a PhD thesis from one of your previous
issues e.g. the institutional requirements
students, especially if it is related to their
for doctoral researchers, timing and
topic (now, or in the next few weeks). This
deadlines for institutional reviews, etc.
can be the focus of a specific discussion
• Arrange one-to-one meetings between about the qualities of the thesis, the
the PhD student and each of the co- standards associated with PhD research,
supervisors. This may be useful in advance and the feasibility of completing a PhD
of a meeting with all co-supervisors thesis.
present.
Next steps
• Clarify what research publications they are
Advise the PhD student on what they should
reading. Are they relevant?
do next, and on what should be completed
These templates are provided as a guide. You may prefer to deal with some of these issues
earlier or later. You should develop your own approach to helping students to settle in and
assess this on an ongoing basis, checking its strengths, and making improvements.
44 THINKWELL

Develop key skills early and often
PhD students can waste a lot of time in the first few weeks. Supervisors can help avoid this
by overseeing targeted research tasks that develop over time. Here, we provide an example
based on writing and reading skills.
Week 1
• Provide some examples of your recent purpose to the reading that will lead to
publications that are close to the student’s a writing task matched to the student’s
research topic. Choose one, and indicate current level of ability e.g. to compare the
that you expect them to discuss it at the quantitative approaches; to critique the
next meeting. The more specific the choice of analysis; to compare the theories
point you wish to discuss the better, as or conceptual frameworks used. Specify a
this will reduce the student’s nervousness word length and deadline.
in anticipation of your first academic
conversation. Week 3
• Request that they identify a list of 20 • Provide feedback on the writing task
highly relevant journal articles, and bring (based on your recent publication) set in
this list to the next meeting. Explain that week 2. Discuss the nature and variety of
is not necessary to read these articles, for feedback, and what you are focusing on.
now. What you should be assessing is Provide prompt feedback, and be sure to
their ability to access, capture and present include positive comments.
basic information. • Similarly, provide feedback (or set a date
Week 2 for your feedback) on the other writing
task (highly relevant journal articles). If
• Enquire about their reading of the it is completed this week, follow up with
recent publication provided in week 1, a related writing task on the same articles
and discuss as planned. Set a relevant or from other articles in their list of 20
writing task based on that publication, from Week 2, with a clear deadline and
and specify the purpose of the task, the specific purpose.
expected length of the task, and the
deadline. Start with a relatively easy task Week 4
e.g. what methods were used to address • Based on the student’s reading of the
each of the objectives in 400 words. recent PhD thesis from your lab (from
• Inspect their list of 20 highly relevant week 1), set some research tasks e.g. write
journal articles. How did they search for 250 words on the novel contribution of
these? What range of journals does the the thesis, write a 300-word abstract for
list include? Did they read any of the one of the chapters, or write 400 words
articles? Nominate three to five of these on the conceptual linkages between two
articles for them to read, and set a specific of the chapters.

In a blog post (phdskills.blogspot.ie), John Finn and Alan Kelly prioritised ten key activities for
PhD students during the first 100 days of their PhD. As a PhD supervisor, do you agree with
these? What might you change? This might be a useful list to give to your PhD students, and to
commit together to implementing them over the first three months.
The first 100 days

1 Agree/develop a modus operandi with your supervisor(s) (e.g. agree where and how often you
expect to meet, how to assess progress when the supervisor is away, the different types of
feedback expected etc.).
2 Take responsibility for arranging meetings with your supervisor, and provide an agenda in advance of
the meeting, ideally with a few short explanatory notes about each topic.
3 Write a project plan listing some key initial research objectives and preliminary deadlines (at least).
4 Produce a Gantt chart based on the above for your project activities for the first, say, 6 months.
5 Read selected journal articles, take notes and write a short literature review (even a few
thousand words).
6 Get feedback from your supervisor(s) on this literature review; on your writing style and how
to improve it where necessary; on whether you have read the right articles and; whether you are
understanding the knowledge and uncertainties associated with your topic.
7 Read recent PhD theses in your topic to see what is ultimately expected of you.
8 Learn and practice new research methods that you will need to use - before you start your research.
9 Develop good professional habits for keeping all your information and data safe and organised.
10 Formally or informally review your skills (probably with your supervisor) and do a self-assessment of
your training needs.
46 THINKWELL

Clarify expectations about the student-
supervisor relationship
You know that feeling of exasperation in a Roles and responsibilities

new work environment when a bureaucrat
rings to explain that you have not followed If you are to develop a good working
some procedure? You ask where the relationship with your PhD student, then
procedure is written down, only to learn that you and they need to fully appreciate your
it was written in a memo ten years ago that responsibilities to each other, and both of
no-one can find. You’re told, ‘That’s the your expectations of the working relationship.
way we always do it’. Similarly, for your PhD All institutions now have codes of practice
students, it is only fair that you explain your or similar documents that clarify the
standards and expectations right at the start. responsibilities of students and supervisors.
Here, we provide a typical example from a UK
university (from Finn, 2005). The details will
differ between institutions so you should locate
the relevant document for your university.

What are the responsibilities of supervisors to their research
students?
1) Giving guidance about: policy and in the light of discussion with
the student;
• induction
4) being accessible to the student at other
• the nature of the research and the appropriate times when advice may be
standard expected needed;
• the planning of the research program 5) giving advice on the necessary completion
• the nature and extent of the help the dates of successive stages of the work so
student may expect in preparing a thesis that the whole thesis may be submitted
in its final form for submission within the scheduled time;
• literature and training courses 6) requesting written work as appropriate,

and returning such work with feedback in
• attendance at taught classes, where a reasonable period of time;
appropriate
7) arranging, as appropriate, for the student
• requisite techniques (including arranging to talk about their research to staff at
for training where necessary) graduate seminars or conferences;
• necessary safety precautions 8) writing reports on the student’s progress;
• publication of the research. 9) ensuring that the student is made aware
of inadequacy of progress or of standards
2) having relevant expertise to supervise
of work below that generally expected;
the research degree. In some cases,
a co-supervisor may be required 10) actively introducing the student to
to bring relevant expertise to the researchers and events in the academic
project. In such cases, the allocation of community e.g. conferences and meetings
supervisory responsibilities between of learned societies;
supervisors should be clearly defined and
communicated to the student; 11) informing the student of the
institutional regulations concerning
3) maintaining contact with the student the oral examination e.g. nomination
through regular tutorial and seminar procedures for the examiners, and appeals
meetings, in accordance with institutional procedures.
48 THINKWELL

What are the responsibilities of research students?
1) planning and discussing with the for feedback and discussion before
supervisor the research topic and proceeding to the next stage;
timetable for the research;
6) drafting and circulating the agenda
2) discussing with the supervisor the type and support documents in advance of
of guidance and feedback that is most meetings, and drafting and circulating the
helpful, and agreeing a schedule of minutes of meetings;
meetings;
7) keeping systematic records of work
3) taking the initiative in raising problems or completed, and providing written
difficulties, however elementary they may progress reports;
seem. This includes taking the initiative
in arranging meetings; 8) showing all supervisors the final version
of their thesis in plenty of time to receive
4) agreeing and observing any necessary feedback before submission;
safety precautions;
9) deciding when they wish to submit their
5) maintaining the progress of the work in thesis within the prescribed period of
accordance with the stages agreed with registration, taking due account of the
the supervisor, in particular including supervisor’s opinions;
the presentation of written materials
as required in sufficient time to allow

Expectations in supervision
The form below is useful for starting a You might use this tool in the first few weeks,
discussion about expectations. As part of this but it can be useful to complete it again after
exercise, the PhD student and supervisor about six months because expectations (by
respond to the statements separately and either of you) may have changed.
then compare answers. There are no right or
wrong answers but, if there are big differences Another good use for this tool is to get
in responses, then you need to discuss the the supervisory team to complete it. Co-
reasons why. Just as you have expectations supervisors can often have very different
of your PhD student, they have expectations expectations and it’s useful to come to a
of you. For example, if you think it is the common understanding.
student’s responsibility to arrange meetings
whereas they see it as yours, then there will be
confusion and frustration.
50 THINKWELL

Expectations of Research Supervision
Supervisors and research students often have differing expectations
of supervision. The supervisor and student should complete this scale
independently and then compare their responses. Circle a number
depending on whether you think the responsibility lies more with the
supervisor or the student.
Supervisor Rating Student

1. It is the supervisor’s responsibility to select
The student is responsible for selecting her/
the research topic. 1 2 3 4 5
his own topic.
2. The supervisor should decide which The students should decide which
theoretical framework and/or methodology 1 2 3 4 5 theoretical framework and/or methodology
is most appropriate. they wish to use.
3. The supervisor should develop an appropriate
The student should develop their own
program and timetable of research and study 1 2 3 4 5
program and timetable of research.
for the student.
4. The supervisor should ensure that the It is the student’s responsibility to locate
student has access to the resources and 1 2 3 4 5 and access all necessary resources and
facilities that they need. facilities.
5. It is the supervisors’ responsibility to The student is responsible for being
advise the student of all relevant policies, 1 2 3 4 5 familiar with the relevant policies,
procedures and requirements. procedures and requirements.
6. It’s up to the supervisor to build an
It is the student’s responsibility to manage
appropriate professional relationship with 1 2 3 4 5
the relationship with their supervisor.
the student.
7. The supervisor should insist on regular
The student should decide when she/he
meetings with the student. 1 2 3 4 5
wants to meet.
8. The supervisor should check regularly that The student should work independently and
the student is working consistently and on 1 2 3 4 5 not have to account for how and where time
track. is spent.
9. It is the supervisor’s responsibility to should
It is up to the student to finish within the
ensure that the thesis is finished by the 1 2 3 4 5
allocated timeframe.
required submission date.
10. The supervisor should insist on seeing all It’s up to the student to decide when to
drafts of work to ensure that the student is on 1 2 3 4 5
show drafts of their work.
the right track.
11. The supervisor should assist in the writing, The writing of the thesis should only be the
editing and presentation of the thesis. 1 2 3 4 5 student’s own work and they must take full
responsibility for presentation of the thesis.
12. The supervisor is responsible for deciding
The student should decide when they are
when the thesis can be submitted for 1 2 3 4 5
ready to submit the thesis for examination.
examination.
Adapted from: Moses, I. (1985). Supervising postgraduates. HERDSA Green Guide No 3, Kensington: Higher Education
Research & Development Society of Australasia.

Dear New PhD Student – a letter from your supervisor
The following example shows how one supervisor set out her expectations in a personal
blog. While it was written using a tongue-in-cheek style, it reveals some of the supervisor’s
expectations (wry humour aside) of some key facets of the student-supervisor relationship.
The comments on the blog are also well worth reading. These general points would serve as
a good starting point for a conversation between a new student and a supervisor about their
respective expectations of the student-supervisor relationship.
‘Dear New PhD Student – a letter from your supervisor

This is an exciting time for you as you embark on your journey towards a doctoral degree.
As your supervisor I thought I should write to welcome you and give you a few handy hints
that may help us both to survive this voyage of discovery intact. We both have much to
learn. Although we have exchanged emails, we do not know each other well. As with all new
relationships we have both been at pains to display the good in us, and hide the crazy. Over
the next three years this balance will switch, as we each reveal our true selves.
1. My role is to guide you through the minefield that is the modern research process. You
will learn how to identify gaps in knowledge, critically review literature, pose useful research
questions, devise testable hypotheses, crawl through the morass that is research governance,
acquire the necessary ethical approvals, collect and analyse data and so on.
2. But remember I am not your sister, nor your mother, nor am I your counsellor – I am
not even your friend. Some supervisors regularly socialise with their students. I do not. I am
really not that interested in the minutiae of your life. I understand life events will impact on
your work, and I will be very sympathetic and talk through practical solutions. But I am not
your emotional support – that’s what family and real friends are for.
3. At the beginning of this journey I will provide leadership and instruction. But a PhD is an
evolving process towards independence as a researcher, so by the end you will be in control
of supervisions and you will be telling me what you need from me. I am very happy to see
this happen. It is as it should be.
4. You do not need to be a genius to do a PhD. It certainly helps if you are bright, but some
surprisingly unbright people seem to pass. The main characteristic you need in spades is
‘stickability’ – a ‘never give up’ attitude, and a willingness to suck up all problems that come
your way (and they will), and find solutions to them.
5. But not everyone who gets a PhD then goes on to be a full-time researcher, or becomes
a Professor – so it is crucial that you make the most of opportunities to acquire other
transferable life-skills that will be useful in non-academic fields.
52 THINKWELL

6. Your PhD research is unlikely to change the world. I’m sorry to break bad news, but there
it is. For most people, PhD research is the vehicle they use to demonstrate that they have the
skills and abilities to be taken seriously as a researcher. If you can change the world as well,
then that is a bonus. But don’t expect it.
7. Not everyone who embarks upon a PhD will pass with flying colours. I can (and will) give
you my best advice at all times, but I am not responsible for your final thesis – you are.
8. Although we start with me ahead of you, by the end we will be equal, and in some areas
you will be my superior. This is also as it should be. For a brief, shining moment you should
be the world expert in a tiny prescribed area of the topic you have chosen to study.
9. I receive no specific reward or financial gain for the pleasure of supervising you – so yes, I
do expect my name to go on any publishable papers which may emerge from your data. If no
publishable papers emerge, I will be frankly disappointed.
10. I have now supervised 11 PhD students. I can almost guarantee that at some time
during your three year program you will experience some kind of personal crisis (illness,
bereavement, relationship problems, and so on). Or, if you escape these, then your research
will be beset by some major drama (vital equipment failure, sudden disappearance from the
planet of every patient with the condition you want to study). Again, I will be sympathetic
and practical. Time out is always an option, to stop the clock ticking. But your final examiner
will not care about your troubles. You are judged on what you produce and how you defend
it in the viva – not on how much effort it took you to overcome life’s obstacles to get there.
So now, are you sitting comfortably? Then let us begin.
Good luck – and may your journey be fruitful,
Your Supervisor
For those looking for more serious and sensible and useful advice about doing a PhD in the
UK – start here [web links provided in original blog post].’
Reproduced with permission from Anne Bruton. This text is from her personal blog and
does not reflect the views of her employers. https://anniebruton.wordpress.com/2013/09/21/
dear-new-phd-student/

Research integrity
Any discussion about expectations and Fabrication, falsification and plagiarism

standards also needs to include a discussion (FFP) are examples of the most serious
about research integrity. This is about breaches of research integrity. They generate
carrying out research to the highest standards considerable attention when they occur.
of professionalism and rigour, and to the Instances of poor practice in research (see
accuracy and integrity of the research record table below for some examples) may be less
in publications and elsewhere. It underpins serious but they occur far more frequently.
research as a reliable process of investigation, PhD supervisors are responsible for training
and also the reputations of individuals, PhD students to adopt high standards in
research institutions and funding agencies. their research, and for ensuring that research
A commitment to research integrity ensures standards are maintained.
that scarce research effort and funds are
allocated where they are most needed, and
supports public confidence in science.
54 THINKWELL

Types of misconduct in research
Core ‘Research Misconduct’ Research practice misconduct
Fabrication of data Using inappropriate (e.g. harmful or
Falsification of data dangerous) research methods
Plagiarism
Poor research design
FFP normally includes:
Experimental, analytical, computational errors
Selectively excluding data from analysis
Misinterpreting data to obtain desired results Violation of human subject protocols
(including inappropriate use of statistical
Abuse of laboratory animals
methods)
Doctoring images in publications
Producing false data or results under pressure

from a sponsor
Data-related misconduct Publication-related

misconduct
Not preserving primary data
Claiming undeserved authorship
Bad data management, storage
Denying authorship to contributors
Withholding data from the scientific
community Artificially proliferating publications (‘salami-
slicing’)
NB: The above applies to physical research
materials as well Failure to correct the publication record
Personal misconduct Financial and other

misconduct
Inappropriate personal behaviour, harassment
Peer review abuse e.g. non-disclosure of
Inadequate leadership, mentoring, counselling conflict of interest, unfairly holding up a rival’s
of students publication
Insensitivity to social or cultural norms Misrepresenting credentials or publication
record
Misuse of research funds for unauthorised

purchases or for personal gain
Making an unsubstantiated or malicious

misconduct allegation
From: OECD ‘Best practices for ensuring scientific integrity and preventing misconduct.’

A good start
The first few weeks are a time of transition in this chapter, you can make it a little less
for the new PhD student. It can feel daunting and help them get on with planning
overwhelming and many students struggle their research. That is the subject of the next
to make a good start. With a little effort on chapter.
your part, and using the tools and checklists
56 THINKWELL

AT A GLANCE
CHAPTER 3: GETTING STARTED:
THE FIRST FEW WEEKS
1 Actively manage the early stages of the PhD. The time in the first
three months is just as precious as in the last three months.
2 Prepare an outline of how your new PhD students can be helped to

settle in to their new work and social environment. It’s in your best
interest to ensure that the transition is as trouble-free as possible for
your new students – the sooner they can settle in, the sooner they
can start doing research.
3 Before a new student arrives, a number of actions are required to

ensure that they can integrate into their new environment as easily
as possible.
4 The most important aim in the first few weeks is for the student
to get settled in, feel welcome and comfortable in their new
environment, and prepare for the research activity to come.
5 Take time to plan the topics that you want to cover in the very first
meeting. Set aside enough time so that you are not rushing. Use the
“Settling in: Checklist for new PhD students”.
6 Develop good habits for an effective working relationship. Discuss

your expectations with the PhD student.
7 Introduce and involve the co-supervisors in decision-making, and

clarify the specific contributions of the co-supervisors.
8 Advise the PhD student on what they should focus on after each
meeting, and on what should be completed before the next meeting.
This will help them to make the most of this time.
9 Identify training needs. The initial stage of the PhD is often a good
time to take advantage of more generic training in academic writing,
critical thinking, project management, quantitative methods.
10 Provide specific research tasks. See our example ‘Develop key skills
early and often’, and design other tasks that can help build the PhD
student’s skills.

4. HELPING YOUR STUDENT
PLAN THEIR PHD
To plan or not to plan?
Some people don’t like planning, some the actual research rarely sticks to the plan,
people don’t even like the word ‘planning’, the consequences of not planning are worse.
and some researchers will argue that you can’t A little bit of planning can help avoid some
plan research. However, in our experience, pitfalls and at least buy some time to deal
planning is vital if the student is to meet the with the unexpected things that happen in
requirements of a PhD and complete in a research.
reasonable timeframe. Although it’s true that
“A badly planned project will take three

times longer than expected – a well planned
project only twice as long as expected”
– Anon
58 THINKWELL

Differences in disciplines
Some disciplines, e.g. STEM, lend themselves to plan. However, this is when it’s just as
more easily to planning. Grant-funded important to put some time into the planning
projects usually require project timetables process. Without a plan, the student can drift
and defined project outcomes as part of the aimlessly, and you (and they) will find it hard
application process. In these cases, the PhD to assess progress. Even though what happens
student’s thesis slots into the overall plan. in practice may not follow the plan, one of the
key elements of effective planning is that you
Other research, often in the Arts, Humanities regularly review and update the plan.
and Social Sciences (AHSS), is more difficult
Big ideas, no plans = headaches

“I remember the extent of project planning in my PhD as being high on discussion, but
low on written plans and records. There was an advertisement for the PhD that consisted
of about half a page of text with lots of big ideas, and very few specifics. As far as I can
remember, that was the only project plan. It was a constant mental effort to not forget what
had to be done next, and to not forget the various elements and interlinkages in the project.”
– Senior researcher, Ireland

Overseeing the planning process
At the start of a PhD, the supervisor knows over to the student to draft an initial plan
much more about doing a PhD than the (the ‘how’). This draft plan then forms a
student and, by necessity, plays a major role basis for discussion between the supervisor
in developing the plan. You can’t expect the and student. This chapter outlines your
student to know how to do it. However this role in planning the PhD research with
doesn’t mean you have to do all the work. your students and provides some tools and
Supervisors should be able to discuss the resources that you and your students can use.
broad aims of a project and the motivations
that underpin it (the ‘why’), and then hand The table below lists the parts of the planning
process and the relevant tools.
Planning Process Activity Tool

Early discussions about the
Getting started Planning questions
project and broad plans
Identifying goals Define SMART goals SMART goals
See if the goals are feasible

Feasibility in terms of time, resources, Feasibility tool
etc.
Identify the tasks involved
and develop a broad Gantt chart: Thesis
Overall timeline
timeline for the whole planner
thesis
Working out what will be Six month planner
achieved in the next six Monthly planner
Detailed planning
months, the next month, Weekly planner
the next week Daily planner
Regular meetings and
checkpoints to review Meeting schedules
Reviewing progress
progress against the plan. Plan B
Dealing with setbacks
60 THINKWELL

Getting started: early planning approaches
At the beginning of the PhD, you will need The tool on the following page lists the kind
to have several meetings with your student to of issues that you, and your student, should
discuss the project and make decisions about consider during these discussions, and when
the direction and approach. In some cases the reviewing students’ plans. You could give this
approach will be clear; in others the plan will to the student before a planning meeting and
need to be flexible enough to respond to the ask them to consider the questions. When
research as it evolves. you meet, you can both review the initial
thoughts and begin to develop a thesis plan.

Questions to support project planning
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
What is the broad aim of the PhD project?
What is the justification for and background to the project? Why is it worthwhile doing?
What are the objectives of the project?
Are the project objectives SMART (specific, measurable, agreed, realistic, time-framed)?
Which objectives are more important than others, and why?
TASKS INVOLVED
What are the specific accomplishments and deliverables of the project?
What are the detailed tasks required to produce the deliverables and achieve each of the objectives?
Are some tasks dependent on the completion of other tasks?
What is the estimated duration of each task?
What is the estimated cost associated with each task. Do the costs exceed the budget?
Which tasks are most important? Why?
Which tasks are most time-consuming?
Which tasks are most difficult? Why?
What are the responsibilities of other supervisors, other agencies, or other individuals associated with
the project?
What methodology and methods will be used in the research?
What specific skills or resources are required e.g. statistical analyses, interview techniques, laboratory
methods, improved writing skill or computer software?
RISK ASSESSMENT
Will all of the required skills and resources be available?
Which tasks in the project are associated with highest risk?
What factors might threaten the successful completion of task?
How can you minimise or eliminate any of these threats?
Are there low-risk tasks that can be an adequate back-up in case of failure in the high-risk tasks?
MONITORING OF PROGRESS
What are the key milestones? Key dates, key outcomes.
How will you monitor progress (review meetings, GANNT charts, reports)?
Have you built in time as contingency for when things go wrong?
62 THINKWELL

Smart goals
After you’ve completed early discussions and explorations of the topic, it’s time to develop
detailed goals. One way to do this is to make sure the targets or goals are specific, measurable,
agreed, realistic and time-framed (SMART).
SMART Goals
We will improve efficiency by 10% in new solar panel
Specific design. We will compare patient recovery times using
treatments A, B and C.
How many participants? How many experiments? How
Measurable
many articles?
Both supervisor(s) and student need to agree to the
Agreed
goal.
Realistic Is it feasible? What are the limitations and obstacles?
Time-framed How long will it take? When will the goal be achieved by?
Once the SMART goals are identified they can then be broken down into specific tasks.

Feasibility
How can a novice researcher know what project. This is something you need to do
is feasible? They don’t fully understand at the beginning of the PhD and regularly
the theories that they wish to investigate. throughout the project.
They don’t appreciate the full consequences
of their choice of research questions or Often your task will be to scale back the
methodology. They are likely to estimate student’s over-ambitious plans. PhD students
incorrectly the time required to review the often see a PhD as their one big chance to
literature, analyse their data or write the change the world, and to revolutionise their
thesis. So, one of your key responsibilities is field. One of your jobs is to help them to be
to provide guidance on the feasibility of the more realistic.
‘Supervisors are aware that it is adequate for a thesis to make an incremental contribution
to knowledge and understanding – a PhD does not have to inspire a revolution in thinking
about a research discipline. As one examiner put it, “. . . A PhD is three years of solid work,
not a Nobel Prize.”’ – Mullins and Kiley, 2002
Here are some issues to consider when looking at feasibility.

• What is the scope of the project? What • Is there sufficient depth/material for
will be included? What will be excluded? a PhD? This may not be immediately
On what basis are these decisions made? obvious, but should be kept in mind even
at this early stage.
• What resources are required and are they
available? • Can the project be completed within the
timeframe?
• What methodologies will be used? Is
relevant expertise available?
Rules of thumb when planning research durations!

Whatever your first estimate is – multiply it by two.
If a computer or software is involved – multiply it by three.
If it involves other people – multiply it by ten.
– Hugh Kearns
64 THINKWELL

The ‘Assessment of Feasibility’ tool below lists some of the information that is needed to begin
an assessment of the project’s feasibility. You could get your student to complete as much of
this tool as they can and then discuss their responses.
Assessment of feasibility
TIME
List of main tasks

Estimate of duration and person months
Gantt chart
FUNDING
Summary of main project costs

E.g. registration fees, living expenses (for self-funded projects), research equipment,
consumables, travel and subsistence, conference fees, specialist software and licences,
training
EXPERTISE
Match between the student’s skills, and the needs of the project
Availability of key persons to provide training or advice on specialised techniques,
software, statistical analysis, interview methods.
QUALITY
The contribution to knowledge, originality and publication potential and assessment of

whether these are sufficient to satisfy an external examiner.
List of opportunities for the PhD researcher to express research independence and
engage in career development.
RISK ASSESSMENT
List of the most serious risks and assess how likely they are to occur.
List actions that can mitigate these risks.
If needed, propose an alternative course of action (Plan B).

Thesis planner
While every PhD is different, most go through a number of common stages:
Common stages of PhD projects

Usually there are a lot of details to sort out e.g. office space,
Getting started email accounts, access to labs, health and safety courses, finding
accommodation.
In some cases this can be quite detailed, in others it is a broad
statement. In experimental topics, the proposal is often part of
Early proposal or topic
an existing project and may have been written by the principal
investigator.
Literature review Reviewing what has already been done and identifying a gap.
Skills required might include being able to carry out pilot
experiments, develop techniques, use laboratory instruments,
Development of skills
adhere to research ethics, and engage in ongoing professional
development.
Data gathering This is likely to consume a large amount of time in the PhD.
This involves using appropriate techniques to analyse the
Analysis and interpretation
collected data and then interpreting the results.
There is an ongoing requirement to report progress to the
Reviewing supervisor, the university, and possibly to a funding agency or
industry partner.
Of course, writing should happen all the way through, but there
Writing
is always a final intense burst of writing to complete the thesis.
This occurs in response to feedback from supervisor(s), and
Rewriting
reviewers (for any submitted manuscripts).
There are three stages: submitting the completed thesis,
Examination and defence
defending at the viva and carrying out subsequent revisions.
Rewriting thesis chapters and submitting to journals for
Publications
publication.
66 THINKWELL

Given that most PhD projects go through Make sure that your PhD student also
these stages, there is a sample thesis planner schedules time and milestones for the
below that provides a rough estimate of following:
where time will be spent over the three to
four years. (Templates can be downloaded • Monitoring of progress
from www.ithinkwell.com.au). • Personal events (holidays, illness etc.)
You need to help the PhD student develop • Preparation for formal review meetings
this plan. Give them guidance on how long
they are likely to spend on the elements. With • Assessment of risks
new and unfamiliar tasks, you may not know
• Preparation for conferences and
how long they will take, in which case you
publications
will have to estimate. Use past experience as a
guide, or perhaps conduct a pilot project. • Attendance at seminars and conferences
• Skills development and training
• Professional development
Conferences and papers

“As you plan the year ahead, consider whether the student will have sufficient data to present
a paper at a conference. Mark the key conference dates in the plan. When does the abstract
need to be submitted? The paper? Allow time to write the paper. How does this fit with the
work schedule?
My first PhD student came across an interesting approach in her review of the literature and
was very keen to write an article about it. At the time I was supportive, but the problem was
that it wasn’t directly relevant to her thesis, took about four months, and was not included
in the final thesis. This set her back quite a long way and put a lot of pressure on at the end.
Now if students want to write papers I make sure the content is directly relevant to their
thesis. This way, the work and the text contribute to the main project.” – PhD supervisor,
Ireland
Generally, when PhD students complete this planner they begin to realise that the three or
four years will pass quite quickly. It forces them (and their supervisors) to be realistic, and is a
useful tool for having a joint discussion about how the project will proceed.

YEAR 1
68
JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC
Getting Started
Literature Review (+paper)

Science
Proposal Deadline Annual Review
Proposal Ethics
Lab Work Experiment 1 Hols

Writing
YEAR 2
Experiment 2 Experiment 3
Analysis

Annual Review
Conference Paper Hols

Writing
YEAR 3
Experiment 4
Analysis
Paper Hols Writing

The first one is for a science PhD. It has lots of time for experimenting and lab work.
Submit
Conference Final Revisions
THINKWELL
YEAR 1
Getting Started
Literature Review (+paper) Proposal Deadline

26 Sep
Proposal
Annual Review
Ethics Hols
Writing
Arts/humanities
SUPERVISING PHD STUDENTS

YEAR 2
Data Gathering Field Trip

Analysis
Annual Review
Paper Hols
Writing
The planner below is more typical of an arts or humanities PhD.
YEAR 3
Data Gathering
Writing Hols Writing
Conference Final Revisions Submit
69
More detailed planning
The thesis planner looks at the whole thesis There are many project management tools/
in a broad sense, but more detailed plans are software that people can use, but simple tools
needed for the more immediate tasks. The are often the most effective. There are a range
closer the date, the more detailed the goals of planning tools at www.ithinkwell.com.au
need to be. In particular the plan needs to that cater for different planning time periods,
highlight The Next Thing. What are the including planners for ‘Six months’, ‘This
main tasks to be completed this month, this month’, ‘This week’ and ‘Today’. Encourage
week and today? your student to use these tools and discuss
them at your regular meetings.
“I have always found that plans are useless

but planning is indispensable.”
– Dwight Eisenhower, President of the
United States, 1953-1961
70 THINKWELL

Conduct regular reviews of plans
and progress
While it’s great to have a plan, they are out Progress checks shouldn’t just rely on random
of date almost as soon as they are written. meetings in the corridor and over coffee;
Experiments don’t work out as expected, make an effort to seek out your PhD student.
interviews and field trips take longer than This is even more important if you haven’t
predicted, and occasionally tasks come in seen them for a while. Reach out and quickly
ahead of schedule. This means that actual check how they are getting on; this can be a
progress needs to be reviewed against the quick visit to their office, the lab, or an email
plan, following which the plan needs to or phone call. As well as informing you of
be updated. We will look at three types of progress, it shows that you care, and builds
reviews: your relationship with the student.
• Progress checks Progress checks are useful for finding out if
progress is slow, whether or not there is an
• Review meetings urgent need for a review meeting, or if there
• Institutional reviews are specific problems or obstacles. They are
a good way to resolve immediate practical
Progress checks difficulties and also a great opportunity to
provide positive feedback or encouragement.
These tend to be the short impromptu chats
However, they are less useful for dealing with
in the corridor; chats over coffee; quick
major problems, sensitive topics or looking
15-minute catch-ups in the office. These
at broader issues such as the overall research
are not regular scheduled meetings but are
plan or professional development.
a chance to find out what progress is being
made on current tasks and if anything is
getting in the way. They involve questions
such as:
• What’s happening?
• How are things going?
• Is there anything you need?
• Do we need to organise a meeting to
discuss points in more detail?

Beware of relying on verbal reassurances of progress
Bronwyn was supervising Joseph, a PhD student in his second year who was working on
a project that was co-funded by an external partner. For months, Bronwyn had been busy
working on a large research proposal, and had only seen Joseph on a few occasions. These
were usually rushed chats in the corridor, during which Joseph reassured Bronwyn that all
was OK. After submitting the proposal, Bronwyn took another few weeks to get her own
research and committee work under control, and started scheduling regular meetings with
her PhD students again. Joseph sent apologies for the first two meetings. It was now four
months since her last proper meeting with Joseph, and Bronwyn was getting concerned.
That evening, the external partner emailed Bronwyn that they wished to receive a project
update within the next ten days.
What would happen if the external partner phoned Bronwyn for an immediate verbal
update instead of emailing?
What could Bronwyn have done differently, given the conflicting demands on her time?
What kind of information does Bronwyn need to assess Joseph’s progress? How does she get
it?
How should Bronwyn assess the quantity of work undertaken? And quality?
Joseph’s mother has been ill for last few months and he has not made any progress. What
happens now?
72 THINKWELL

Review meetings
These are more formal meetings with an • A description of the theory that is being
agenda, and that need some preparation tested
beforehand. They are the proper occasion
to make informed decisions on progress and • A list of specific problems
planning. Most PhD meetings are review • Summary of the data
meetings of one form or another, but some
meetings are obviously more important and • Current draft of a thesis chapter, a
more dominated by a review component than conference paper or journal manuscript
others. We would recommend dedicated
• Summary of the interpretation of the
review meetings of about 20-40 minutes
results
every month or two, with a more substantial
review every six months. The end of major The form on the next page lists the type of
work activities e.g. field work, proposal, data topics that could be covered in the review
analysis, a series of experiments are also useful meeting. You could give this outline to your
times for review meetings. student and suggest they use it to prepare for
review meetings.
For supervisors, a key feature of review
meetings is that progress is based on evidence, As a supervisor, you will also have to do some
not on verbal reassurances. Be specific preparation in advance of review meetings.
about the material that you want to see that This could involve:
will show that progress is being made on
both the quantity and quality of work. The • Asking the student to complete the Review
student should do most of the preparation, Meeting form. (Give them the form.)
and collate the information that you have
• Defining your expected level of progress
requested. For example, this might include:
(quantity and quality) since the last review
• A Gantt chart with a comparison of the meeting. This should be available from the
planned and actual schedule notes of the last meeting
• A list of what has been achieved • Forecasting the likely level of progress
(quantity and quality) to be achieved in the
• An outline of a project design and next weeks and months
methodology

Review meeting
THE PREVIOUS PLAN
What was supposed to happen?

Description of intended goals
Gantt chart
PROGRESS AGAINST THE PLAN
What has been done?

Achievements
How does the timing of the completed work compare to the planned timing?
Is the work of expected level of quality?
What else has happened?
Number of words written, or number of chapters completed
Data gathered, interviews conducted
List of literature reviewed
OBSTACLES
What has got in the way?

What can be done?
LOOKING AHEAD
Next goals. How will the next goals be achieved?

Timeframes
Papers, conferences, seminars
Training and development
SUPPORT REQUIRED
From the supervisor(s)

From the department
Other support
74 THINKWELL

Institutional reviews
Most institutions now have a regular review However, where the regular review meetings
process that must be undertaken to approve have shown that progress is not satisfactory,
progression in a PhD e.g. confirmation, then the institutional review takes on a more
annual review of progress. You need to critical role. This is when serious decisions
be aware of the formal reviews at your are made about the future of the PhD. What
institution and communicate them to your has caused the lack of progress? What changes
students in good time. There will be forms to are required? Can the situation be retrieved?
be completed and, in some cases, panels to be Your institution should have processes
convened. The student, reasonably enough, in place for dealing with unsatisfactory
will assume that you will be aware of the performance. It would be wise to become
processes and procedures. familiar with them before you need to call on
them.
For supervisors and students who have
had regular review meetings, institutional
reviews should not be a problem, and much
of the material will be prepared in advance.
University reviews: key points

Be familiar with the institutional review processes.
Be familiar with the process for dealing with unsatisfactory student performance.

A completion plan
When PhD students enter their final year, planning becomes even more important. There
is not too much time left, which means less time to catch up if things go wrong. To create a
completion plan you identify the end date (this is probably when the funding finishes, or the
deadline for thesis submission) and then work backwards from there.
Completion plan
Task Date
Finish gathering data

Finish methodology chapter
Finalise analysis
Finish results chapter
Finish conclusion and introduction
Final revisions
Submit final thesis
76 THINKWELL

There will be at least a month or more of as the basis of a discussion at one of your
reading, revising and formatting of the final meetings. Be sure to include sufficient time
draft. Prior to that there will be chapters in the completion plan for you to review the
being completed on a regular basis. For that documents and give feedback.
to happen, results will have to be analysed and
so on. If you are serious about the student Sometimes, it is the supervisor who causes
finishing on time, the deadlines now have to delays at the completion stage. Many of the
be firm. PhD students that we meet complain about
how their supervisors are so busy that they
You need to be involved in developing this do not provide timely (if any) feedback. At
plan as you will be spending a lot of time other times, supervisors keep on planning
reading drafts, making changes and re- more work and more data collection – right
reading. If you don’t know about the plan, up to the end of the funding. This has serious
you might be unavailable or just very busy consequences for students who have to finish
at a crucial stage which can add weeks or their theses without funding (see below for
months to completion times. Get the student how one student handled this).
to draw up a draft completion plan using
the Completion Plan template and use this
Completion plans: the PhD student’s perspective

“I had four months funding remaining in my PhD. I had worked hard, and had four
strong chapters based on new research data. Each of these had already been presented
at conferences, and we intended writing them up as journal articles. Then, my primary
supervisor suggested one more data gathering round for one more paper. I was devastated!
I thought I was finishing up, my funding was coming to an end in a few months, and my
supervisor was suggesting a new research chapter!
I talked with a co-supervisor of my project who confirmed that I had enough work done
(but he wouldn’t say this to the lead supervisor), and I read other PhD theses to check how
much was enough. In the end, I presented a Gantt chart to my supervisor, showing how
the extra work would require at least an extra four months. I made it clear that I would
only do the extra work if my supervisor could provide more salary for me to do this. There
was no funding, so I did not do the extra work. At my PhD viva, the external examiner
complimented me on the impressive amount of work in my thesis.” – PhD student, UK
university

When it doesn’t work out
Setbacks
In reality, research rarely follows the plan. than predicted; people get sick. In most cases,
The unexpected happens: results don’t turn these are minor to moderate setbacks that
out as planned; equipment doesn’t work; new can be easily overcome, or overcome with a
opportunities arise; priorities change in the reasonable amount of revising and planning.
light of new findings; activities take longer
A B
A B
C
When students begin their PhD they think Learning how to solve research problems,
research is a nice straight line, A to B. Quickly and the issues that inevitably arise during
they realise that things go wrong, plans have projects, is part of what makes the PhD
to be reset and, in some cases, during the experience valuable for students. This ability
course of the research the question actually to overcome adversity is also valued by
moves from B to C. employers. However, this is not a licence to
abandon your PhD students!
78 THINKWELL

One of the most important functions of “One of my favourite
progress checks and review meetings is that
you find out about problems in a timely
questions in review
manner. Things that seem like a major meetings is ‘What is holding
problem for a student can often be easily you back from making
solved by you – perhaps with one quick progress?’”
phone call. Other problems may take some
more time and effort, of course, and these are – Experienced PhD
a focus of review meetings. When discussing supervisor
problems, questions to ask might include the
following:
If changes are required, get your student to
• What worked?
revise the plan and send you a copy. Read the
• What didn’t? revised plan immediately, to check that the
written record reflects your understanding
• Why? of what you agreed. Watch out for how the
• What are the consequences for the project changes affect the feasibility of completing
and the quality of the work? by the end date. As a supervisor, you also
need to be satisfied that the revised content
• What can we learn from that? still meets the standard for doctoral research,
both in terms of quantity and quality.
• What can we do now to solve the problem?
• Do we need to change the plan? If so, in
what way?

Plan B
Sometimes, major problems arise in PhD things going wrong by explicitly considering
projects. the risks associated with the work. This
might mean modifying the original research
• An ethics board refuses permission to question, adding in supplementary research
conduct a survey. questions, or having a backup plane.
• A collaborator who has exclusive access to Many experienced supervisors help their
the data is no longer available or students to design projects that have different
co-operative. levels of risk. Sometimes, the more ambitious
• A crucial piece of equipment (chemical and novel elements of the work involve a
analysis, supercomputer, novel higher degree of risk. Supervisors try to
measurement technique) may not be counterbalance this by ensuring that the PhD
available or function properly. project also contains other low-risk elements.
These are almost certain to produce results
• The project budget gets cut unexpectedly that are sufficient for a PhD in the event
and undermines the financial feasibility of that the worst happens with the high-risk
some planned activity. elements. Thus, a Plan B is designed into
the project plan from the start. A reasonable
This is when it is essential to have (or
effort still goes into correcting and trying
develop) a Plan B. And it’s where the
to achieve the high-risk elements when
supervisor has to play a key role. It’s
problems arise, but the low-risk work ensures
unreasonable to expect an inexperienced
a PhD thesis can still be produced when the
PhD student to predict the things that can go
high-risk work may not succeed as intended.
wrong. When you are designing the project,
or at the planning stage, you need to plan for
80 THINKWELL

What if?
“I find having a Plan B incredibly useful. It takes some of the pressure off having to have
everything perfect before I progress. Sometimes I worry so much about things going wrong
that I don’t want to move forward until I’m sure that they won’t go wrong. Of course this is
not possible. So having a plan B offsets the procrastination and delay that I have for moving
forward. Plan B really answers the big question: What if…?” – PhD candidate, Australian
University
Swept away
A PhD student (Year 1) was investigating the role of invertebrates in decomposition of leaf
litter in freshwater streams. They had invested a huge amount of effort into weighing and
installing mesh bags full of leaves into a stream. A major flood occurred, and swept away all
of the litter bags … and most of the invertebrates. This was a disaster for the original research
aims. However, he was able to show the effect of a 1-in-100-year flood by comparing data
from before and after the flood, and turned disappointment into major success by tracking
the recovery of the stream life after this rarely monitored weather event.
Anticipate major problems

What major problems could happen with your student’s research?
How would you respond?
What is the Plan B?

A written plan
We believe it is very helpful for both the not require a lot of work by the supervisor.
supervisor and the PhD student to have a Get your student to use the tools, which
written research plan. The tools we have you can then use at your regular meetings to
described in this chapter would form such a discuss the plan and review progress
plan. And importantly, using these tools does
82 THINKWELL

AT A GLANCE
CHAPTER 4: HELPING YOUR STUDENT
PLAN THEIR PHD
1 Your role is to oversee the planning process; you don’t have to do it

all but you do need to make sure it gets done.
2 Even though the actual research rarely sticks to the plan, the
consequences of not planning are worse.
3 Give your student a list of planning questions that cover the main
issues involved in the project.
4 Help your student assess the feasibility of the project by asking

questions about timing, funding, expertise, quality and risks.
5 Start with the big plan. Roughly map out the stages of the thesis with
broad timelines.
6 Set SMART goals for the next year, the next six months and the next
month.
7 Review the plan regularly with progress checks, review meetings and
institutional reviews.
8 In the final year, develop a completion plan. The final six months
are very important, and need a lot of planning and monitoring of
progress to ensure timely completion.
9 Have a Plan B in case Plan A does not work out.
10 Encourage your student to use the tools described in this chapter to

create and monitor the plan.

5. MEETINGS
Introduction
Effective meetings are crucial in helping during the PhD. They’re the place to build
the PhD student make progress and stay the relationship, discuss the research, develop
on track. They will be your main form of ideas, coach and provide feedback.
one-to-one interaction with your student
Two’s company, three’s a crowd

“I dread going to my PhD meetings. I have two supervisors. One of them always turns
up late so we have to keep repeating everything. And when he does get there, they argue
amongst themselves and never give me any direction.
I always leave confused and demoralised.” – First year PhD student
Unfortunately, everyone has a horror story This chapter describes the different types of
about meetings and we’ve all been to more meetings you can use as a PhD supervisor,
meetings than are good for us. Meetings have how to run them effectively and how to
a bad name, but this can be easily avoided encourage student engagement.
with a little preparation and some simple
meeting rules.
Informal chats are not meetings

You will probably bump into your student in the corridor or when you pop into the lab,
or they may drop into your office as they pass by. No doubt you’ll ask them how things are
going and they’ll give you a brief update.
These impromptu chats are very useful in identifying immediate issues but it’s important to
realise they are not thesis meetings. They don’t provide the time or environment for proper
discussion about overall progress, about issues that may be concerning you or the student, or
to offer more detailed feedback.
As well as these informal chats, you need regular meetings.
84 THINKWELL

Face-to-face meetings
When people talk about meetings they are get more productive just before meetings.
mostly thinking about face-to-face meetings. The meeting gives them a target and
These are the gold standard. Face-to-face structure. You can use this to everybody’s
meetings are generally better for effective advantage by having more regular meetings
communication. You are able to read the which means more regular bursts of activity
other person’s body language, you can connect from the student.
more easily, and you can share documents or
other items. They are especially important for As you see that your PhD student is making
relationship-building, and for discussions of a progress and becoming more confident, you
more creative or exploratory nature. might consider reducing the frequency –
perhaps move to meeting every two or three
There are a number of questions/factors you weeks. For some students, this will happen
should consider when organising meetings. quickly; others will need more support for a
longer time.
How often?
As the student moves through different
How often you meet depends on the stages of their PhD, you may need to change
individual student and their stage of the meeting frequency. For example, when
candidature. At the start, we suggest weekly they are collecting data or undertaking some
meetings. Many PhD students waste the routine tasks they may be very independent
first few weeks, or even months, of their and need little support. But when they
candidature because they have no idea what come to data analysis or start using a new
they are doing. They wander aimlessly technique they may need more of your time.
through the library randomly pulling books They will probably also need more support
off the shelves or downloading every pdf they as they get closer to deadlines e.g. proposal
can find. And becoming more and more lost or confirmation. And there is no doubt that,
as every moment passes. Weekly meetings when it comes to writing the final thesis, more
help them to make a good start and allow you frequent meetings will speed progress. It is so
to see how they are going. easy to procrastinate about writing or get stuck;
Many supervisors find that students tend to frequent meetings will help them stay on track.
Meetings provide urgency

“I’ve noticed with some of my students that most of their work seems to happen in the
few days before we meet. They seem to get a sense of urgency and want to show that they
have made some progress. So I’ve learned that more frequent meetings means they get
more done. If I have less frequent meetings with them they seem to drift more and are less
productive.” – PhD supervisor

Meeting length It’s also useful to think about this from
the student’s point of view. It can be quite
If you have frequent meetings e.g. weekly, intimidating to have two or three experts
then they don’t need to be very long. In lined up on the other side of the table pulling
general the longer the meetings the more your ideas apart. This can be even more
unproductive they become. So your meeting extreme if the student is from a different
might range between 30 minutes and an hour. culture or is shy or lacking in confidence.
After an hour there is a tendency to waffle In these cases, it can be more useful to have
and get distracted. And the student can get just the main supervisor involved for most
overwhelmed with too much information. meetings with occasional visits from other
On occasions you may have longer meetings, supervisors.
for example, to work through complicated However, all supervisors (or involved parties)
models or ideas or to help analyse a should get a copy of the agenda from the
complicated data set. PhD student before the meeting and a copy
Who should be at the meeting? of the notes after the meeting. This makes
sure everyone is informed of progress and
In general, the more people there are at decisions.
meetings the less productive they become,
so the only people who should be at the Where to hold the meeting?
meeting are the ones who need to be there. It seems obvious to hold the meeting in
As a minimum, the PhD student and their your office (if you’re fortunate enough these
primary supervisor are the main characters. days to have your own office). But is that
But should secondary or co-supervisors the best place? While your office might
attend all meetings? It depends. What is be very comfortable for you, it can be a bit
their role in the project? Are they fully intimidating for students. You already have
involved in all aspects? If so, then they should a power imbalance. As you sit in your nice
probably be there. Are they involved in just big comfortable chair and the poor student
one aspect e.g. questionnaire design, field hunches on some uncomfortable stool,
work, statistical analysis? In this case they after first having to move books off it, the
may only need to attend some but not all imbalance is magnified.
meetings. However, all supervisors should be If you do have the meeting in your office,
there when major decisions about research at least try to make it more inviting for
directions are being made.
86 THINKWELL

the student. Perhaps have a more informal your meetings.
seating arrangement – try coming out from
behind your desk and sit on the same side. To show that you are taking the meeting
seriously, it needs to be somewhere that
Some supervisors have their meeting in a both of you can concentrate. So this means
coffee shop or other neutral venue. However, you need to turn off your phone and your
if there are delicate issues to be discussed computer screen. Don’t take calls during
you may need a more private place – having the meeting. Don’t glance at emails mid-
your student breaking into floods of tears at conversation. Don’t deal with interruptions.
the coffee shop is not helpful. A laboratory For the duration of the meeting, focus on the
or postgraduate room with other PhD PhD student’s issues.
researchers present is also not suitable for
Come and see me

“I didn’t realise how quickly my students get worried. I had one student who I wanted to
have a discussion with about a possible conference paper, so I said “Can you come in and
see me later today”. When she did come she looked worried. I asked her what was wrong
and she said she’d assumed there was some problem with her work and that that was why
I’d asked for the meeting. If I was asking again I’d say ‘Can you drop in to discuss putting a
paper in for the conference’.” – New supervisor, New Zealand university

Running the meeting – agendas
If the meeting is going to be useful for the and thesis is going overall. It can be useful to
PhD student, it needs structure. One of refer to the planning documents and check on
the easiest ways to achieve this is to have an milestones.
agenda. See the sample agenda template on
the following page. Here are some examples An important aspect of feedback is that it
of the types of things you might discuss under needs to be two-way. As a supervisor, you
each heading. need to invite/encourage the student to
provide feedback and comment on how they
1. What I’ve done since the last are finding the process and whether they need
meeting anything else. You could ask questions like:
Here you get the student to briefly update • Do you need anything else from me? What
you on what they have done since the last do you need from me?
meeting. You probably won’t remember
what was discussed a week or more ago so • What would be helpful? How can I help?
this provides a recap. One supervisor gets her • How do you think things are going?
students to talk for five minutes at the start of
the meeting and outline what they have been 4. What I plan to do before the
doing since the last meeting. next meeting
2. Questions and issues This is where your student provides you with
an overview of what they hope to do before
This is where the student can flag issues they the next meeting. The discussion should be a
want to discuss. This gives you some time bit more detailed than ‘Keep reading’. What
to think about the issues rather than being articles are they planning to read? What
expected to come up with useful answers on theories are they going to explore? What
the spot. sections are they going to write?
3. Feedback 5. The Next Thing
There are different types of feedback. The It is helpful if the student is crystal clear
first and most obvious is your feedback or about their next immediate task. For example
response to the immediate questions and ‘Read chapter 4 of Kearns and Finn, and
issues raised by the student e.g. questions incorporate the theory into the Lit Review
about content, research approach, writing. chapter’. This step is particularly important
The second type of feedback is about overall if the PhD student is losing momentum or
progress. Supervisors often assume that the is overwhelmed. Most PhD students get
student is aware of how they are progressing overwhelmed by the size of the project at
but this is rarely the case. So it‘s important some stage, and one way to overcome this is
to deliberately talk about how the research to bring the focus back to the immediate task.
88 THINKWELL

Another advantage of being very specific 6. The next meeting
about the next thing is that, at the following
meeting, you can check if the task has been Ideally the next meeting is on a regular
completed. If you just say ‘Keep reading’ you schedule. However, if this is not possible you
will never know if they’ve done it. But if you need to agree on a date and time before the
say ‘Read Murphy’s articles on questionnaire current meeting ends. Otherwise you may
design and incorporate them into your need several email conversations to find a
methodology chapter’ you can easily see if it suitable time.
has been done.
Agenda
Item Date:
1 What I’ve done since last meeting
2 Questions, issues
3 Feedback
4 What I plan to do before next meeting
5 The Next Thing
6 The next meeting
Schedule the next meeting

“One of the things that I always did with my supervisor at the end of meetings was to
schedule the next meeting before I walked out of his office. This set a timeframe in which
to achieve a certain thing or things in the work. In addition, this was also a courtesy to him
inasmuch as he could also plan his own work schedule and know when I would want to see
him again.” – PhD student

The PhD student sets the agenda
For the first few meetings you will probably

need to set the agenda. However, once the
PhD student has settled in, you can suggest
that they take control of the agenda. After all,
it is their meeting. This allows the student
to make sure that their concerns are raised
during the meetings. They should send the
agenda to you a couple of days before the
meeting to give you time to work on anything
you need to prepare.
If your PhD student turns up to a meeting
without an agenda, then you should spend a
moment setting it at the start of the meeting
and insist they send one for future meetings.
The agenda should be sent to all supervisors
regardless of whether they are involved in the
meeting or not. They need to know what is
being discussed.
Preparing for the meeting

“I like to spend about five minutes before the student comes in just getting my head ready
for the meeting. I have a quick look at the agenda the student has sent and see what issues
we should deal with first. If I can’t remember I’ll have a look at the notes from the previous
meeting to remind myself what the student was supposed to be doing. And it gives me a
few minutes to get any materials together, for example, an article I was supposed to get for
them.” – Experienced PhD supervisor, Scottish university
90 THINKWELL

The PhD student circulates the notes
As agreements are reached during the • The written record also allows you to
meeting, you should encourage/insist that the check progress at the next meeting. In a
student writes down the outcomes. Before week or two, you won’t remember what
the meeting finishes, ask the student to send was agreed, so the written record will
you a short email that confirms the main remind you both.
agreements. This might be only one or two
paragraphs long, but it serves several useful • If the relationship breaks down or
purposes. complaints arise it is important to have a
written record.
• If the student has not understood what has
been agreed it will be clear in the email. The notes should be sent to all supervisors.
Many students may think they understand This allows supervisors who were not at the
what has been agreed or may be reluctant meeting to be aware of progress and decisions
to admit that they don’t during the made. This helps prevent differences of
meeting. The written record will show opinion and approach at a later time.
what they really understand.
Meeting notes
Date:
Present:
Things to do:
Who When What
Key items discussed

Recording meetings
Sometimes it is useful for the PhD student Recording can be especially useful for PhD
to record all or parts of the meeting using students who are less fluent in English. They
a digital recorder. In many meetings, ideas have to do a lot of mental processing as they
and theories can be thrown around which try to understand what is being discussed, and
make sense at the time but which can be this sometimes doesn’t leave much capacity
quite confusing later on. This is especially so for making notes or contributing.
if there are two or more supervisors at the
meeting. Often, supervisors will have wide- Many students use their phone to take a
ranging and free-flowing conversations and photo of notes you make on the whiteboard.
most students will miss some key points as You should also give them any papers you
they try to listen, take notes and contribute. have been scribbling on as these can help later
in understanding how decisions were made
(or invite them to photograph them).
92 THINKWELL

Getting involvement
Supervisors should enable students to find solutions

“My first supervisory experience was as a co-supervisor. I remember the first meeting
well. The PhD student came in and spoke for maybe two minutes. After that the primary
supervisor spent 18 of the next 20 minutes dominating the conversation! And then it was
over. This happened for several meetings. He does ALL the talking and then immediately
instructs his students on the appropriate action whenever there’s a problem. I struggled with
this approach because I feel the purpose of the meetings is to help the PhD student find
solutions.” – New supervisor, Irish university
A common complaint from supervisors is meeting. An interesting exercise is to take

that the student just sits there and doesn’t say note of air time in your next meeting. Air
anything. They don’t engage. So what can you time reflects who is doing the talking.
do to get more involvement?
In our experience, it is often 80% supervisor
Air time and 20% PhD student.
Most academics like to talk, especially about
their area of interest. So it’s very easy for you
to fill any gaps and end up dominating the
Air time
Supervisor
Student

If there are two supervisors in the room, it is more likely to be 90% supervisor and 10% PhD
student. In these cases, the student is often relegated to note-taker while the academics engage
in an intellectual debate.
Air time
Supervisor 1
Student
Supervisor 2
In an ideal world the ratio should be about 50:50. The student should have an equal
opportunity to talk, raise questions, and clarify issues.
Air time
Supervisor
Student
To encourage participation, To get better responses, ask

stop talking better questions
The easiest way to change the 80:20 split is If all you are getting in response to your
to do less talking. Rather than fill all the gaps questions are ‘Yes’ or ’No’ answers, then
you will need to be silent for a while. This perhaps you need to ask better questions. The
can be uncomfortable as both of you sit there open questions below are more likely to get
silently waiting for someone to break the the PhD student talking than the closed ones.
ice. However, if you wait a little while and
look encouragingly at the student, it’s likely
that they will start talking. Another way to
encourage them to participate more is to ask
better questions.
94 THINKWELL

Asking better questions
Question Likely response Better question
What have you been doing?

Everything going OK? Yes. All OK. What have you read?
What have you written?
What have you been reading?

Oh yes. I’ve been What articles did you find useful?
Have you been reading?
reading lots. How do they relate to your
research?
What have you written?

It’s fine. It’s going
How is the writing going? How many words have you got?
OK.
Can you show me some writing?
Can you tell me what you think

All clear? Yes, all clear.
we’ve agreed?
Can you put in your own words

Do you understand? Yes and nodding.
what you think we’ve agreed?
Do you know what to do Tell me in your own words what you

More nodding.
next? are going to do next.
Language issues cases, you need to raise an issue in the current

meeting, allow them time to process it and
PhD students who are less confident in pick it up again in the following meeting.
their English have additional challenges in
meetings, especially in their early PhD days. Time to think
At meetings, they have to listen to what you
say as you explain some complicated concept. Some people just need time to think.
Then, they have to interpret what you’ve Although many people are happy to respond
said, think about it, and find the right English quickly and engage in a discussion, others
words to say what they think. That’s a lot of need some time to process information and
cognitive processing going on, and all this as reflect more deeply. In this case, you might
well as trying to deal with the actual issue. raise an issue and, rather than expect an
It’s very likely they will need more time to immediate response, give the person some
respond to questions and express their ideas. time. This might mean they respond in a later
email or maybe even at the next meeting.
For some PhD students like this, writing
down your ideas can be helpful. In some

Other ways to meet
While face-to-face meetings are the ideal, Email meetings

there are alternatives.
Some supervisors make good use of email for
Videoconferencing meetings. This does not mean ‘Just send me
an email when you need something’. It means
Many supervisors use videoconferences (e.g. that you set up a regular time, e.g. every
Skype) for meetings either because they are Friday at 3pm, when the PhD student sends
off-campus or because the student is away or you an email that works through the agenda.
a distance student. They can be particularly You then respond to the issues raised. It
useful if the student or a supervisor is away is important to respond, otherwise the
for a sustained period, for example, on field student will wonder what’s happening. Email
work. Videoconferences have the advantage meetings can be particularly useful when you
over phone calls in that you can observe or your student are away on field work or
and respond to body language, which forces travelling, when it is very easy to lose contact.
everyone to give their full attention to the (See sample on the website).
meeting.
Phone calls
The phone is a reliable option for staying
in touch when a face-to-face meeting is not
possible. But it can be easy to get distracted
by other things during a long phone call.
Email meetings
“One of my students needed to undertake long periods in the field, going to Thailand for
three months at a time. I found I was forgetting about them when we weren’t meeting
regularly. Everyone is so busy and you just assume that they are going fine. But after the
first field trip we both agreed that it wasn’t working so well. She felt very isolated and
disconnected from me and the university and as a result her momentum really slowed. So for
the next field trip we instituted regular email meetings. At the end of each week she sends
me a report on what she has done that week, the issues that have arisen and any questions
she has. I generally respond over the weekend. This has worked much better. I get a sense of
where she is at and she said that the weekly report gives her a target to work towards.”
– PhD supervisor, Australia
96 THINKWELL

Other types of meetings
Lab meetings apply these to their own situation. For some

students, it is less intimidating to be part of
In the STEM disciplines it is usual to have a group rather than having the spotlight on
regular lab meetings. These are good because them for the whole meeting.
they allow everyone to catch up and discuss
the current issues in the lab as well as keeping Group meetings also help deal with one
up-to-date on new research. However, of the very common experiences of PhD
these are not thesis meetings. So, as well as research – isolation. When students hear
lab meetings, we urge supervisors to have that other students are also having difficulties
some individual meetings with each PhD (struggling with various parts of the research,
student. This is where individual issues can be finding it hard to write), it helps them
discussed, as well as longer term issues such as normalise their own experiences.
writing and overall progress.
However, group meetings do not replace
Group meetings individual meetings. You still need to make
individual time for each PhD student. Some
If you have several PhD students, there are issues are not appropriate for discussing
benefits in having some group as well as in front of a group and some students are
individual meetings. In group meetings, the reluctant to talk openly in front of others.
students all learn from each other. As they
see others working through issues they can
Group meetings
“I have four students right now. I meet them every week. In one week I meet each one
individually for a short meeting, maybe 30 minutes or so. In the following week I meet with
the four of them together. We meet for about an hour. Each of them gives a brief report, no
more than five minutes, about what they are currently working on. Then one of them gives
a longer talk about their research which leads to a group discussion. We have an agenda and
we rotate the chairing of the meeting. And I insist that the meetings happen even if I’m not
around. It seems to work really well.” – Experienced PhD supervisor in Public Health

Planning/review meetings Institutional review meetings
Every two or three months one of your Most universities now build in ongoing
meetings should dedicate time to reviewing reviews into the PhD process. These may
progress of the whole project. At this meeting be held annually or more frequently. These
you look at what was planned and what has meetings are a formal place to review progress
actually happened. And then plan for the next and will probably follow a specific structure
period. combined with the filling out of forms.
98 THINKWELL

AT A GLANCE
CHAPTER 4: MEETINGS
1 Regular meetings (not just informal chats) will speed up progress.
2 Meet frequently at the beginning while the student needs a lot of

support.
3 Shorter meetings are usually more effective than longer ones.
4 Think carefully about who needs to be at the meeting.
5 Use an agenda to keep the meeting on track.
6 Ask the student to send the agenda beforehand and send notes
afterwards.
7 Aim for 50:50 air time.
8 Use better questions to encourage involvement.
9 You can use Skype, phone, email as alternatives to face-to-face

meetings.
10 Consider occasional group meetings if you have more than one

student.

6. WRITING
Introduction
Writing is an essential part of the PhD skill that needs to be developed with practice,
process. Your PhD students are going to and with coaching and support from the
have to write a substantial thesis that will be supervisor.
the largest and most demanding writing task
that they have ever undertaken. One of your In this chapter, we will look at the different
roles is to help them develop their academic types of writing, how you can support your
writing skills. While they will already possess students and how to deal with the difficulties
some writing skills, the extent and rigour that may arise.
required at PhD level is a big step up for most
students. High quality academic writing is a
100 THINKWELL

Get them writing early and often
PhD students are often reluctant to write and so it’s important to get your student writing early
and often. There are a number of reasons for this.
High quality academic writing is Writing helps to clarify
difficult and takes years to learn thinking
Just because your PhD student can write in Students assume that after you’ve done the
English doesn’t mean they can write academic research and solved the problem, you then
English. This is especially the case if they just write up the results. In reality, the act of
haven’t written for many years or if English writing is a large part of solving the problem.
is not their first language. And it’s not just As your student writes, they see new ideas.
academic English. Each discipline has its own They learn as they write. For this reason,
specific dialect. Writing in the psychology writing needs to happen throughout the PhD,
discipline is different from writing in and not just at the end. It is very important
engineering. It takes many years to become a to explain to PhD students that writing is
proficient writer. So your PhD student needs part of the learning process, and not just an
to start early. outcome of it.
Early written assignments Early writing prevents a
are an opportunity for you to backlog of writing at the end of
assess their writing ability the PhD
From a supervisor’s point of view, early A mistake that PhD students (and many
writing allows you to assess the quality others) make is to assume that writing is what
of writing and how much improvement you do towards the end of the research. In
is required. It’s much better to identify addition to being a fundamental part of the
problems in the first few months rather than process of research and idea development,
after two years, which doesn’t leave much early writing helps to break up thesis writing
time for improvement. into more manageable chunks.
Write from the start

“I get my students writing from day one. And they always ask ‘What will I write about?’ And
I answer ‘Write what you know about the topic/question.’ To which they usually respond ‘I
know nothing about the topic’. And then I say ‘Write what you don’t know about the topic
and then do some reading to fill the gaps’. This means that the writing is directing their
reading rather than the other way around. And it means that I can see what they are thinking
about and where the gaps are.” – Experienced supervisor in business and management

Seeing is believing
“When I was a co-supervisor with my first PhD student we had terrible problems getting
them to write. Everything was left to the last few months and there was a huge panic at the
end. The student was up all night writing drafts and we supervisors were up late at night
editing the drafts. So when I got my own student I was determined to get them writing early.
I told them to start writing at the beginning. It started off okay. The student produced a few
pages for the literature review but then it seemed to dry up. I kept asking how the writing
was going and the student would reassure me that everything was going okay. Eventually
when I asked to see some writing, it turned out that they had hardly written anything at all.
It was an awkward meeting but we talked about a plan so that I would see some regular
writing. As she reads she makes notes and then summarises these into a basic literature
review. Now I get her to send me whatever she has done at the end of each month. I read it
and we discuss the feedback at the next meeting. This is working out much better.” – PhD
supervisor, Australian university
Writing a conference abstract and producing a poster

Conference abstracts and posters are great ways to get your student writing. Even students
in the earliest stages can produce a poster about their research questions, why their project is
useful and original, and what they intend to do. They also learn the skill of poster production,
and the poster itself can be displayed so that other people in the department are aware of the
project. If the student has produced some early results, their poster could be presented at a
postgrad conference or other conferences in the field.
They will probably never have prepared a poster or conference abstract, so you need to
explain the process to them and walk them through it. Show them some good examples, and
get them to develop a first draft and refine it from there.
102 THINKWELL

How do you support writing?
One of your roles as a supervisor is to help your student become a good academic writer. This
means showing the student how writing happens and guiding them through the process.
Explain that it’s about reading to write about. But, of course, they could write
and writing, not reading or about what they have been reading.
writing
You can use the following list to encourage
When most students start their PhD, they tend your student to start writing. As they read an
to get lost in the literature. They read and read article, especially key articles in the discipline,
and read, but are reluctant to write. In fact, get them to answer and write about the
they will often tell you that they have nothing following questions.
Critical reading
QUESTIONS TO ANSWER AS YOU READ
What is the hypothesis?
What is the method? Is it rigorous? Appropriate

sample sizes? Do the results support the conclusions?
What are the key findings?
How does this paper support/contradict other work

in the field?
How does it support/contradict/inform your own

approach?
How significant/important is this research? What

special contribution does it make?
Is this research repeating existing approaches or

making a new contribution?
What are the strengths?
What are weaknesses and limitations?

Early writing exercises
Select a short article that you are familiar with, perhaps one written by a previous student of
yours. Get a new student to read it and write answers to the questions above. Use this as the
basis for a discussion at your next meeting.
Select a thesis chapter from a previous student of yours. Show your new student an early draft
and the final product as it appeared in the thesis. Ask them to compare these and highlight
the changes. This helps your new student see how different the early draft and final version
can be.
Identify three key articles relevant to your student’s research. Get your student to answer the
questions above and then write a summary.
These are simple exercises to help the student learn about writing, all based on material that
is easily available to you.
Explain that the writing involves an early draft, then a next draft,
process is iterative revisions, more drafts and more revisions.
Perhaps show them samples of your own
Many PhD students expect that they should work from early draft up to finished product.
be able to write a finished thesis or article Point out that this is how high quality writing
in one attempt. It’s helpful to show them happens.
the process of writing. Explain that writing
Supervisors: show your drafts

“I show my students all the drafts I have to go through to get a paper published. I’ve kept
a folder with the various iterations and I go through it with them. I show them the early
thoughts which are usually just mind maps and a few headings. Then I show them the many
drafts and revisions, the article I submitted, the reviewers’ comments, my changes and then
the final article.
They are usually very surprised at the amount of effort involved and the number of drafts
you have to go through. But it helps them be more realistic about their own writing.” – PhD
supervisor, Nursing, Scottish university
104 THINKWELL

Clarify what you mean by Examples of writing:
writing
• Early drafts
When you suggest to your PhD student that
they should start writing, they think that • Notes from reading or experiments
you mean they should write the words that • Mind maps, concept maps
will end up in the final thesis. And of course
they find this impossible, and so they don’t • Chapter outlines
start. In reality most of what is written at
the start will never make the final thesis. But • Lists of headings or bullet points
these early words will be the grandparents • Lab books, field journals
of the words in the thesis. They are the first
draft which will be refined, deleted, revised • Tables and charts
and eventually, after much crafting, form an
• Blogs, popular articles
article or the thesis itself.
• Posters
To avoid this confusion, you need to be clear
about what you mean when you use the word • Conference abstracts and papers
‘write’. The following list shows a range of
examples of writing. Each of these is valuable • Journal articles
in getting ideas out of the student’s head and
• Thesis chapters
into some written form.
• The final thesis
Walk your student through the Then ask them to write some words or key
writing process points under each of the headings. They send
this back to you and you discuss this with
In practice, what does it look like to assist a them at the next meeting. Then they begin
student through the writing process? For a to fill out the sections with sentences and
student working on a chapter or an article, paragraphs, and slowly the writing starts to
discuss the chapter at a meeting, and help accumulate.
them develop an outline. This might consist
of major headings and an overall structure.

Regularly check writing Feedback – focus on the story
progress first, then move on to the style
As well as getting your student to write early, Your PhD student’s early drafts will probably
you also need to see what they have written. not be very eloquently or academically
You need to encourage them to show you expressed, but that’s not crucial at this stage.
drafts and work in progress. Students tend Get them to start with simple writing, for
to hang on to their work until they feel it is example, less academic plain English. This
ready, which can often mean never. It will be allows the student to focus on the story first.
more successful if you say ‘Send me whatever Then you can both move on to improve the
you have by Wednesday at 5pm’ rather than quality.
‘Send it to me when it’s ready’.
“To write well,

you first have to write,
– badly.”
Writing habits: Snacking versus bingeing

Many students, and indeed many academic writers, are binge writers. They wait for one clear
uninterrupted time where they can really get stuck into the writing. The problem is that
opportunities with enough free time for binges don’t happen that often. Your student will
be much more productive if you can encourage them to write using a snack writing approach.
This means regularly making time for one or two hour blocks of dedicated writing time.
106 THINKWELL

Common writing problems and
suggested remedies
Not enough writing repetition and redundancy. Once the student

(or none at all) has dealt with these suggestions and the
writing is tighter then you can engage in more
If you are struggling to get words from your detailed editing.
PhD student one option is to reduce the size
of the target. For many students the size of a The writing is of poor quality
thesis or even a paper becomes overwhelming.
So break the task down into much smaller But what if the quality of the writing is not
pieces. Rather than saying ‘Send me Chapter very good? You need to talk to the student
4’ you could ask for two pages, or even a series to try to identify where the issue is. Is it that
of headings or bullet points. Keep breaking they don’t understand the topic? Or they do
the task down until it seems manageable. understand it but find the writing difficult?
If this is the case, talk about the topic and
You also need to set a deadline, for example, get them to make notes as you talk. It is also
‘Send me whatever you’ve done by Friday and useful to identify specific issues that show
I’ll look at it over the weekend’. where the quality is lacking. Just saying ‘poor
quality’ doesn’t help much. Pick a section or
One supervisor we know had to resort to even a paragraph and show how it could be
getting the student to write during their improved.
meetings. The issue often is getting them to
make a start!
Too much writing
Sometimes the problem is not a lack of
writing but just a deluge of poorly formed
words. Some supervisors get annoyed or
frustrated when they are flooded by pages
and pages of poorly thought-out ideas. One
way to view this is that it is the student’s first
draft. These are probably all the ideas they
have on the topic. What needs to happen next
is that they go and do a second draft where
they refine the ideas, and then maybe a third
draft.
This means that you don’t need to spend
masses of time editing the first draft in
detail. You might provide overall comments
and suggestions on structure, and point out

Poor English – get help student to make use of these services. It will
become very frustrating if you have to become
But what if the expression or English is the writing support centre. You need to
poor? So poor that it becomes impossible to encourage the student to get a lot of practice
understand the meaning? Then it’s time to at writing. You could also get them to show
get help. Hopefully your university has some their first draft to someone else e.g. another
support services that can assist with academic student or a post-doc before it makes its way
writing. You will need to encourage the to you.
Slipping deadlines: don’t be part of the problem

“I set deadlines for my students but things often slip. Like most academics, I am very busy
with other things. The promised deadline for a writing assignment passes, and then a week
or two (or more) passes until the next meeting. Time can pass quickly with all of these ‘lost
weeks’ for writing. Importantly, as a supervisor, I don’t feel too bad, because I know that the
student really is making progress on data collection, data analysis, etc. and those other things
that are the foundation of research.
And while it is the student’s responsibility, I know I am part of the problem. This is probably
because it is a benefit to me when a student doesn’t submit writing on time (especially early in
the PhD). I have less reading to do, and less feedback to give. It also seems less urgent to me
(even if I should know better!)” – Experienced PhD supervisor, Ireland
They keep missing deadlines • If deadlines continue to be missed, have a

longer discussion with the student about
What do you do when your PhD student what is causing the problem.
continually misses writing deadlines? As the
case study above shows, it’s often tempting to
do nothing because you already have enough
other things to keep you busy. However,
there are some things you can do:
• Put a writing update on the agenda for
your regular meetings. This means you will
pick up when deadlines are missed.
• Ask the student to give you whatever they
have done, even if it is not finished.
• Reset the deadline but make it clear that
you expect it to be fulfilled. Mark this in
your own diary too.
108 THINKWELL

‘I don’t know what to write ‘I’m confused – I’m waiting
about’ until I’m clear’
Often, at the early stages of a PhD, the This is a great writing myth. It assumes that
student will feel they have nothing to say. at some future time everything will become
The mistake they are making here is that they clear and then they can write about it. The
think they have to have the final answer before mistake the PhD students are making here
putting pen to paper. You can help by giving is thinking that the writing is something
them specific writing tasks. For example: that happens at the end – after a long period
of gestation, the words will just magically
• ‘Review these papers and write some materialise. The reality is that one of the best
points about the key findings.’ ways to get unconfused is to start writing.
• ‘When you’ve read this section of the The act of writing helps clarify the student’s
literature, make some notes about thinking. Once you see some writing, you can
the strengths and weaknesses of the begin to identify where the confusion lies.
methodology.’ ‘I want it to be good (perfect).
• ‘Do some brainstorming about the content It’s crap.’
of your proposal and we can discuss at our Most PhD students have some aspects of
next meeting.’ perfectionism. This becomes a problem
‘I’m not ready to write’ when it comes to writing as they will put off
writing or showing it to you until they feel it
Your student probably thinks that that they is perfect. They can be reluctant to write early
are not ready but you shouldn’t believe them. drafts and even more reluctant to show them
They will never feel ready. Set a deadline and to you. For extreme perfectionists you need
get them writing. ‘Show me what you’ve done to set a deadline. So it’s not ‘Send it to me
on Chapter 2 for our next meeting.’ when you’re happy with it’ (code for never).
Instead it’s ‘Send me whatever you have by
5pm on Friday’.
Diseases that affect writers!

PhD students (in fact all academic writers) are prone to two writers’ diseases.
Readitis: The belief that reading one more article will solve all problems and then I will be
ready to write.
Experimentitis: The belief that doing one more experiment or gathering one more bit of data
will solve all problems and then I will be ready to write.
While the student has to read and gather data, they must also start writing. They often use
reading or experimenting as legitimate excuses for not writing. The cure for these diseases is
quite simple – snack writing, regularly making time for one- or two-hour blocks of writing.
The student can continue to read and conduct experiments, but they must also write.

Writing an academic paper
Publications as part of the PhD for acceptance are very long which can be a
problem within the PhD timeframe.
In some disciplines and some universities, it
is becoming more common to publish articles One of your roles as a supervisor is to
during the PhD and to incorporate these in provide guidance to your student on the most
some way into the thesis. There are some appropriate way to proceed, since they will
advantages to this: have little understanding of the implications
of either approach.
• A paper is a shorter project than writing
the full thesis and so it can be easier to Once the student has done some work, for
keep the motivation going. example a review of the literature, or run
some early experiments, they may have
• The student gets a publication or a number enough material for an academic paper. This
of publications, as well as their PhD, which is an important learning experience and part
can be important for their future research of the journey into the academic community.
career.
When you suggest to your student that
• In some disciplines, you the supervisor, get they write a paper, they usually agree
your name on the publications. enthusiastically, but then don’t write it. Why?
• In fast moving topics, there is a need to get Well, it’s often because they have never
results out quickly. written a paper before and don’t know how
to do it. If you are an experienced author,
But this model may not apply for all PhD you will take the process for granted. It
students. In some disciplines, the subject seems obvious. However, for the novice
matter may not neatly fall into academic PhD student, this is all new, and you need to
papers. For some journals, the waiting times support them.
Show me how to go about it

“I remember the first paper I wrote. I didn’t have a clue what I was doing. I wasted so
much time. It would have been great if someone had shown me how to go about it but my
supervisor at the time was really busy and just left me to it. It probably took about nine
months when it should have been no more than a month or two at most.” – Postdoc, New
Zealand university
110 THINKWELL

The tool below lists some questions you should get your student to answer when they are
planning to write a paper. Give them these questions, get them to make some notes under each
heading and discuss at your next meeting.
Questions to ask as you write a paper
What are your three most important take-home

messages of this paper?
Why is your paper different?

What’s unique about this piece of research?
What does your research add?

How do you build on existing research?
What evidence do you have?

How robust is your evidence?
What are the strengths of your work?
What are the limitations of your work?
Finding a suitable journal • Read each journal’s instructions to authors.

Your PhD student will probably have no idea • Check out impact factors, rejection/
about which journals are most suited to the acceptance rates, time to publication.
potential paper. You can help by nominating
three or four possible journals based on your At your next meeting, go through this
experience. Then get them to do some research homework with the student, discuss the
on these journals. For example, they could: options and jointly decide on the most
appropriate journal.
• Skim through a few articles in each journal to
get a sense of the content, the level and style.

The following story shows how one supervisor supports her student in writing a paper.
My approach to paper writing

“I try to get my PhD students to write a paper in their first year. It’s usually a review of the
literature or a description of some early experiment. I’m not expecting really high quality at
this stage – just something to get them going. I have a sort of formula I use.
Meeting one
We discuss potential journals. I show them the instructions to authors. And I also discuss
authorship with the student. I’ve learned that it’s good to get that clear early on. Once we’ve
narrowed it down to one or two journals I get them to read some articles in the journal and
think about whether it’s suitable for our potential paper.
Meeting two
Once we’ve got a journal in mind I help them develop an outline and get the story of
the article clear. We usually do this on a whiteboard and I note down the key points and
headings. Then I get them to go away and come up with some suggestions under each
heading – maybe a few bullet points or a few sentences. They email me these before the next
meeting so I can provide some feedback at the meeting.
Meeting three
At the next meeting we discuss the work so far. Then we pick a section and have a discussion
about what might be covered in it. I might make a list of some key points and then get them
to go away and put in some words.
Meeting four
We look at what they have written and my feedback and then move on to other parts of the
article. This process goes on until we have a first full draft. For some students this happens
quickly, others take a bit longer.
Later meetings
Once the first draft is written then I show them how I go about editing and refining the article.
Submission
When we are both pretty happy with the article I talk through the submission process and
then get them to do it. If they are unsure we might do it together.
Revisions (and rejection)
If the article requires revisions, and most do, then we sit down and discuss the reviewers’
comments. Some we agree with. Some not. I explain how to respond, how to decide what
changes to make and then I get them to make the changes.
If the paper has been rejected we work out the next course of action. We usually submit
somewhere else.” – Marine biology researcher, Australian university
112 THINKWELL

Supports for academic writing
Reflection
‘When I take someone on to do a PhD with me, I expect to train them to do high-level
research. I find it very frustrating when I have to spend time teaching them to write. Surely
they should be able to write well by the time they get to PhD level?’
To what extent do you agree with this statement?
What options are open to this supervisor, if the writer is weak?
What specific strategies do you use to develop the academic writing skills of your PhD students?
What supports are available?
Many universities offer writing support, Encourage your student to make use of the
including: available supports. Some students can be
reluctant to ask for support, seeing it as a sign
• Writing groups
of weakness. You can explain to the student
• Writing workshops that writing is a skill that gets better with
• Writing retreats practice and support. As part of your ongoing
meetings, identify institutional support
• Editing services for writing as a professional development
• Writing for the media opportunity, and follow up with your students
to ensure that they book and attend such
• Workshops on communication skills
events. Do this as early as possible, so that they
• Referencing software and help with how to get the maximum benefit from these supports.
use it
• Critical thinking and reading workshops
• Workshops on data presentation
Writing groups
“I encouraged one of my students to join a writing group. She was struggling to make time
for writing and I thought the regular writing schedule would help. And it did help her a lot. It
also took some pressure off me. I didn’t have to keep chasing her all the time because she now
had the deadline of the group.” – Arts PhD supervisor, Welsh university

So the message of this chapter is to get your student writing early and often. But for their
writing to improve they will need feedback. In the next chapter we provide practical strategies
for providing feedback: feedback on writing; feedback on performance; and two-way feedback.
114 THINKWELL

AT A GLANCE
CHAPTER 6: WRITING
1 Encourage your students to write early and often.
2 Give your students questions to write about as they do their reading.
3 Writing does not mean just the final words in the thesis. Writing
includes early drafts, notes, outlines, mind maps.
4 Explain the iterative nature of the writing process – draft, revise,

draft, revise, repeat.
5 Focus on the story first, then the detail.
6 Get them to show you their writing regularly.
7 Show them how to write an academic paper.
8 No writing? Break the task down into smaller steps.
9 Too much writing? Consider this as their first draft. Provide general
feedback and get a second draft.
10 Poor English? Get help for the student. Encourage them to attend a
writing centre or writing workshops.

7. FEEDBACK
Introduction
The ability to deliver effective feedback is a We start by looking at some of the

key skill for researchers and PhD supervisors. characteristics of effective feedback, which
The ability to receive feedback and deal with should be:
objective critique is a key skill for research
students. • Progressive
When feedback is delivered well, it reinforces • Constructive

and encourages. When feedback points out • Positive
areas for improvement, it can provide clarity
and focus. If delivered poorly, however, • Timely
feedback can destroy confidence and
• Specific
motivation.
• Objective
In this chapter, we look at the characteristics
of effective feedback, strategies for giving
feedback on performance, progress and
writing, and strategies for getting feedback on
your own performance as a supervisor.
116 THINKWELL

Characteristics of effective feedback
Progressive Of course, each PhD student is different.

Some will need more encouragement all
Different types of feedback are appropriate the way through; others will request tough
at different times and stages. The type of feedback. This is why it’s important to spend
feedback a supervisor gives at the start of a time at the start getting to know your PhD
PhD needs to be different from the feedback student.
during the final stages of the thesis. When
the PhD student begins, they can feel Constructive
overwhelmed, and perhaps even that they
don’t have the intelligence or skills to do the The purpose of effective feedback is to help
PhD. Harsh feedback at this stage can be the person receiving it get closer to some
devastating. goal or target. The target could be a big one,
such as finishing their PhD, or a smaller
So, at the beginning, the focus should be on one, such as writing one section of a chapter.
building a good relationship and creating Constructive feedback provides direction on
trust so that you can honestly discuss the whether the person is getting closer or further
quality of the work without ruining your away from this target. If the person is off
student’s confidence. As their confidence track, constructive feedback doesn’t just say
and competence builds, your feedback can ‘You’re wrong’ but encourages reflection and
become more critical. This is when you are offers suggestions about changes.
preparing the student for the rigours of peer
review.

Positive
Feedback can be positive! Academics and learn just as much from positive feedback
researchers are trained to be critical, to e.g. ‘The way you expressed that idea is really
look for the flaws in arguments; to find clear’ or ‘I like the way you’ve structured
inconsistencies. However, this leads to a your argument here’. And, as well as being
tendency to assume that all feedback must effective, people like getting good feedback!
be negative. The reality is that people can
Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

“I dread meeting my supervisor. I used to go to the meetings full of enthusiasm and naïvely
thinking I was making good progress. But it seemed that no matter what I did, all they
pointed out was all the stuff I was doing wrong, or not doing. It was just a list of mistakes.
I don’t know if they were doing it on purpose or maybe they were trying to help. But either
way I always left the meetings feeling depressed and wanting to quit. It would take me two to
three days to get some self-confidence back and start again.
Towards the end of my first year I met another student of that supervisor and found out that
the same thing happened to her. That made me feel a little better. Maybe it wasn’t just me.” –
Second year PhD student, Humanities
Timely Specific
Feedback needs to be given close to the Feedback needs to be specific. This sounds
time of the activity; feedback delivered obvious but much feedback is unhelpfully
weeks or months after the event is not very vague. Examples of vague feedback include:
useful. This is often an issue with writing
where supervisors are very busy and take a • Needs work
long time to provide feedback, but it also • Unclear
applies to feedback on performance and
progress. People need to know how they are • ???
progressing, and the closer to the event the
• I’m confused
better.
• OK
• That’s not how it should be done
Not only are these comments fairly useless,
they can also be misinterpreted and quickly
undermine the motivation of the PhD
student. You need to specify what type of
work is needed. Which part is unclear? What
does ‘OK’ mean?
118 THINKWELL

Examples of more specific feedback
WHAT YOU SAY WHAT THE STUDENT WHAT YOU COULD SAY
HEARS AND THINKS TO BE MORE SPECIFIC
Needs work It’s all wrong. I have no idea You need to show more clearly
what work is needed. how your result supports the
hypothesis.
Unclear Is it just this sentence is This paragraph is unclear.

unclear? I can’t write clearly. What is the main point and
I thought it was clear but how does it relate to this
obviously I have no idea. section?
You need to lift your I’m useless. I’m obviously no You need to make sure all the
game good. Maybe I can’t do a PhD. equipment is tested and ready
to go before we go on the field
trip.
You’re falling behind I’ve let the supervisor down. I was hoping that we’d have
I’m not living up to their the draft of the survey ready
expectations. Maybe I won’t by now so that we could get
get my PhD. it ready for the next ethics
meeting. Let’s agree a deadline
for the draft.
??? What? I’m not sure why you’ve added

I have no idea what this means. this point here.
Maybe the whole thing is
wrong.
Confusing I have confused the supervisor. You’ve identified an important

This is bad. I thought it was point, so you need to provide
clear but if a clever person like more detail here about the
my supervisor is confused I participant’s response and how
must have no idea what I’m on you interpreted it.
about.
OK What does OK mean? Just Well-written with a logical

OK? Maybe not really good. If structure. Clearly develops the
they liked it they would have earlier point.
said so.

Objective
When things aren’t going well, it’s easy to slip still remain open and positive. Those on the
into personal criticisms. Effective feedback right are more objective and specific ways
is objective. It focuses on the facts and the of saying the same thing, but that give you a
evidence. In the following table, the examples much better chance of achieving a positive
on the left are personal criticisms which result.
would be difficult for any student to hear and
Examples of more objective comments

PERSONAL COMMENTS OBJECTIVE COMMENTS
You didn’t do this very well. The Methods section does not give sufficient
detail and the results haven’t been presented in
the way that we discussed.
You’re lazy. I was hoping to see a draft of chapter 4 at this

meeting. We discussed this at the last meeting.
What’s getting in the way?
You’re not putting the effort in. We needed to get four samples done this week.
You’ve only managed two. Is there a problem?
You’re not a very good writer. I’ve made some suggestions on how to rewrite and
improve parts of this section.
Difficult feedback: leave your emotions at the door

“I had a project meeting with a PhD student who was making poor progress because of an
obvious lack of commitment to the project. I was really annoyed, and was intending to let rip
in our next meeting, and let him know how annoyed I was. In the end, my co-supervisor and
I decided on a different approach.
Instead, we focused on the issues, and asked questions of the student about their degree of
progress, the reasons for shortcomings, and how they were going to change their work habits.
It was a tough meeting, but we all stayed calm and it worked out very well. The student
identified and discussed the problems, and committed to solving them. Our feedback was
clear, specific, and focused on actions.
From this, I learned to leave high emotions at the door. When you’re giving out, you’re not
giving feedback. On reflection, what worked was that we treated the PhD student like an
adult – we eventually realised that we had been treating this student like a child all along,
by identifying their problems and offering solutions all the time. If I had let rip as I had
originally planned, I suspect that we wouldn’t have seen this student come to discuss a
problem ever again.” – PhD supervisor, Ireland
120 THINKWELL

The role of critique in research
No matter how well you deliver If your focus is both on the task and on
feedback, some students will find it very the development of the researcher, then
confrontational. Students who are used your student is supported in identifying
to receiving top grades and who value and clarifying the problem, is responsible
perfectionism can see feedback as a personal for developing solutions, provided with
failing. assistance if they need it, and only gets ‘the
answer’ after working through most of the
It’s important to explain to them the preceding steps themselves. In this model, the
particular role of feedback and critique in struggle for solutions is a key part of a PhD,
research. It’s how ideas are examined and with the safety net of a supervisor’s support
strengthened, how weaknesses in models are when needed. This is denied to PhD students
highlighted and how knowledge progresses. who are spoon-fed (or force-fed!).
A useful way to demonstrate this to your What does coaching mean in practice? Firstly
student is to show them a constructive review it means you need to listen more. Supervisors
that you received of a submitted journal often tend to do most of the talking – we’ve
article, and explain how it led to a stronger mentioned this before! It means you have less
piece of work. chance to hear what the student thinks and
Feedback as coaching versus also to gauge their current level of knowledge
feedback as telling or areas of confusion.
Your views on the purpose of a PhD will It also means asking more open questions
determine how you approach feedback. If that give the student an opportunity to talk
your focus is mainly on the tasks (e.g. get more.
data, get results, produce papers) then your
PhD student is probably given the answers,
instructed what to do, and expected to do it
quickly.
Advisor versus Supervisor

In the US, the word used is ‘advisor’ rather than ‘supervisor’. This is probably a more accurate
term as most supervisors never see themselves in the classic supervisor role. Their role is
much more about providing input and advice (coaching) than instructing what to do.

In the following table, the examples on the left illustrate feedback through telling the PhD
student what to do. Those on the right show feedback through coaching, where the PhD student
is challenged to develop solutions and insights.
Telling versus coaching

TELLING COACHING
I’ll tell you how to restructure it. Is there a way to restructure this chapter so
that it flows better?
I’ve restructured the chapter so that it makes Why have you taken this approach?
more sense. Let’s have a talk about different structures.
This is the best approach. What approach were you thinking of using?
Why?
What other approaches are available?
This is wrong. Why did you tackle it this way?

Do you see any problems with that approach?
What other ways did you consider?
Most of the time, coaching is no more insight to the extent that ‘an answer’ becomes
demanding than other discussions you have more obvious.
with your students. Coaching can help a PhD
student to lead their own exploration of The GROW (Goal, Reality, Options,
their options, and facilitate or guide practical Way forward) coaching model is one that
decisions. A key focus is on developing the is commonly used. A typical structure of a
student’s own insights and responsibility GROW coaching session follows a sequence
for their development. This requires some that probes the Goal, Reality, Options and
coaching skills on the part of the supervisor; Way forward. A lot of useful material about
the supervisor does not necessarily have this approach is available online. Some useful
the answer, but assists the PhD student in questions are outlined in the following table,
improving their own understanding and which gives examples of the different stages in
the model.
122 THINKWELL

The GROW model
G R O W
GOAL REALITY OPTIONS WAY FORWARD
What do you want to What support do you What alternatives did What do you need to
achieve? need? you consider? do next?
What difference do What’s halting your What’s working well? What option will you
you want to make? progress? What’s not working choose?
well?
What do you want How will you do it? What are the How will you
to do? consequences of … ? know when you’ve
succeeded?
What’s important to What progress have Did you consider? What motivates you
you? you made? to do this?
Coaching for excellence in research

Patricia is supervising Mike, who is starting his second year of a PhD in a STEM discipline.
Patricia provided Mike with a certain number of tasks and experiments in year 1 of the PhD,
which Mike performed to a high standard. Now, Patricia has advised Mike to design the
next major experiment that follows on from the first year of his research. Patricia has strong
preferences and insights into what she considers to be a promising avenue of research for
Mike’s project. This will be a major outcome of the thesis. However, she keeps these ideas to
herself, and waits for Mike to present an outline of his objectives and his design of the next
experiment.
He does OK, but not great. Patricia requests him to reconsider and review his experimental
design, with a few targeted questions that indicate where to focus the revision. On the
following day, Mike returns with a new design, clear reasons for its benefits over the old
design, and insights into its limitations. For more than a fortnight, this goes on with almost
daily meetings and detailed discussions. There is a steady iterative development of the quality
of the proposed experiment, and in the end, the final design is better than that which Patricia
had originally envisaged. This process was used for the remaining experiments of Mike’s
research. At the end of his PhD, Mike specifically thanked Patricia for this learning process,
which he found to be one of the best experiences of the PhD.

Assessment of your feedback style
Use the chart below to think about how you give feedback to your PhD students. If you’re feeling
brave, give it to some of your students to fill out!
My feedback style
CHARACTERISTIC RATE YOURSELF ON THE
CONTINUUM BELOW
Progressive Same style for every Depends on the

student student
Progressive Same style for every Depends on the stage

stage of the PhD
Constructive Pointing out Showing ways to

problems improve
Positive Mainly negative Careful to include

comments positive comments
Timely Requires quite a Pretty quick to

while to provide respond to feedback
feedback requests
Specific Provides very general Provides specific

comments comments
Objective Personal comments Objective feedback
Coaching Tells PhD student Coaching style that

what to do assists PhD student
to develop their own
solutions
A feedback exercise • Which of your strengths do you wish to

maintain?
The next time you give feedback to a student,
use your responses to the feedback tool above • What specific approaches, questions and
to plan in advance how you want to give the responses will you use?
feedback.
Afterwards, use the tool again to reflect
• Which characteristics of feedback do you on what worked well and what you could
want to emphasise more? improve on for the next time.
124 THINKWELL

Feedback on progress and performance
Most PhD programs now include institutional • So how have you found the past few weeks/
milestones such as a proposal, a confirmation, months?
and annual reviews. These are formal places
to provide feedback on progress but, in reality, • What has been going well? What have you
feedback should be an ongoing process. This found difficult?
is not something to leave until the annual • Do you think you are ahead or behind
review when it’s often too late. Significant time where you expected to be? Why?
will have been lost, and the most appropriate
moment for providing the feedback will have Once you’ve heard from the student you can
passed. Your PhD student needs ongoing provide your feedback. For example:
feedback about their progress. There really
shouldn’t be any surprises at the annual review. • You’re making a good start.
It is especially important to provide feedback • You’re on track.

on progress at the start of a PhD. At this stage, • I’ve had many students, and where you are
PhD researchers genuinely don’t know how right now is about right. You’re going well.
they are progressing. How could they? They’ve
never done a PhD before. If things are not going so well, you might
provide responses such as the following:
Many find the first few months completely
overwhelming and become convinced that they • What do you think is causing delays in
can’t do a PhD at all. As they start to engage progress?
with the literature, they realise how vast it is
• It’s often hard at the start to get going, but
and how little they know.
we need to get participant recruitment
And because they are no longer part of a underway in the next week.
cohort, and everyone’s PhD is different, they
• I know it feels like you’re not ready to
have no way of judging their relative progress.
write, but I’d like to see whatever you’ve
This is why regular and frequent meetings are done and we can discuss at the next
important in the early stages. During these meeting.
meetings, you will of course focus on the issue
• We’ve fallen a bit behind, but let’s look at a
at hand e.g. the current research or piece of
plan to get back on track.
writing. But at these meetings you also need
to provide feedback on progress. This could
start with asking some questions about how the
student feels things are going. For example:

Use the milestones to assess the student about issues such as ethics,
progress academic integrity and professional behaviour
with colleagues. Most universities have a code
Of course it’s hard to provide feedback on of practice for the responsible conduct of
progress if there are no milestones. This is one research. Although this is usually covered in the
of the reasons why it’s so important to have university induction process, you should make
a plan. The plan spells out the expectations sure your student is aware of it and discuss
of what the student should achieve this year, issues such as plagiarism, storage of data and
this six months, this month. At your review the ethical implications of their research.
meetings, you and the student can compare
what has actually happened with what was Some PhD students, particularly in STEM
planned. fields, are likely to be part of a research team.
In these cases, you, as the team leader, have a
• Have things gone to plan? responsibility to make sure that team members
• Where are the slippages? behave professionally e.g. keeping to time,
fulfilling obligations, interacting appropriately
• What happened? with colleagues, delivering on commitments.
In these cases, the PhD student is not a sole
You and the student can then consider agent. Other people are relying on them, and
options and perhaps revise the plan. If you poor performance doesn’t just impact on
are concerned about their progress, this is the their own progress but also on the progress of
time to raise your concerns. others.
Feedback on professional The easiest way to deal with these issues is to
research practice be very clear at the start about expectations.
As well as helping the PhD student with their What are your expectations about time
research project, supervisors are also inducting keeping? About dealing with co-workers?
that student into the world of academia. What About supporting other students? If you
is appropriate behaviour, how are things done? establish these expectations at the beginning,
For example, you are responsible for informing you have a reference point for when things go
wrong.
126 THINKWELL

Health and safety
“I run a science lab and something I always have to reinforce, especially with new students,
is the importance of health and safety. Often they think that the routines and procedures
are a waste of time, and are tempted to take short cuts. I’ve learned that if I want people to
take it seriously I need to point out problems as soon as they emerge. There’s no point in
waiting until the lab meeting. I get onto it as soon as I see it. It works much better that way.”
– Associate Professor, Chemistry
Case study: Breaking bad

Bryan started a PhD four months ago and is doing research in a chemistry department.
His supervisor is Vendra but she is rarely in the lab due to administrative and leadership
responsibilities. In practice, the day-to-day supervision is done by Vendra’s post-doc, Tim.
Bryan is causing mayhem in the lab. He has very poor lab practice, and is constantly spilling
chemicals, not cleaning up, moving delicate lab instruments without recalibrating them, and
leaving dirty glassware on the lab bench. Other PhD students have confronted him about
this on several occasions. Bryan’s desk space is in an open-plan office with others, and he is
equally disruptive there. He is constantly chatting and taking personal phone calls.
Who is responsible for Bryan’s health and safety?
Who is responsible for the health and safety of the other PhD students in the lab?
Who is responsible for Bryan’s poor research practice?
How can good research practice be ensured?
What actions should Bryan’s supervisor take?
Bryan is scheduled to conduct an experiment that will involve carcinogenic chemicals.

What should Bryan’s supervisor do now?

Feedback on writing
Feedback on your student’s written work will probably be the most frequent and important type
of feedback that you will provide. After all, the main output of the PhD is a thesis. The manner in
which you give feedback on written work is crucial.
Feedback effects: devastated and confused

“I had worked for weeks on my doctoral research proposal. This was my first big piece
of writing and I thought I’d done pretty well. When I got the comments back from my
supervisor I couldn’t believe it. The whole document was covered in red. I don’t think there
was one sentence that he hadn’t changed. And there wasn’t one positive comment. I was
devastated. I put it away and cried for two days. I was about to send an email and withdraw
from the PhD because clearly I couldn’t write. And obviously I couldn’t think or develop a
proposal.
When I bumped into the supervisor in the corridor a few days later he said ‘You’re on the
right track. If you can incorporate some of the suggestions you’re nearly there’. Now I was
completely confused. Was it good or not?” – PhD student, Irish university
Provide positive feedback on • This is a good start. There’s still work to

the first piece of writing be done but there are some good ideas in
there.
It is especially important to be positive when
giving feedback on the PhD student’s first • I like the way you’ve proposed the question
piece of writing. If you shred their first piece of at the start. We can work on that in future
writing it will be a long time before you see the drafts.
second piece. This does not mean saying that
the writing is great when it isn’t. But you can • This is good for a first draft. I’ve made
find some positives. For example: some suggestions that we can work on at
the next meeting.
128 THINKWELL

Adapt feedback to the early stages
“If I get a piece of writing, usually from a new student, and it’s full of mistakes, for example
spelling and grammar and more, what I will do is pick a piece, say the first page or two, and
then highlight some bits to work on. Then I suggest to the student that they incorporate
these suggestions in the rest of the document. I don’t think there’s any point in going through
the whole document picking up the same errors over and over.” – PhD supervisor, Business
Shorter turnaround times will probably be harder to find the time. At

speed up student progress the start, we suggest getting smaller pieces
of work regularly and turning them around
We mentioned earlier that feedback needs quickly. Later in the candidature, you will
to be timely, but what is a reasonable probably be getting full chapters.
turnaround time?
As a guide, a week to ten days seems like a
A student might expect you to drop realistic goal to review something and provide
everything and provide instant feedback. This feedback. If, for whatever reason, you cannot
is unreasonable. Equally unreasonable though, provide feedback within this timeframe, you
is feedback that comes three months after should at least email the student and let them
a student has written something. In most know what is happening. Otherwise they’ll
cases, their thinking and focus has moved on. assume that you have read it but are reluctant
To be most effective, feedback needs to be to get back to them.
close to when the work is done. So, what is a
reasonable turnaround time? In some cases, the PhD student may need
feedback on one particular aspect of a piece
This depends a little bit on how you receive of writing e.g. a methodological approach.
the writing (and you can agree on how you This might be holding up their progress
want to receive it). Do you want to get it on the next part of the research. What you
page by page or chapter by chapter? If you get might do here is quickly provide feedback on
it in smaller chunks, you can probably turn that section and tell them you will provide
it around faster. If you get a whole chapter detailed feedback on the rest later.
it will take a good while to read thoroughly
and, as most supervisors are very busy, it
Timely feedback
One very successful researcher makes it his number one priority to get PhD students’ work
back to them as quickly as possible. His rationale is that they are producing results and
papers that are not only good for them but also for him. He doesn’t want to hold up their
experiments and publications. And because he turns it around quickly, often within a day,
they keep progressing. They don’t have any excuse for waiting. – Experienced Australian
supervisor

Distinguish between the work behind them. But you should remember that
and the person what you write may not be what they will read.
It’s hard not to take feedback personally. So
When you are providing feedback on a piece when you are giving feedback remember that
of text, it’s very easy to just focus on the words there is a person behind those words.
in front of you and forget that there is a person
The thesis versus the person

WHAT YOU WRITE WHAT THEY READ
This isn’t very good. I am not very good.
This makes absolutely no sense at all. I make absolutely no sense at all.
This needs a lot of work. I need a lot of work.
This is not PhD standard. I am not PhD standard.
Contradictory feedback from and if there are differences of opinion

multiple supervisors (especially if they are major) the supervisors
might first sort this out amongst themselves
PhD students are understandably perplexed before letting the student know. One common
when they receive contradictory feedback from option is that co-supervisors give feedback on
their supervisors. This can arise from a change writing one at a time in an agreed sequence,
in viewpoint from the same supervisor over and send their version to the next co-
time. When this is the result of a new insight supervisor, so that they can see and respond to
on the supervisor’s part, take time to explain to each other’s feedback before returning it to the
the student why your feedback has changed. PhD student.
But contradictory feedback can also come As the student becomes more confident, they
from different co-supervisors. This is not will be better able to consider and manage
unusual as supervisors will often have different different perspectives. They can better
viewpoints. For some students, however, this discriminate between changes that must be
can lead to a complete block. made and what are merely suggestions. And
At the early stages, it is probably helpful if the they may disagree with some of the feedback,
supervisors have a consistent approach when and be able to justify this – a hallmark of
giving feedback about the writing. Perhaps one academic discourse (this is the development
supervisor can provide most of the feedback, that we want to see in a student!)
130 THINKWELL

Verbal feedback
In some cases you might be providing verbal
feedback e.g. discussing a piece of writing with
the student. While this has the advantage of
being quicker than writing things down, the
problem with verbal feedback is that it vanishes
– there is no record. And, of course, everyone
will have a different recall of what was actually
said.
So if you are providing verbal feedback then
someone, preferably the PhD student, should
write it down (or perhaps record it), and
ideally send you a copy later.
If it is very obvious that a piece of writing
needs a lot of work, then verbal feedback may
be more appropriate as it doesn’t look or sound
as critical as a page of red ink.

What type of feedback?
Feedback can be wide and varied. It can consist of: including some of the following more specific
• Spellchecking and proofreading requests in their email to you:
• Checking facts and references for accuracy • This is an early draft. I’d like feedback on
• Comments on formatting and layout the structure.
• Comments on structure and flow
• On page 4 I’ve taken XX approach. Do
• Comments on writing style you think this works?
• Commenting on the argument and logic
• I’ve highlighted some paragraphs and I’d
• Commenting on the level of critical
like your thoughts on how relevant they are.
thinking
• Pointing out what’s missing • This is the final draft so I’d appreciate any
• And much more comments you have.
These all count as feedback. Do you do them • I made the changes on page 4 that we
all in one go? That can be overwhelming for discussed last week. Do you think this is
the PhD student and a lot of work for you. stronger now?
What kind of feedback do you A feedback hierarchy

want? There are different types of feedback, so
One of the complaints we regularly hear from one way to view feedback on academic work
students is that they write an early draft and is as a hierarchy of feedback activities. At
want feedback on the overall structure; however, the bottom of the hierarchy is the most
all they get from the supervisor is spelling basic feedback that addresses spelling and
corrections. This is frustrating for the student and grammar, layout and formatting.
a waste of effort for the supervisor. The solution Moving up to paragraph level, does
is for the student and supervisor to be clear about the paragraph have a main point? Is it
what type of feedback is being requested. understandable?
So when your student asks you to provide The next level is paragraph structure and
feedback on their work, your first question flow. Can the reader follow the flow of the
should be: ‘What kind of feedback do you argument? Do the paragraphs/sections need
want?’ Do you want me to comment on the to be re-ordered? Is the writing style too
overall structure? Do you want feedback on wordy? Too short? Too simple? Too obtuse?
the argument? Do you want me to check the Clear and to the point?
spelling? It’s a bit more complicated than just
‘Here’s my chapter. Give me feedback’. Higher up the hierarchy, we move away
from the words specifically and focus on the
For example when your PhD student sends content/argument. Is there a logical flow in
you a draft, get them into the habit of the text that leads to a coherent argument?
132 THINKWELL

How does this work engage with the literature? assessment of the methodology, and a deep
What is the importance of the work? understanding of the limits of the evidence
and its interpretation?
At the next level of the hierarchy, how is the
evidence presented? Is the argument clear As a supervisor, you will need to provide
and convincing? Does the evidence lead to feedback in stages so that your PhD student
a clear conclusion? Are all the conclusions is not swamped by feedback. However, you
supported by the evidence? will want your students to quickly progress
beyond needing feedback at the lower levels.
At the highest levels in the hierarchy appear The provision of feedback is certainly more
issues that require significant academic demanding as one moves up the hierarchy,
ability, and strongly reflect the qualities but feedback that addresses the higher levels
of doctoral-level scholarship. What is the promotes research quality and stimulates
contribution to theory and knowledge, and conversations that facilitate understanding
how novel is this contribution? Are there and insight.
alternative interpretations? Is there a critical
Feedback hierarchy
Contribution to theory and knowledge, methodology,

interpretation of evidence, limits of evidence
Analysis and presentation or evidence
Engagement with literature, coherence

of argument, clear understanding of
significance of the work
Structure and flow of the

text, writing style
Paragraphs
Spelling, grammar
High level feedback

“I know that I’m giving my best to my students when I am more focused on the items at the
top of the feedback hierarchy and not spending all of my time on the bits at the bottom.” –
PhD supervisor, Irish research institute

Spelling mistakes
“I used to get very frustrated spending all my time correcting students’ spelling mistakes and
basic grammar errors. Now what I do is get my students to read each other’s work before it
comes to me. And sometimes I get them to send it to the post-doc too so that by the time
it comes to me most of the silly errors have been picked up. Some of the students tell me
they like this too because their peers pick up the simple mistakes and they feel they are not
wasting my time as much.” – PhD supervisor, Australian university
Writing circles, writing groups

“I encourage my students to join a writing group or a writing circle. There’s one in my
department. It works well because it means they get quick feedback on early drafts and they
find it less intimidating than showing drafts to me. It also works well for me because I get to
spend my time looking at the substance of the work rather than the spelling and basics.” –
PhD supervisor, UK university
134 THINKWELL

Two-way feedback
When supervisors talk about feedback they The tougher questions relate to how the
usually mean giving feedback to the student. student feels about your supervision. Are they
In this case, feedback is a one-way street. happy with the relationship and the level of
But feedback needs to run two ways. The support being given? What concerns do they
supervisor also needs feedback from the have?
student. Ideally, you would like to know how
your students might respond to the following So as well as focusing on the research, some
questions: time in meetings should be given to questions
such as:
• Does the student understand the advice
given? • What concerns or issues do you have about
the PhD?
• Is the student happy with the relationship?
• Have you any suggestions on how to
• Does the student feel they are getting improve the way we do things?
appropriate support?
• Is there anything you’d like me to do
• What concerns does the student have? differently e.g. the way we do meetings?
To get this type of feedback, the supervisor The more you suspect that the student has
needs to ask questions. The easier questions an issue, the more important it is that you ask
relate to the research: these types of questions. Most importantly,
you need to listen carefully. Once you ask
• Can you summarise the main points of these questions, you must stop talking. You
what we’ve agreed? need to allow time for the student to respond.
• What could help us progress the research
even more?
Power imbalance
The power imbalance means that most students are reluctant to raise issues or concerns,
especially if these relate to your supervision. This can lead to issues bubbling away on the
backburner until suddenly one day an extreme explosion occurs which takes the supervisor
by surprise.
If they won’t tell you, then how will you know if things are not going so well? You have to
look out for the signs, for example, the student not wanting meetings, not participating in
discussions, or being evasive.

Even when you do ask for feedback, most If you ever want to get such feedback again,
students will be reluctant to talk about you need to respond calmly and thoughtfully
concerns they have with the supervision. no matter what is said. If it is fair and
They are likely to be worried about upsetting reasonable, you should also do anything
the supervisor, which could have negative possible to implement their suggestion. If you
consequences for themselves later. If they are not prepared to do this, then it is probably
raise an issue, you need to be aware of the best not to ask for this type of feedback.
degree of courage it has taken to do so.
Provide positive feedback

“I remember one of my students, a mature student, who was working on a large survey. We
had a meeting to discuss progress to date, the remaining work, and a broad plan of how
the remaining work would be addressed. As he was in the doorway and leaving my office I
noticed that he still looked anxious.
I thought we’d had a good meeting so I just asked if he was happy with his progress. He
explained that he was very concerned about whether he was making enough progress or not.
I was shocked. I thought that it was obvious from the discussion that he had made great
progress! We sat down again for another 15 minutes to discuss his concerns. I gave him
positive feedback on his abilities and skills, his performance to date, as well as reassurance
about the feasibility of the remaining work. I’d assumed this wasn’t necessary but he said that
he had been very worried and this conversation had been very helpful.
What really surprised me was how little I had known about his own assessment of his
progress.” – Experienced PhD supervisor, Irish research institute
136 THINKWELL

Tough feedback
There will be occasions when a student’s Facilitate a self-assessment of

performance is not up to standard. Giving progress
feedback in this situation needs to be done in
person. An email, or even a phone call, is not Having ruled out any personal crises, an
an effective way of dealing with a complex effective way of making your point is to help
situation like this. the PhD student assess their own progress.
Instead of telling them the ways in which
Confrontations are seldom useful, easily get their progress is not adequate, ask questions
out of control, and can cause a lot of bad that will reveal a lack of progress (if this
feeling and resentment that lingers for some is the case). This has the added benefit of
time after. So, it is even more important allowing you to suspend judgement until
that the feedback in this case should be the PhD student confirms that progress
objective, constructive and specific. Where is unsatisfactory (and confirms your
the student’s performance does not meet your suspicions).
expectations, you will need to set aside some
time to provide specific examples. • At your current rate of progress, do you
think that this chapter will be finished in
A word of warning time?
Before you deliver tough feedback (which • How many respondents have you
may lead to a confrontation), it is wise to interviewed, and how many should have
first gently explore with the PhD student been interviewed by now?
whether all is well. You could ask the student
about whether they are happy with their rate • Has the revised research plan been
of progress (and not just whether they are completed and circulated to all supervisors,
making progress). You could ask the student as agreed?
about their concerns about the project or At the end of the meeting, both you and
if other things are happening in their life. the student need to agree on a plan for
Your approach to feedback will change if you moving forward. When dealing with under-
discover, for example, that a family member performance, you need to be very specific
has been diagnosed with a terminal illness. about what you expect in terms of outputs
and timeframes and you need to agree on
how these will be measured. For example
‘We’ve agreed that you will send me a revised
chapter 4 by Friday 13 March in time for our
next meeting’. It is important that this is
agreed and documented in the minutes of the
meeting.

When feedback isn’t acted on
It’s very frustrating when you’ve spent a lot • In the previous draft I suggested that we
of time giving feedback but the next piece split this section into two. But it’s still the
of writing comes back with the same errors, same as before. Can you talk me through
or the person’s performance doesn’t change. that?
Most people’s immediate reaction is to blame
the person. Why didn’t they listen to my • I was hoping to see Chapter 2 this week.
feedback? What’s wrong with them? Has there been some problem?
At this point it’s useful to wonder why the If there are genuine reasons then you can
person hasn’t incorporated your feedback. reset the target and go again. Perhaps you
There may be other reasons. need to provide clearer instructions? Break
the task down into smaller pieces? Or provide
• Was the feedback unclear? more support or training?
• Did they understand what you intended? If you’ve tried all this, however, and there
is no improvement, then it’s time for The
• Do they have the skills or understanding? Talk. This is when you need to have a
• Is it a time issue? serious discussion with the student about
the problem and its consequences for your
• Do they disagree with the feedback? supervisory relationship and their PhD. No
supervisor looks forward to ‘The Talk’.
As well as asking yourself these questions, you
should also ask the student. If your feedback
hasn’t been acted on, then you need to know
why. What is the point in providing more
input and feedback if it isn’t being used? You
might enquire:
• Last week we agreed to do XXX but I
notice that you’ve done YYY instead. Can
you go through that with me?
138 THINKWELL

The Talk
The Talk involves an honest discussion as research projects not going to plan. Most
about the future of the whole PhD project. of the time, people’s productivity dips for
Many problems get resolved (in one way or a few days or weeks, and they cope or find
another) by a specific ‘truth and honesty’ a solution, and the work goes on as before.
meeting that obviously represents The Talk. Such issues may require a meeting, but not
However, it’s best to think of this meeting The Talk.
as the culmination of a longer process that
involves some preparation. Here, we highlight Every now and again, however, problems
one way to prepare and engage in the process arise that cause a more extended dip in
for The Talk. This preparation is very productivity, or are sufficiently serious
important to ensure that you are being fair to threaten the feasibility of the PhD
to the student, and that you are not jumping project. Crunch events are easier to spot,
to incorrect conclusions. The process but long-term and chronic problems that
allows time for you to assess the situation have an incremental, negative effect can
objectively, probe possible causes, agree be tougher to identify and resolve. Thus,
reasonable solutions, allow second (and third the death of a parent is easier to identify as
or fourth) chances, and finally be confident an issue that requires an immediate (and
in the justification for serious decisions about sympathetic) response. By contrast, it can be
the future of that PhD. a lot more difficult to be aware of slow but
consistent slides in work standards, such as
Most students (and supervisors) will have increasingly frequent missing of deadlines
problems of some sort over a three to four or a consistently lower than average effort in
year period. These may include illness, collecting data.
personal issues and funding problems, as well
Involve the whole supervisory team

Before you talk to the student, you and any other supervisors involved need to get together
and discuss the problem. This is useful as it can confirm that it is not just one person’s
opinion but that there is a real problem. Then, as a supervisory team you need to agree on a
way forward that also ensures fairness for the PhD student.
It’s very important that other supervisors are involved to make sure that the student is being
treated fairly. The fact is that sometimes it’s the supervisor who is the problem or at least is
contributing to the problem. Having others involved in the discussion means all aspects of
the problem can be considered.

Possible causes Personal issues
When problems arise, it’s important to Life continues while students are doing a
identify the cause of the problem, as this will PhD. People get sick, family crises occur,
determine how you might respond. How you relationships form and break down, people
deal with a student whose parent has died experience mental health issues. Students
will be quite different to how you deal with may or may not be willing to disclose these
a student whose busy work or social life is details to you, yet these events will often have
affecting their progress. Before you begin to an effect on the progress of the PhD. It is not
confront the poor performance you should your role to try to solve these issues but you
try to pinpoint which of the following is the will need to talk to the student about how it
possible cause. affects their candidature. In some cases, you
may need to advise the student to take some
Obstacles outside the student’s time out (a short period of leave or a longer
control leave of absence) to resolve these issues and
Are there physical obstacles that are then resume when they are able. In other
hindering progress? Unco-operative cases, you might suggest that the student
participants, access to supercomputer time, makes use of the various support structures
specialist software, broken equipment, available e.g. counselling.
insufficient funding for travel to conduct Personal ability
crucial interviews? Ideally, you can solve some
of these problems, but even if you can’t fix After you’ve worked with the student for a
everything you can help the student with a while, you may come to the uncomfortable
work-around so that they can continue. realisation that they do not have the
intellectual ability to work at PhD level.
Lack of skills Ideally, this would have been picked up
If the researcher needs to develop new skills, before they started but, as we’ve said
then how can this happen? What specific before, it’s often hard to identify this at the
skills are required, and what is the best way to recruitment stage.
learn them? Does the student need to attend Lack of motivation
training courses and workshops? Do they
need to have discussions with you or other When everything else has been ruled out and
experts? Do they need time and practice to there’s still a problem, what’s generally left is
develop the skills? a lack of personal motivation. It is usually too
early to conclude this after the first meeting.
Fair play
“If my son or daughter (or niece or nephew) was in this situation, how would I like them to
be treated in a fair and balanced way?” – PhD programme manager, Ireland
140 THINKWELL

The Talk: The first meeting
By the time you get to The Talk, you need to Although you may not like to hear it, be aware
have objective and evidence-based reasons for that one of the reasons for the student’s poor
believing that the student’s performance is performance could be you! Perhaps your
sub-standard. This is only fair. At this stage, expectations are too high, or you haven’t
it’s time to have a meeting, with aims that provided enough support, or you haven’t
might include the following: managed contradictory requirements from a
co-supervisor whom you no longer speak to.
1. Enquire about progress.
This can be a very tough meeting for both you
2. Clarify the recent aims, and whether they and your student (this is a reason why it’s not
have been achieved. a good idea to be friends with your students),
3. If they have not been achieved, express but you will still need to work together in a
concern at the performance levels and respectful relationship afterwards. Although
point to objective evidence that indicates pride might be dented, it’s important that
sub-standard performance. mutual respect is maintained. It’s also
important that co-supervisors are present at
4. Enquire about whether this is a fair such meetings so that major decisions are not
observation. made based on just one person’s perspective.
5. If so, enquire about possible reasons for
At the end of this meeting, it’s important to
sub-standard performance.
finish with a commitment to the project, and a
6. Discuss and plan (actions and dates) how clear understanding of specific, measurable and
to resolve these issues. time-bound targets that have been agreed. It is
7. Agree on specific, measurable and time-bound only by comparison of future performance against
targets for the next few days and weeks. these expectations that you can objectively assess
performance. When these targets are met, you
During this meeting, it’s important to remain should give positive feedback.
calm and professional, no matter what is said.
It’s best to proceed gently in these initial When these targets are not met, then it’s
stages. You have no idea what may be going on time for another meeting. Things are now
in the student’s life, and a meeting such as this getting serious, and you need to make yourself
is usually when you will first find out about a aware of the formal procedures available
serious personal issue (depending on the issue, for addressing under-performance. Make
this is when you may need to guide the student sure you are fully aware of the process. This
toward the university counselling service). If will involve gathering evidence and being
there is a run-of-the-mill explanation, most very specific about the gaps in performance.
students will definitely not want a repeat of It is also important to inform your Head
this kind of meeting, and there will probably of Department and others involved in the
be a marked improvement in performance. process that you have identified a problem and
that they may be called upon at some time.

The Talk: The second meeting
The trigger for the second meeting is the achieve results, publish papers, submit the
failure to achieve the targets that were agreed thesis, and do so within the allocated time. To
in the previous meeting. The second meeting make the ongoing expectations more specific
needs to go through the same initial phases as you need to set clear short-term targets e.g.
the first meeting, by reviewing progress since what will be done in the next week, the next
the previous meeting, seeking explanations month and the next three months. What is
for missing the targets, and probing for different from the first meeting is that there
plausible new causes of poor performance. is now a clear statement that if these targets
(Remember the air time balance – are not met, then a number of options will
throughout this meeting, it’s best to have the have to be discussed. These options might
student talking and responding to your open include a six-month break, changing from
questions.) a PhD to a master’s degree or a complete
cessation of the research. At this point,
Assuming that there are no clear mitigating an official university process should be
circumstances, this is when you honestly have considered, and you may need to involve staff
to discuss whether the person really wants to other than the supervisory team. You should
complete the PhD. Are they willing to put in update your Head of Department on the
the work required? They will no doubt assure process so far. There will need to be a formal
you that they are. It’s useful to remind them process underpinning the options mentioned.
of the expectations that were discussed at the For example, the formal process may involve
start of the PhD (this is another reason why bringing forward the date of one of the
that discussion is so important): to work hard, official university reviews of progress.
Should I stay or should I go? What do you advise?

“I have had dedicated students of average PhD ability come to me with doubts about
whether they should continue with their PhD, and I know that my encouragement gave
them the confidence to succeed. Success from just a few minutes of honest discussion and
reassurance that their strengths and abilities were more than enough to complete the PhD!
On the other hand, I have achieved a ‘managed exit’ of other PhD students who I believed
were not up to the mark. As a supervisor, this is when I often encounter an existential
crisis! Despite bitterly opposing efforts to change from PhD to MSc, and to cease the PhD
completely, they thanked me for it afterwards. I took the decision not to encourage them,
purely on my assessment that they were not able (e.g. due to family commitments, or due to
mental health issues). What if I had encouraged them? Might they have responded to this
encouragement and successfully completed? And still, I have no regrets that I did the right
thing. Some things are worse than changing from a PhD to MSc, or dropping out of the
PhD after a year.” – Experienced PhD supervisor
142 THINKWELL

The Talk: The third meeting
The trigger for the third meeting in this The very best outcomes occur when the
process is the failure to achieve the targets student realises that there is a problem, and
that were agreed in the second meeting. that they cannot go on without taking one
This meeting doesn’t have to wait until of these options. The evidence and specific
the end of the period that was discussed examples of how the expectations are not
in the second meeting. It should be called being met is itself very convincing for the
as soon as obvious problems appear again. students involved. With a little time, most
This meeting should be part of the formal students make a sensible choice – but only
university process for reviewing performance after being confronted and stopped from
and progress. There will be regular research drifting along.
meetings in this time at which any gap
between expectations and performance will While the above process is described as a
be apparent. sequence of three meetings, it may take less
or more meetings. The most important thing
In this meeting, the focus needs to be on the is that there is clear feedback to the student
continued poor performance, which should about sub-standard performance, and that
be pointed out using specific examples, and there will be consequences if it continues.
how this can’t continue. The options that
were mentioned in the second meeting now For a supervisor, this process is not easy
need to be discussed: taking a six-month either. It is crucial to prepare well for the
break, changing from a PhD to a master’s meetings, and to stay calm. There is an
degree or a complete cessation of the obvious increase in micro-management
research. At this point, you will need to be and control with each of the meetings,
fully aware of the official university processes. and this takes time. There may be funding
agencies and research contracts involved that
These are tough decisions, and should not complicate the decision, but funding agencies
be taken lightly. You need to be sure that will also take a dim view of having their
they are reasonable in the circumstances. funding invested after it is clear that a student
This is why this process gives time for an is having serious problems, and are even
improvement in performance to occur, and legally entitled to request a refund of budget
why it is important to discuss it with a mentor that has not been wisely spent.
or experienced colleague.

Hopefully you never need to have The Talk. In this chapter we’ve highlighted the vital role
If you give constructive feedback early on that feedback plays in the development of
and develop a good relationship with your the research and the research student. In the
student, then most problems can be resolved next chapter, we look at some of the common
before it gets to this stage. challenges faced by supervisors.
144 THINKWELL

AT A GLANCE
CHAPTER 7: FEEDBACK
1 Effective feedback is progressive, constructive, positive, timely,

specific, and objective.
2 Provide positive feedback at the start and become more critical over
time as the student becomes more competent.
3 Use the PhD plan and milestones as a guide to expectations, and to

provide objective feedback on progress and performance.
4 Constructive feedback means making suggestions on how to improve

the situation.
5 Use feedback to coach rather than to tell the student what to do.
6 When providing feedback on writing, remember that there is a

person behind the words on the page.
7 There is a hierarchy of feedback, so clarify what type of feedback the

person wants.
8 Feedback works both ways. Ask for feedback on your supervision.
9 When feedback isn’t acted upon, ask questions to find out why.
10 When consistent feedback fails to result in necessary and important

changes, it’s time for The Talk. Prepare well before proceeding with
The Talk.

8. COMMON CHALLENGES
ENCOUNTERED BY PHD
SUPERVISORS
The PhD experience is often described as • Professional boundaries
an emotional rollercoaster. The student will
• The PhD doldrums
experience many ups and downs and this can
create challenges for your supervision. • Adapting your supervisory style to the
requirements of individual students
In the workshops we’ve run for PhD
supervisors a number of recurring challenges • Adapting your supervisory style to the
usually emerge. Some of the common ones different stages of the PhD
include: • Support for first-time supervisors
• Life events • The care and maintenance of co-
• Mental health supervisors
• Power imbalances • Support for postdoctoral researchers as

trainee supervisors
• Personal boundaries
146 THINKWELL

Life events
Life has a habit of going on even when crawl, or stall completely. For a supervisor,
someone is doing a PhD. PhD students are this can be a problem, particularly if there are
as likely as everyone else to experience the non-negotiable project deadlines or if you are
same life events: they get sick, they become concerned that the student may not complete
parents, relationships break up, partners lose at all. Some supervisors, especially those who
jobs, family members get seriously ill. All of are overly focused on the outcomes (e.g. data,
these are normal life events but they can cause papers) find this very frustrating and put
a lot of turmoil, which inevitably spills over undue additional pressure on the student.
into the PhD research. It can cause students This is not appropriate. Life happens even
to lose momentum, slow progress down to a when one is doing a PhD.
Congratulations?
“I made a formal arrangement to meet my supervisor. I was very nervous and it must have
been obvious. I started the meeting by closing the door and saying that I had something
important that I needed to tell him. Before I said anything else, he blurted out ‘You’re
not going to tell me you’re pregnant, are you?’ I confirmed that I was expecting a baby. He
just put his head in his hands and said nothing for a minute, all the time with his head in
his hands. The rest of our conversation was only about the effect of my pregnancy on the
research. It was terrible.” – PhD student, Australian university

What can you do? • Change from full-time to part-time.
A useful model is to consider the world of • Change from PhD degree to MPhil/
work. In a workplace, if an employee gets master’s degree.
sick, they take some sick leave and when • Resign from the PhD program.
they recover they come back to work. If an
employee has a baby, they take maternity/ The response depends on what other support
paternity leave and return afterwards. The is needed, and how seriously the issue affects
same model could be applied to the PhD. the student’s welfare and their ability to do
the research. If medical issues (physical or
There’s no doubt that this can be difficult mental) are involved, then the student and
at times. If the PhD is part of a funded or you need to be guided by professional advice.
external project with tight deadlines, taking At the lower end of the scale, it can provide
time out can cause major problems. However, great relief and reassurance to let a student
this happens in other workplaces too. In these know that they should take two weeks off
situations, the supervisors or other students and not worry about their research in that
may put in an extra effort to help out and time. In the most serious cases, it may be best
meet critical deadlines. if the student completely resigns from the
When a PhD student approaches you with a research program. This might appear drastic,
serious issue, options for time out from the but in some situations it will still be the most
PhD program may include the following: responsible option for a supervisor who is
concerned about a student’s welfare.
• Take a break e.g. two weeks.
• Suspend registration for up to six months.
You are not a counsellor, so don’t start counselling

It’s important to realise that you are not a mental health therapist. It’s tempting to try to
help the person and offer advice and suggestions on the situation they find themselves
in. However, it is extremely important not to take ownership of a problem you are not
equipped to handle. For example, a student talks to you about a relationship problem and
you suggest that they take control of the situation. As a result, they decide to separate from
their partner. But afterwards, they find themselves feeling lonely and regret their decision.
Now they come to you looking for more advice. Nothing in your training has equipped
you to deal with this. It is wiser to initially refer the person to professional support e.g. the
university’s counselling service.
148 THINKWELL

Mental health
One in five people can expect to experience • They don’t come onto campus, they avoid
a mental health issue over a twelve month meetings and/or don’t respond to emails.
period. This means that if you have five PhD
• They are not as friendly/open/positive as
students it’s likely that one of them will be
usual.
experiencing some form of either depression,
anxiety, substance dependence or a related • They are not as involved in meetings.
mental illness. And one in five supervisors or • Changes in the person’s body language.
co-supervisors are also likely to experience
some mental health issues. Any mental health The student may not wish to reveal a mental
issues are likely to be compounded during health issue, and they are entitled to keep
a PhD. A PhD is at times a demanding and this private. However, when their work is
stressful experience. There will be setbacks, being affected or workplace issues arise (e.g.
rejections, uncertainty and doubts. These can emotionally charged interactions with other
be difficult for anybody, but for a person who staff and students) then you are entitled to
is already experiencing a mental illness the start asking questions about why the work is
added demands can become paralysing. being affected and whether all is OK.
What can you do? When the student reveals a mental health
issue, be supportive and explain that this is
First, be aware that mental illness is common a common issue (one in five) and perhaps
and you will very likely come across a student enquire if the student is receiving help. If not,
(or co-supervisor) who has some mental then refer them to the university counselling
health issues. service. You may need to accept that they
If the student reveals to you that they have may need to take some time out from their
a mental health issue, you can ask them how PhD or that progress may be slower as they
they would like you to respond or if there is deal with their issues.
something they require.
If you suspect an issue but the student
doesn’t reveal it to you, you need to look out
for the early warning signs. Some signs that
you might pay attention to are:
• There’s a sudden drop in work output or
quality.
• The student seems to over-react or
become very emotional in response to
comments or suggestions.

The power imbalance
Many supervisors assume when they sit What can you do?
down with their student that it’s a fairly
equal relationship. The reality is very Use your power wisely. Be aware of the
different. From the student’s perspective the inherent imbalance. As the case study below
supervisor-student relationship is one of the shows, supervisors are often not even aware
most unequal you can imagine. Essentially of the imbalance. Try to see things from the
the supervisor has all the power. You accept student’s perspective. What may seem trivial
the student into the PhD program. You to you, e.g. a throwaway comment about a
are the gatekeeper at several points. You piece of work or overall progress with the
provide feedback and criticism of their work. PhD, can be devastating for the student.
You have more knowledge about the topic. Similarly, professional or personal requests
You decide whether they can proceed and by you can be very difficult to refuse e.g.
probably whether their thesis is ready to a request to review a paper or to do some
submit. Their job applications are dependent babysitting.
on your reference. If you request feedback from students,
Most students are only too well aware of this the power imbalance also confounds the
and, as a result, are reluctant to raise issues objectivity of that feedback – it may be more
or concerns, especially if these relate to your positive than deserved, or not as harsh as
style and quality of supervision. So what can deserved. Most supervisors do a good job of
you do about the power imbalance? minimising the power imbalance, but it is
always there.
Can I ask a favour?

“It had been a very busy final semester and I then had to attend an urgent overseas project
meeting at short notice. This was a problem as I was scheduled to give a number of lectures
at my university. I thought this would be a good opportunity for my graduate student,
Brigitte, to get some lecturing experience. So I asked her and although she was a little
reluctant she agreed. I assumed she was a bit anxious about presenting.
However, I later found out from another PhD student that Brigitte really hadn’t wanted to
give the lectures at all. She was a bit nervous but more than that she knew they would take
a lot of time to prepare and she wanted to focus on her own research. However she was not
willing to say no to me. I was shocked by this as I assumed we had a very open relationship
and that she would have been comfortable to say no if she didn’t want to do it.
I spoke to her about this at our next meeting. She told me that she felt she had no choice
but to agree to give the lectures. She thought I’d be upset and feel let down if she had
refused. As I thought about this later I realised that there was almost no way I could ask for
this favour without putting a lot of pressure on her.” – PhD supervisor, Australia
150 THINKWELL

Establish personal boundaries
There is a wide variety of practice and the Postgraduate Committee before being
opinions about the boundaries between permitted to progress from a master’s to a
students and supervisors. Would you invite PhD program?
your students to your family home for a
dinner? Would you accept an invite to their What can you do?
birthday party? Would you invite them to Our advice is to be friendly, but not friends.
your birthday party? Would you invite them Some supervisors make this explicit at the
to your wedding? When socialising, what beginning of the PhD. While they take a
is your attitude to alcohol consumption few moments to exchange pleasantries at
and partying in the company of your PhD the beginning of meetings, they quickly
students? Would you accept an invitation move on to the agenda and do not engage in
from your students to be ‘friends’ on social extended discussions about, for example, the
media? Would you supervise your colleague’s latest drama in a relationship. The first few
son or daughter? Would you be a PhD meetings should set the tone.
supervisor for your brother or sister (we
know of one example)? Supervisors can decline to be friends with
students on Facebook, but instead include
Experienced supervisors generally take a them as part of their professional network on
more conservative attitude and have clear LinkedIn. Other supervisors have multiple
personal boundaries – often having learned social media accounts, some of which are for
the hard way. Imagine having to tell your professional activities that students can link
friend that their draft chapter falls well to, whereas other accounts are more personal
short of the expected standard, or that they and off-limits to their students.
have to re-submit an improved report to
“Be friendly,
but
not friends.”

Maintain professional boundaries
Maintaining the appropriate level of a professional relationship: personal trust,

academic independence is an important mutual respect, intellectual engagement and
requirement of a supervisor. One of the stimulation, professional co-development,
formal assessment criteria (most thoroughly and an opportunity to discuss and refine
assessed by a viva) is that the work is that of ideas. In addition, PhD students eventually
the PhD candidate. progress and join the workforce. Depending
on their experience, they can be positive
Supervisors have more experience in research or negative ambassadors for an individual
practice and should be in a good position to supervisor, a research group or a university.
guide the student. However, the supervisor’s At best, past PhD students become future
advice and guidance is not a substitute for the collaborators, lifelong colleagues and friends;
student’s own efforts to manage and assess at worst, they warn others to have nothing to
their progress. An important practical issue do with their former supervisor or university.
for supervisors is the amount of assistance
that they give to research students without Practical activities that help build a positive
transgressing institutional requirements and appropriate working relationship include:
(and academic tradition) that the thesis
• One-to-one conversations about the
is the student’s own work. Violations of
project and progress
independence include: writing sections of
the thesis, analysing the data for the student, • One-to-one conversations about
interpreting the results for the student. professional performance and leadership
What can you do? • Giving good advice or alerting the student
to a professional opportunity e.g. travel
As with all professional relationships, the grants, society grants, job opportunities,
student-supervisor relationship needs care notice of a new relevant publication
and maintenance if it is to be an effective one.
• Delivering on commitments that you make
At the heart of most functioning relationships
(and offering explanations or an apology
is respect, which evolves from trust. One of
when you fail to deliver a commitment)
the most effective ways to build and maintain
trust is through communication, best achieved • Being sufficiently aware of the student’s
through regular one-to-one conversations. personality to recognise when they hit the
(Note that one of the biggest complaints from PhD doldrums, and being able to support
students is that they do not get enough time and motivate them at this time
with their supervisor.) These conversations • Marking major achievements
certainly do not have to be about sport,
the weather or family life – one-to-one • Travelling together e.g. on the way to a
conversations include all of the meetings that meeting or conference
happen as part of a typical PhD project. • Going for lunch together (especially when
you pay!)
Such regular student-supervisor interactions
promote the qualities that one associates with
152 THINKWELL

The PhD doldrums
All PhD students eventually hit a phase known

as the PhD doldrums. They lose momentum
and confidence as they perceive the challenge
ahead and the scale of the effort that is
required. Your support and encouragement
may also have declined a little as you focus on
the next new PhD student, and you know that
the more established student has settled in and
is getting on with the work.
What can you do?
For students in the doldrums, you can
take several practical actions to maintain
momentum:
• Reassure your student about their rate of
progress, and provide positive feedback
(where appropriate) on their work. Don’t
forget that the high achievers need this too,
and are just as prone to the doldrums.
• Address negative thoughts and attitudes
with accurate advice.
• Establish short-term goals that give a
sense of purpose and achievement. For
example, encourage your student to give
a seminar about their research or attend a
conference.
• Have a plan for the whole PhD. Use the
plan to show how the work will proceed in
the short- and medium-term, and how the
immediate tasks contribute to the long-
term goal. This will reduce uncertainty
about the future.
• Identify specific obstacles to progress.
Help where you can. Direct the PhD
student to support services that may be
needed e.g. software, hardware, academic
writing, English language, quantitative
methodology.

Coping with isolation
By its nature a PhD can be quite isolating.
The student has their specialised project
that not too many other people are very
interested in. Hopefully, you as a supervisor
are interested in it. But if you are very busy,
rarely available or they don’t feel comfortable
approaching you, then the sense of isolation is
compounded.
To help reduce feelings of isolation, try to
maintain steady contact with your PhD
students. This is one reason why regular
meetings are important. You can also
encourage your student to engage with the
local research community or online research
communities.
Universities, for example, usually offer a There are also many online communities of
range of academic and social supports that researchers that provide opportunities for
foster a sense of community. Postgraduates sharing, communicating and co-ordinating
can join student unions, postgraduate activities around research. Many academic
societies, and a wide array of clubs and societies have a strong online presence and
societies. There may be regular development engagement in social media that can promote
programs that provide training and networking and collaboration while also
workshops. Many departments offer activities reducing isolation. PhD students often find
such as journal clubs, writing groups, and Twitter a useful tool for connecting with
regular seminars. other colleagues.
154 THINKWELL

Adapt your supervisory style to the
requirements of individual students
Let’s imagine you’ve just started supervising What works for one student will not
your first student and after a period of trial necessarily work for another. People come
and error you’ve worked out a productive to the PhD program with different sets of
relationship. You think ‘I’ve got this sorted research skills, learning preferences and
now. I know how to do it’. And next year personality types. So you can’t have just one
along comes another student, you try to do the supervisory style; you need to adapt your style
same thing and it doesn’t work! Why? Because to the needs of each individual student. Some
each student is different. of the differences you might encounter are
outlined in the following table.
Differences among students

Degrees of independence Some students become independent very quickly while others need
quite a lot of assistance.
Response to feedback Some students are very resilient and cope well with direct or even
blunt feedback. Others might take even mild feedback very much to
heart.
Culture Cultural differences can affect things like how we address each other,
formality versus informality, dealing with disagreement and conflict,
and family commitments.
Level of maturity Some students start their PhD straight after an undergraduate degree
while others have a lifetime of workplace and life experience behind
them.
Life circumstances Some students are responsible just for themselves while others have
partners, children, elderly parents or other caring responsibilities.
Some students have health issues, either physical or mental.
Others?
These differences are why it is important to spend some time at the beginning of the
candidature getting to know the student. As you begin to understand them, you can adjust your
supervisory style.

Adapt your supervisory style to the
different stages of the PhD
Not only do students differ in their strengths, hopefully learn from them. It is a delicate
weaknesses and supervisory needs, but the balance to achieve between providing
type of supervision that you provide also freedom and abandoning the student. This is
needs to change over time. where you need to solicit two-way feedback
so that the student can let you know if your
At the start of the PhD we suggest that you style is working for them.
provide close supervision. This means regular
meetings, specific tasks and regular checks. As the student becomes more experienced,
you expect them to develop more
As the student develops skills and confidence, independence and confidence. However,
you can provide more freedom and when the student enters a new stage e.g.
opportunity for self-direction. You might moving from data gathering to data analysis,
provide the student with a broad task and or from analysis to writing, they will probably
expect them to fill out the detail or work out need more support and your supervisory style
how they will achieve the goal. This might will probably have to adapt again.
involve allowing them to make mistakes and
The Changing Relationship
Student
Supervisor
TIME
156 THINKWELL

The first-time supervisor – get support
Be cautious about acting as a sole primary Some researchers take on PhD supervision
supervisor if you’ve never had any supervisory despite not having a PhD themselves. In
experience. Where possible, it is best if your such a situation, it is even more important
first experience as supervisor is as a co- that there is close co-supervision by an
supervisor; many universities now require experienced supervisor with a PhD who is
this. Learning from more experienced fully aware of the standards and supervisory
supervisors can be a great way to start, demands. Not having a PhD certainly
especially if the other supervisor is willing to doesn’t preclude someone from being an
act as a coach. excellent researcher, or being an excellent
supervisor. Nevertheless, the PhD is tough
Sometimes, first-time supervisors are enough for students, without the risk of a
desperate for a PhD student and so can be supervisor who may not fully appreciate the
less selective than is wise. Take care to ensure standards required (which is partly learned by
that your first supervisory experience is a doing a PhD), or does not have supervisory
good one, for the PhD student’s sake as well experience.
as your own.
Supervising for the first time

“I ‘inherited’ my first PhD student from a colleague who had just won a research grant,
but then moved into a management role. The topic was directly relevant to my research
interests, and the PhD student was enthusiastic and capable. I remember how my initial
focus was very much on the research questions and the experimental design, but over time
I began to realise that I needed to increase my attention to other issues – dealing with the
specific training needs of the PhD student, motivating them through the PhD ‘doldrums’,
inspiring them to achieve higher quality work, and delivering feedback in a manner that
didn’t diminish this motivation.
It was a challenge to learn how to do this while ensuring that the PhD student didn’t
suffer due to my lack of experience. I relished the challenge, I was inspired by the research
topic, and I really enjoyed working with that PhD student. After a short time, I definitely
took the attitude that we were working together, rather than that they were working for
me. I have supervised over a dozen students since then, and each has presented different
challenges, different strengths, and different problems. Overall, I love working with my
PhD students. They have also motivated and inspired me, and I think my research career
could be quite boring without them!” – Experienced PhD supervisor, Irish university

Care and maintenance of co-supervisors
In most universities it is the norm for a • Many non-university research institutions

student to have at least one co-supervisor. cannot award research degrees, and require
There are many benefits: collaboration with a supervisor from a
• The student has a back-up in case one university that can award the PhD degree.
supervisor becomes unavailable. As we’ve mentioned earlier, it’s important to
• A co-supervisor can expand the range of put time into selecting your PhD students
knowledge and skills that is available to a but you should also take care with the
project. selection of co-supervisors.
• A new supervisor learns the skills of
supervision by acting as co-supervisor with
a more experienced colleague.
The benefits of collaborative research

Mary and Johann are working together for the first time and co-supervising a PhD project.
Mary is a respected mid-career researcher with an international reputation in her subject
area. Johann is a new lecturer in the statistics department of the same university, and this is
his first time supervising a PhD student. Mary is conducting research in a fast-developing
area, where there has been rapid expansion and development of theory, experimentation
and methodology over the last three years.
While judging a poster session at a conference, Mary spotted that Johann had implemented
an experimental design and statistical technique that she was unaware of, but could resolve
a number of outstanding methodological issues in her discipline. Mary and Johann met for
coffee and discussed this further. Johann knew nothing about the research area, but quickly
grasped the methodological problems. Both were excited by the prospect of this new
research, and quickly won a research award for a PhD studentship.
The PhD student’s work is now at the cutting edge of research in the discipline. Johann is
enjoying the research collaboration, and is gaining experience in research supervision. Both
he and Mary enjoy working together, and have plans to submit more funding applications.
Consider your responses to the following questions that reflect on this case study.
What are the risks in collaborating with another supervisor for the first time?
What are the risks for Mary? For Johann? For the PhD student?
How can these risks be minimised?
158 THINKWELL

Although most collaborations and co- manager who gets too involved in the project,
supervision experiences are rewarding and in a way that annoys the PhD student and/or
productive, it doesn’t always work out. A you. Perhaps you and the co-supervisor have
co-supervisor may not dedicate enough time such different perspectives and objectives for
to the student or the project: they may get the proposed research that you will not be
promoted to a senior management position; able to work together.
they already have too many students; they
are not interested in the topic (but want However aggravated you might feel about
the funding or publications); they are a collaboration that doesn’t deliver on its
geographically separated from the student. promise, it is far worse for the PhD student,
whose research, thesis and career progression
Such issues are compounded when the are dependent on their co-supervisors
absentee co-supervisor controls a key functioning effectively.
element of the project, or when they insist on
authorship despite having contributed very What can you do to increase the chances of a
little. The co-supervisor may be a micro- successful collaboration? The following table
lists some steps you can take.
Manage successful collaborations

Do some research Before approaching a prospective co-supervisor, do some homework and
discreetly enquire about your collaborator. By the time you start talking to them
about the project, it is already more difficult to decline to work with them.
Meet in person If you haven’t met before, arrange to meet. Perhaps you both have such
different personalities that you could not work together – it is best to
discover this before you commit to supervising a student.
Clarify contributions Discuss the details, as specifically as possible, of each co-supervisor’s key
contributions in terms of:
• Access to resources or techniques
• Training
• Supervision of specific sections of work
• Provision of data
• Geographical location of the student
• Supervisory style
• Responsibility for reading drafts of chapters and journal manuscripts
Clarify authorship Discuss the allocation of credit and authorship of likely publications. Will
all names be on all publications, or are some contributions so specific that
authorship is limited to the publications that specifically relate to that
contribution?
Write it down Prepare a written outline of the different contributions and agreements
made by you and your prospective co-supervisor. For example, this could be
an email that summarises the main points of a meeting or phone call. Be as
specific as possible.

What can you do? confrontational tone between you and your
co-supervisor, indicating that the situation is
When co-supervisors do not meet their becoming more serious.
commitments, what can you do?
Finally, examine your options. At this point,
First, you must clearly identify the effect on the you might consider the following actions:
progress of your PhD student. What exactly
is the problem? How serious is it and how is • Talk to someone who can give good advice
it affecting the research? In what way is it the e.g. your Head of Department or a more
responsibility of the co-supervisor? How long experienced colleague.
has it been going on? Has the PhD student • Inform the co-supervisor about the
attempted to address it? How can the problem problem by email, and provide specific
be remedied? How easy is it to remedy? actions that they need to deliver (which
should reflect those agreed at the
Second, ring the co-supervisor and let them
beginning). Ask for a response that
know that there is a problem. It’s possible
indicates what they will do and when.
that they simply don’t know, don’t realise
how serious the problem is for the PhD • If there is no prospect of improvement,
student, or that they have been side-tracked you need to check with your university
by other commitments. They are likely to pay guidelines and explore the appointment of
more attention to the message when it comes an alternative co-supervisor. This is rare,
from you. At this stage, most co-supervisors but it does happen.
agree to meet their commitments and do so.
Sometimes, although you enter a
Next, confront or accept. If the co-supervisor collaboration with the best of intentions and
still does not provide support, you need to preparations, it doesn’t go well. Learn what
choose either to confront the co-supervisor or you can from the experience (“Fool me once,
take on the extra workload and responsibility. shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me”),
Taking on extra work or responsibility and find different collaborators in future.
does not resolve the problem, but it does
restore more effective supervision for the
student. At this stage, there may be a more
160 THINKWELL

Conflicting advice
Edgar and Rita are co-supervising a PhD student, and are geographically separated. The
PhD student works in Rita’s university and is supervised by Rita on a day-to-day basis.
Having written a successful research award that is funding the PhD, Rita has a clear vision
for the PhD project.
The PhD student occasionally visits Edgar at his university about every two months. After
every visit to Edgar, he keeps suggesting alternative methods, alternative sampling methods
and even alternative objectives. After every such occasion, Rita has to reassure the PhD
student of the original research plan, and deal with the confusion caused. The project is
now 20 months old. At each of the six-month project meetings, Rita makes it clear that the
project plan cannot keep changing. Edgar agrees- before making suggestions about other
possibilities!
What might Rita have done to better manage this situation up to now?
What more can Rita do to manage this situation better from now on?
What should Rita do for future projects?
Two supervisors: double trouble

I applied for and won a scholarship for a PhD position, and moved from the other side of the
world to take up the position. I had two PhD supervisors who were both very experienced in
my topic. The two supervisors were in different institutions, located about an hour away from
each other. Time after time, the more geographically distant supervisor made no effort to
respond to my emails, return my phone calls, or attend our research meetings. Despite all of
this, he made it clear that he wanted his name on all of my research articles.
Eventually, I forced my day-to-day supervisor to arrange a meeting with the three of
us. At the meeting, my day-to-day supervisor said nothing about the other supervisor’s
non-involvement. I got really annoyed at the meeting, and confronted him about it – his
reaction was to shrug his shoulders and say that he was far too busy to give me his time,
and that I already had a supervisor who was giving me the inputs I needed. Afterwards, I
complained to my supervisor, the Head of Department of the other supervisor, and the
funding agency. No-one wanted to do anything. In the end, I threatened to go public with
a letter to the newspaper on academic standards in the university. Only at that point did
anything change for the better.
Assume you are the day-to-day supervisor in this case.
What would you do to try to get more engagement from the co-supervisor?
What other options do you have to respond to the student’s concerns?

Support for postdoctoral researchers as
trainee supervisors
Postdoctoral blues
Mark is an ambitious and successful postdoctoral researcher. He recently joined a large
research group of about 12 PhD students and two other postdoctoral researchers, all led by
an internationally renowned senior researcher. Within weeks of joining the research group,
Mark finds himself increasingly responsible for the day-to-day supervision of the PhD
students. He is bombarded with questions about lab practice, troubleshooting problems
with lab equipment, advising on statistics and data interpretation. The senior researcher is
constantly away from the office and usually abroad, attending workshops and conferences,
and meeting industry representatives to investigate funding opportunities. Mark comes home
late every day, frustrated at not getting his own research completed, and tired from looking
after what he now calls ‘the crèche’.
What advice would you give to Mark for dealing with student requests?
How would you suggest Mark deals with the senior researcher?
Postdoctoral researchers (postdocs) are In the case of a supervisor who has

often used by senior primary supervisors delegated some or all of PhD supervision
to supervise part or all of the work of PhD to a postdoctoral researcher, consider the
students. Because of the power imbalance, following two scenarios:
this can effectively be an allocated duty rather
than an optional task that the postdoc is free 1. In the event of a very successful project
to accept or decline. (the PhD student has an article accepted
in the top journal in your discipline), what
In practice, the delegation of PhD credit should the postdoc receive for their
supervision to postdocs by senior researchers contribution?
is typically characterised by unstated
agreements (by postdocs) to unstated 2. In the event of a PhD student failing
expectations (of primary supervisors). Thus, the PhD viva because of inadequate
depending on the circumstance, postdocs supervision, then who is responsible?
can either be empowered collaborators These issues throw into sharp contrast the
or supervisors of last resort. Sometimes extent of a postdoc’s and a supervisor’s
this arrangement works well, sometimes it responsibility and obligations. Presumably,
doesn’t. postdocs should be rewarded for their
contribution through, for example authorship
162 THINKWELL

on relevant articles (assuming that they have When a PhD student is struggling or fails
satisfied normal criteria to be a co-author), the PhD examination, then to what extent is
and perhaps inclusion on the formal list the postdoc responsible? If the PhD student
of supervisors in the PhD thesis. When a cites lack of appropriate supervision in an
postdoc invests more time and effort on appeal of the PhD examination result, then
supervision than the main supervisor, then who is responsible? What if the postdoc
should this be reflected in the sequence of only used the PhD student as a laboratory
author listing? What happens when both the technician and didn’t engage with them as
postdoc and the PhD student feel entitled to a research partner or didn’t promote the
be first author, and both need the associated intellectual development of the PhD student?
credit at this early stage of their careers? Such What happens if there were interpersonal
issues should be discussed well in advance. difficulties between the PhD student and
postdoc?
Most postdocs are employed on temporary
contracts and there can be very serious Ultimately, as the formal PhD supervisor,
repercussions for a PhD student if the most university guidelines would indicate
postdoc leaves unexpectedly for another that it is you as the supervisor who is
position. As a supervisor, what is your Plan B responsible for the provision of adequate
if this happens? training, development and supervision of the
PhD student.

The following checklist is useful when delegating at least some supervision responsibilities to
postdocs. If you are a postdoctoral researcher, you can use it to address these same issues with
your supervisor.
Delegation of supervision
If a postdoc is going to be working closely with a PhD student, offer to involve the
postdoc in the recruitment process.
Clarify your expectations of the postdoc and clarify the arrangement with the PhD
student.
Clarify the postdoc’s expectations (limits of responsibility, allocation of credit).
Discuss how much supervision they are expected to provide to an individual student
and how many students they are expected to supervise.
Discuss the expectations at the start of the project, before any supervision occurs and
before any problems arise.
Explicitly discuss the types of problems that may arise, and when and how they should
be dealt with. Problems can vary from being of an interpersonal nature, to poor research
practice, a problem with research integrity, to mental health issues.
In the event of the primary supervisor being unavailable for several weeks or months,
clarify whether the postdoc has the authority to make decisions on changes to the
research design or budget.
Provide an opportunity for the postdoc to receive training for specific skills associated
with supervision (feedback, support for writing).
164 THINKWELL

AT A GLANCE
CHAPTER 8: COMMON CHALLENGES
ENCOUNTERED BY PHD SUPERVISORS
1 Life continues while the student is doing a PhD. You must accept
that this may result in slower progress at various times.
2 Many PhD students will experience mental health issues. Provide

support, but do not try to solve other people’s serious problems.
When serious problems arise, refer the student to the university’s
professional supports (mental and physical health).
3 There is an inherent power imbalance in the student-supervisor

relationship. Be careful how you use the power.
4 Maintain personal boundaries; be friendly but not friends.
5 Maintain professional boundaries; at the end of the day it is the

student’s thesis. You cannot and should not do it for them.
6 Help your student overcome isolation by being involved in research

communities.
7 Adapt your supervisory style to the requirements of individual

students and different stages.
8 First time supervisors need support. This is important for the new
supervisor but more so for their student. Before you become a first
time primary supervisor, hone your skills by acting as a co-supervisor
or secondary supervisor.
9 Co-supervisors can be a wonderful source of inspiration and effective

collaboration. When it doesn’t work out, however, you need to
manage the situation to protect the PhD student’s welfare.
10 If PhD supervision is delegated to postdocs, everyone should be clear

about their roles and responsibilities.

9. THESIS EXAMINATION AND
THE VIVA
Introduction
Whilst it’s easy for both the supervisor and Preparing for the examination and viva
the student to get absorbed in day-to-day requires a lot of work, not just for the
research activities, eventually the research will student, but also the supervisor. Usually, the
undergo a formal examination. As supervisor, end of a thesis is very intense because time,
you will need to be confident that the work is funding (and maybe a work visa) is running
at the appropriate standard to be submitted, out. However, it is crucial that you (and the
you will need to think carefully about a student) prepare well for the examination
suitable examiner, and you will need to help and viva if you are to do justice to all the work
the student prepare the final thesis and get that has gone into the thesis.
ready for the viva.
166 THINKWELL

What is the standard for a PhD degree?
Above all, examiners tend to want to be

satisfied that the researcher has become Overall, the PhD examination is
an expert in the chosen field and has intended to meet the following
demonstrated competence to do the kind of criteria:
research that s/he set out to do (Lawton 1997: • Ensure that the institutional
17). requirements of the thesis are
satisfied (for example, the correct
One of the crucial, and also most difficult, format and presentation is
responsibilities of a supervisor is to determine adopted).
whether the work is of a standard that is ready
to submit for examination. Some universities • Ensure that the work has been
require formal approval of the thesis by the conducted by the candidate
supervisors before submission, others don’t. (independence).
Experienced supervisors who have seen many • Ensure that the thesis demonstrates
of their students’ theses being examined, an original contribution to
and who have probably acted as examiners knowledge.
themselves, will have a good awareness of
what constitutes an acceptable standard. • Ensure that the candidate has a
For new supervisors, this can be a stressful thorough understanding of the
question, causing much self-doubt and worry. concepts, theories, methodologies
and applications (where
Although the university will describe the appropriate) of their subject.
requirements of a thesis (see side box),
• Ensure that the candidate is aware
there is still a lot of room for subjectivity.
of how the thesis advances their
For example, there is a requirement that
subject.
the research makes an original contribution
to knowledge. But how original or how • Ensure either that the research is of
significant a contribution? So, how do sufficient quality to be potentially
you evaluate the standard? Here are a few publishable, or, where publication is
suggestions. a requirement, ensure the research
has been published.
• Assess (grade) the candidate’s thesis.
• Provide discussion and feedback
that may help improve the work for
subsequent publication.
• Acknowledge the candidate’s entry
to a community of scholarship
(most relevant where a viva occurs).

Comply with the university’s Discuss PhD standards
regulations with colleagues and other
supervisors
The first minimum standard is that the thesis
must comply with the university’s regulations. You can do this by talking to individual
As a supervisor, you must be aware of these experienced supervisors, attending PhD
and convey them to your student. Within student seminars where work in progress is
countries, the differences in award criteria being discussed, or attending workshops on
and regulations between universities tend to supervision and examination where these
be modest; across countries, these differences issues will be directly addressed.
can be large. PhD supervisors who have
moved university and country must acquaint Act as an internal/external
themselves with the applicable regulations. examiner
Co-supervise with a more Agreeing to be an examiner for a PhD thesis

experienced supervisor is a great opportunity to improve your ability
to assess the standard of a PhD (although you
Most universities require that new supervisors should not do so to use it as a training exercise,
begin supervision as a co-supervisor with of course). There may be regular opportunities
a more experienced supervisor. This is to be an internal examiner for PhD theses
highly advisable, both for the benefit of produced in your department or faculty, and
the supervisor and the student. This allows this can be a great introduction. You may
the new supervisor to learn the standards also receive invitations to be the external
required and to have discussions with a more examiner for a thesis, which involves greater
experienced colleague about standards. responsibility during the viva (see below).
PhD supervisor hack: become an external examiner

As a supervisor interested in improving oneself, one of the more interesting aspects of
being an examiner is the interaction with the other examiner(s). These can vary from
one (England) to seven (France) other examiners! In any event, the opportunity to
make a personal assessment of a thesis, to discuss its strengths and weaknesses with other
examiners, and to examine it in relation to the expected standards all make a viva a valuable
learning experience that can help you to be a better supervisor.
Be warned, however, that examining a thesis, especially if you are the external examiner, can
be a time-consuming job, given the time taken to read the thesis, check references, make
notes, prepare questions, and travel to the viva. Nevertheless, being an examiner of a thesis
can also be a hugely rewarding experience. You get to engage at a deep intellectual level
with the PhD candidate about their work, give feedback that helps improve the thesis and
publications, and discuss and learn about topics that are of interest to you. Importantly, it
allows you to gain a greater understanding of the expected standards and what is acceptable
or not. And it gives you experience that can improve your ability as a supervisor to guide
your own students in assessing the extent to which their work meets the expected standards.
168 THINKWELL

What do external examiners • Appropriate engagement with the
look for? literature
To ensure that PhD theses are assessed as • Grasp of methodology
independently as possible, external examiners • Presentation of the thesis and compliance
are invited into the university to ensure with academic conventions
an unbiased comparison of the merits of a
thesis against the award criteria for the PhD • Originality
degree. External examiners also aim to assess • Potential for publication
the candidate’s expertise in the field being
addressed by the thesis. A useful exercise for you and your student
is to rate the thesis using these criteria
So, what do external examiners look for in a (see ‘Rapid assessment of PhD thesis’ tool
PhD thesis? A questionnaire distributed to 31 below). This could be done when some of
PhD examiners across a variety of disciplines the chapters are almost completed, and there
in the UK revealed considerable consistency is a good sense of the whole thesis emerging.
in the criteria used by examiners when This exercise should also be conducted
assessing a PhD thesis (Winter et al. 2000: on the first whole draft of the thesis, and
32-35). These criteria included: sufficiently in advance of submission to give
• Conceptual clarity in the design, conduct time to incorporate feedback and changes.
and analysis of the research The supervisor and student should begin by
doing this separately and then compare and
• Intellectual appreciation of the conceptual discuss their responses. Obviously, points of
and theoretical basis of the research, and difference are especially important to discuss.
its limitations and wider significance Where differences in opinion occur, it can
• Coherence of argument throughout the be useful to get the PhD student to mark
thesis passages of text that deal with specific criteria.
Rapid assessment of PhD thesis

1 = Needs work
Criteria
5 = Doing well
1. Conceptual clarity in the design, conduct and analysis of the research 1 2 3 4 5
2. Intellectual appreciation of the conceptual and theoretical basis of the
1 2 3 4 5
research, and its limitations and wider significance
3. Coherence of argument throughout the thesis 1 2 3 4 5
4. Appropriate engagement with the literature 1 2 3 4 5
5. Grasp of methodology 1 2 3 4 5
6. Presentation of the thesis and compliance with academic conventions 1 2 3 4 5
7. Potential for publication 1 2 3 4 5

The primary examination is of the PhD
thesis
“The crucial examination of the PhD

candidacy is that of the thesis, not the viva.”
In most countries the examination process of the result. Most examiners do not change
consists of two parts: the examination of the their opinion of the thesis following the
thesis, and a viva voce (‘viva’) or oral defence, viva, and, in cases where the viva did affect
although practices can vary considerably. examiners’ opinions of the thesis, it did not
In most countries, the viva is a central part necessarily change their final decision.
of the examination process. However, in
Australia and New Zealand, there is often For PhD supervisors, this means that the
no viva, so the examination is solely based on PhD student (with the supervisor’s guidance)
the thesis. In some countries (e.g. Holland, needs to submit the thesis in a way that meets
Finland, Sweden) the viva is almost entirely a the highest standards. Golding et al. (2014)
ceremonial event which doesn’t occur without concluded in a review that ‘Even though
it being certain that the PhD student will pass examiners expect a pass, first impressions can
i.e. the real examination is of the thesis. change their mind. Examiners make an initial
judgement about the quality of a thesis early in
Although students can become very anxious their reading, at least in the first two chapters
about the PhD viva, it is important that they and sometimes while they skim the abstract,
realise that the crucial examination of the table of contents, introduction and conclusion.
PhD candidacy is that of the thesis, not the They quickly decide whether the thesis is likely
viva. Based on a reading of the thesis alone, to be hard work or an enjoyable read, a “treat”
examiners typically produce a written report or an “endurance test”…’
and make a recommendation on the outcome
“Forty per cent of examiners ... said that the decision about
the thesis was made before the viva. In 74% of cases the
viva served merely to confirm the examiners’ opinions of
the candidate ... Where the viva did influence the examiners
this did not necessarily influence the examiners’ decision.”
– Jackson and Tinkler 2001: 361
170 THINKWELL

Thesis and examination preparation
Be familiar with the More generally, progress of the whole thesis

regulations should be monitored closely in the last six
months. While the focus is often on individual
The detailed regulations about submission chapters, keep an overview of the whole
and examination for the PhD degree vary thesis. One helpful approach is to list each
enormously between institutions, so be sure of the chapters, and rate the progress of each
that you and your PhD students are familiar (see assessment tool ‘Overview of progress’).
with how they are implemented in your This can be done in a few minutes. It can be
university. especially helpful when you have multiple PhD
Assess the quality of the thesis students, and multiple chapters to keep track of.
together Meetings can begin with a quick assessment
You, as supervisor, are responsible for of progress, which can be compared against
ensuring that the expected standards are the ratings in a previous meeting. Most
communicated and explained to the PhD importantly, this approach can serve as a focus
student, and are evident in the thesis. for discussion about what has gone really
Obviously, this is a process that must start very well in fast-progressing chapters, and what is
early in the doctoral project, and cannot be left impeding slow-progressing chapters.
to the final stages alone.
• At the beginning of their research, give
your PhD student a recent thesis from
your research group or department, and
ask them to identify the elements that
satisfy the criteria with which examiners
assess the thesis (see above).
• In the PhD student’s own thesis, get them
to identify the elements in their individual
chapters, Introduction and Discussion/
Synthesis that satisfy the criteria with
which examiners assess the thesis. This
should be the basis of a specific discussion.

Assessment tool: Overview of progress
Rate the progress towards completion of each of the chapters. This should be completed as a
rapid assessment, and used as a basis for discussion.
Rapid assessment of PhD thesis

1 = Needs work
Section
5 = Doing well
Abstract 1 2 3 4 5
Introduction/literature review 1 2 3 4 5
Chapter 1 1 2 3 4 5
Chapter 2 1 2 3 4 5
Chapter 3 1 2 3 4 5
Chapter 4 1 2 3 4 5
Chapter 5 1 2 3 4 5
Discussion 1 2 3 4 5
Conclusion 1 2 3 4 5
Allocate sufficient time to read your PhD students, and well in advance (at
the thesis text least six months) of the submission deadline.
Expectations need to be clarified. What is
Reading thesis chapters is a time-consuming the schedule for production of draft text?
and intellectually demanding task. Anecdotal What happens if deadlines are not met? Do
evidence suggests that supervisors can take you want to receive each chapter individually,
several hours to read a decent draft of a single or two or three chapters at a time? At what
thesis chapter of 8,000 to 10,000 words. point are you prepared to read the chapters
It also takes time to give effective written – when they are outlines, basic drafts, or well-
feedback (which is often more valuable than developed drafts? Do you want to see the key
oral feedback, although both are needed). figures and tables and key messages as early as
Make sure you schedule time in your diary for possible? How many times are you prepared
reading and giving feedback on thesis chapters. to read a chapter? In what format(s) will
Reading and providing feedback on the thesis feedback be provided? How does this align
needs to be a process that is agreed with with your student’s expectations?
172 THINKWELL

Focus on editing, not Ultimately, the reader (typically the external
proofreading examiner) needs to understand the intended
meaning and purpose as well as you do.
At this later stage in the doctoral project, No wonder that effective editing is time-
editing of the thesis is a key contribution from consuming and difficult; good academic
supervisors. Editing is tough because it requires: editing is a cognitively demanding task that
• Having a clear understanding of the puts a lot of demands on the frontal lobes!
intended meaning and purpose
From this description, it is clear that editing
• Reading to assess how effectively the is far more than proofreading. The most
current text conveys the intended meaning effective editing by supervisors addresses the
and purpose types of issues in the feedback tool below.
• Identifying and explaining specific Note that this tool is most appropriately
examples (high-level feedback) where a applied to a well-developed version of the
text fails to convey the intended meaning thesis that is close to submission, rather than
and purpose to individual chapters.
• Making specific suggestions (high-level

feedback) on what needs to change to
adequately convey the intended meaning
and purpose
Focus of editing
1 = Needs work
5 = Doing well
Overall, is there a persuasive ‘story’ with a clear beginning, middle and end, with
1 2 3 4 5
these sections signalled to the reader in advance?
Are the most important messages apparent in each chapter, and in the overall
Introduction and Discussion? The details should illuminate rather than 1 2 3 4 5
obfuscate the most important messages.
Are there inconsistencies within or across chapters? e.g. inconsistencies in
1 2 3 4 5
definitions, terminology, assessment methods or conclusions.
Is there conceptual clarity and unity across the chapters?
1 2 3 4 5
(This is usually achieved in the Introduction and Discussion.)
Has appropriate context been provided? Is there an over-reliance on limited
1 2 3 4 5
theoretical perspectives or references to set the context?
Is there an appropriate use of appendices so as not to disrupt the flow of
the reading of individual chapters? Appendices are useful for large tracts of
1 2 3 4 5
methodological detail, presentation of large amounts of detailed data, and
presentation of supplementary data.
Is there unnecessary repetition in the thesis? 1 2 3 4 5
Does the thesis clearly indicate how it has made an original contribution to
1 2 3 4 5
knowledge? (Most likely to be in the overall Discussion)

Encourage publication in Keep the examiners in mind
advance of the examination
For most PhD theses, few people read
In some universities, there is a requirement them other than the external and internal
that the PhD thesis comprises at least examiners. In practice, most examiners view
three or four journal articles that have been the reading of a PhD thesis as an important
accepted or submitted to an academic journal. and substantial task that takes several days,
In most universities, there is a requirement and may require several readings. External
that the thesis be ‘publishable in whole or in and internal examiners are human too, and
part’. In general, in universities that do not appreciate all the help that they can get with
insist on publication, examiners will be more reading a thesis. Few examiners read the
reassured by a thesis that has at least one thesis in one sitting. (Some read it on the
published paper, as it satisfies the criterion plane on the way to the viva, and we heard
that the thesis be ‘publishable in whole or in of one external examiner who did not read
part’. the thesis at all!) Knowing this highlights the
importance of techniques such as signalling
There are distinct advantages to journal and signposting to guide them through the
publication: chapters.
• The preparation of a journal article
Many examiners have already formed a
ensures relatively early data analysis and
strong impression and initial judgement of
interpretation, and speeds up the research
the work by the time they finish reading the
process.
Introduction! Therefore, the Introduction
• Knowledge of the publication process needs to clearly set out the background to
is an important skill for an independent the topic, the concepts being investigated,
researcher. and the knowledge gaps that are evident and
• Journal articles contribute greatly to career that give rise to the original contribution
development and opportunities. to knowledge being made by the PhD
research. For the external examiner as a
On the other hand, preparing journal articles reader, the Introduction also offers an
can be quite time-consuming and lengthy, important opportunity to signpost the various
and needs to be balanced with the time that chapters, and highlight the conceptual unity
is required to prepare a thesis. This can be a across them. The presentation of an overall
delicate balancing act that may also depend structure (via text or flow diagrams) can be
on the PhD student’s circumstances – those an especially important technique to manage
aiming for academic careers will place a the examiners’ expectations of the thesis
higher value on journal articles than those structure, and to highlight the linkages among
who are not. chapters.
The audience for the PhD thesis is the

examiner – no-one else!
174 THINKWELL

Selecting the PhD examiner • How experienced are they? Have they
specialised in depth in one area, or have
The selection of the external examiner is they a broader range of more general
probably the second most important decision research interests?
you will make in the whole PhD process
(selecting the student is the first!). Selection • Have they published or presented
of the external examiner is not always the critiques of certain methods or analytical
sole responsibility of PhD supervisors, and approaches?
most universities have strict protocols for the • Have they been an external examiner
external examiner’s approval and confirmation. at another university where there is a
The external examiner has a very important role, member of staff who is well known to you?
and is in a position of considerable power over If so, enquire about them.
the thesis and the PhD student. It’s important • Do you know a colleague of theirs well
that a lot of thought goes into their selection. enough to enquire about their suitability to
You need to use your judgement to select be a PhD examiner? (Tread carefully.)
appropriate examiners. For example, it would
• Are they sufficiently independent to be
be unwise to select examiners who are hostile
considered? Individuals with a conflict
in principle to a certain school of thought or
of interest should not be considered.
methodological approach, or who may apply
Universities tend to have clear guidelines
a standard from their own experience that far
on the extent to which an external
exceeds that expected from a PhD thesis.
examiner should be independent. Even if
The clear message here is that you need to they do not, it would be considered poor
do some homework for the selection of the practice to invite a researcher who is well
external examiner. Issues to consider might known to you, or with whom you have
include the following: worked as a collaborator in the recent past.
• What was the topic of their PhD? This might sound as if it requires some work,
(Particularly relevant if they completed and it does. However, it will require a lot more
their PhD in the last five to ten years.) work by you if your PhD student is examined
• Have they supervised many PhD students? by an inappropriate examiner, and has to appeal
an examination result, or unnecessarily spend
• What are their recent research interests another eight months working on a thesis to
and favoured methodologies? Is the topic satisfy an overly demanding examiner, or worse.
of the PhD thesis to be examined a core
research interest of theirs, or one that they
have only generally engaged with?
“… by comparison with experienced examiners, less experienced

examiners paid more attention to institutional criteria and the
summative dimension of assessment; were unsure of the boundary
conditions relating to very good or poor theses; and were more
likely to refer back to their own postgraduate experience when
reflecting on their approach to both supervision and examination.” –
Kiley and Mullins, 2004
Preparing for thesis submission (checking, formatting references, time for
printing, binding).
Unfortunately, it is all too common for the
final thesis to be submitted in a rush and • Ensure that the candidate has a copy of
for supervisors not to have seen the final the university regulations regarding the
version of at least some chapters. This should submission of theses and that they fully
be avoided! Ultimately, the thesis is the understand them.
responsibility of the student, but what can a • Ensure that the candidate has a copy of
supervisor do to avoid rushed submissions? any available guidance to PhD examiners
• Plan backwards from the deadline, with or the template for the examiner’s report
contingency included. form.
• Have individual deadlines allocated to the • Advise on the deadlines for submission of
various chapters. theses.
• Ensure timely preparation of the • Know to whom or what office the

Introduction and Discussion chapters in candidate should submit the thesis.
the thesis, as these are often left until last. • Advise on how many copies must be
• Provide guidance on the amount of submitted.
time required for long-term preparation • Advise on what accompanying
(structure, formatting, introduction and documentation will be required (including
synthesis) versus short-term preparation examination fees).
“…it is vital to ensure that the student realises that

submission leads to an examination. Your role is to
decide that the thesis is ready to be submitted and
examined, not to guarantee that it passes. Irrespective
of whether they have followed your advice to the letter
or not, candidates do need to take responsibility for
their own work. It is they who will be awarded the
degree if they are successful, not their supervisor.” –
Delamont, Atkinson and Parry, 1997
176 THINKWELL

Maintain your independence Deal with struggling PhD projects/students
as early as possible. Academic processes
Supervisors can become quite invested are supposed to ensure that students who
in their students’ research, and this is to get to the stage of submitting a thesis have
be expected. However, it is important to produced a piece of work that is highly likely
remember that there are limits to how far you to attain the standard and be awarded a PhD
should support your student; the examination degree. Thus, most PhD students that are
(especially the viva) aims to confirm that likely to fail do not get as far as submitting
it is the candidate’s own work. Sometimes, a PhD thesis. On occasion, a few do. When
despite your best efforts, a thesis may not be standards are not met, a supervisor can
up to the standard or may be borderline. To only aim to ensure that this is not due to
respect the requirement of independence, it deficiencies in the quantity or quality of their
is not acceptable to conduct the research or supervision.
write up the student’s work for them.
Maintaining standards
“I knew that it was a weak thesis. My PhD student had spent a lot of time representing one
of the university’s sport teams, and I suspect that this was his main reason for staying in
university. His work was consistently below the expected standards, and there was never any
substantial progress from one meeting to the next, no matter how specific my feedback on
how to improve it. Before the viva, I warned him to expect a tough time from the external
examiner. Even as I tried to discuss his thesis, he was getting confused about his own
results. The external examiner was insistent that the work was only adequate for the MPhil
degree, and refused to allow the option of a revision to attempt to attain the PhD degree. I
agreed that this was a fair result, and it would have been unfair to the work of other students
if a PhD degree had been awarded.” – Supervisor, UK university

The PhD viva
PhD viva questions

‘I’d like to know how much of this thesis is really yours – which chapters have the questions
that weren’t given to you by your supervisor?’
‘In five years, which part of your work do you think will be most cited and why?’
– Questions from two PhD vivas
Preparing for the viva: what address to satisfy the demands of examiners.
kind of questions are asked? Indeed, Trafford and Leshem’s (2002)
message centred on this point – that PhD
From an analysis of questions asked by PhD projects should ‘start with the end in mind’,
examiners in 25 doctoral vivas across a variety and actively engage with these kinds of
of subject disciplines, Trafford and Leshem questions from an early point in the doctoral
(2002) identified predictable, generic research.
questions intended to examine whether
a doctoral standard of research had been Some suggestions to help your students
achieved. Interestingly, over several years, prepare for the PhD viva include:
we know of a few novice external examiners • Encourage PhD students to talk about
who have relied on this list of questions to their research as much as possible, whether
assist their questioning in the PhD viva! The at seminars, conferences or through the
generic questions (in bold) are followed by media of tweeting, blogging or popular
a number of questions that elaborate on the articles. Regularly engaging in academic
theme of the generic question. discourse is a great preparation for the viva.
Earlier in this chapter, we stressed how • Discuss the questions on the following
important the thesis is as the primary focus page and how they apply to their thesis.
of examination. The following questions
are from the PhD viva, and some are • Discuss the questions that the candidate is
only appropriate to an oral examination. most nervous about.
Nevertheless, many of these questions • Conduct a mock viva. The weaker the
are highly relevant to the PhD thesis, and student, the more likely they are to need it.
illustrate the kinds of issues that it should
178 THINKWELL

PhD viva questions
'Why did you choose this topic for your doctoral study?'
'How did you arrive at your conceptual framework?'
What led you to select these models of …..?
What are the theoretical components of your framework?
How did you decide upon the variables to include in your conceptual framework?
How did concepts assist you to visualise and explain what you intended to investigate?
How did you use your conceptual framework to design your research and analyse your findings?
‘How did you arrive at your research design?’
What other forms of research did you consider?
How would you explain your research approach?
Why did you select this particular design for your research?
What is the link between your conceptual framework and your choice of methodology and how would you
defend that methodology?
Can you explain where the data can be found and why your design is the most appropriate way of accessing that
data?
‘How would you justify your choice of methodology?’

Please explain your methodology to us.
Why did you present this in the form of a case study?
What choices of research approach did you consider as you planned your research?
Can you tell us about the ‘quasi-experimental’ research that you used?
I did not watch your video until after reading your thesis. I wish that I had viewed it earlier ~ it was very good.
Why did you decide to include a video in your thesis? What was its role?
‘Why did you decide to use XYZ as your main instrument(s)?
How do your methods relate to your conceptual framework?
Why did you choose to use those methods of data collection?
What other methods did you consider and why were they rejected?
How did you handle the data that came from open-ended questions?
Tell us how you managed to achieve a 100% response rate from your respondents who, as adolescents in
schools, are not known for complying with such requests
How did you select your respondents/materials/area?
How did you decide upon your research boundaries?
What was the universe from which your sample was selected and how did you define it?
What is the relationship between your respondents, the research design and the conceptual framework?
Why did you choose these respondents rather than other respondents, how do you justify that choice?

How did you arrive at your conceptual conclusions?
What are your conceptual conclusions?
Were you disappointed with your conclusions?
How do your conclusions relate to your conceptual framework?
How did you distinguish between your factual and conceptual conclusions?
How generalisable are your findings, and why?
How did you triangulate your data?
Were you objective or subjective in your role as a researcher?
How did you relate the various stages of your research one to another?
How did you analyse your data, and how did you arrive at meanings from that analysis?
What is your contribution to knowledge?
How important are your findings, and to whom?
How do your major conclusions link to the work of Rose? (Give examples.)
The absence of evidence is not support for what you were investigating, neither is it confirmation of the
opposite view. So how do you explain your research outcomes?
We would like you to critique your thesis for us.
How else might you have undertaken your research?
What are the strengths and weaknesses of your research?
What would you do differently if you repeated your research?
What are YOU going to do after you gain your doctorate?
Why did you really want to undertake doctoral study?
How is gaining your doctorate going to advance your career?
What are you going to publish from your thesis?
(If you have not already thought about this question – please do so now!)?
Is there anything else that you would like to tell us about your thesis which you have not had
the opportunity to tell us during the viva?
– Trafford and Leshem 2002: 40-46
180 THINKWELL

Outcomes of the PhD examination
The detailed grades of the PhD examination or addition of a new piece of research. A fixed
vary between universities and countries. As amount of time (e.g. 6 to 18 months) is given
a supervisor, it is important that you have all by when the revised thesis must be submitted,
available information and regulations for your and it requires that the external and internal
particular university. In general, however, examiner re-examine the thesis. There may
PhD grades are likely to reflect the following or may not be another viva, but typically the
range: re-examination is of the thesis only.
1. Award of degree without any 4. Award of MPhil/master’s
revision. degree
This is very rare, and everyone is happy when This is awarded when the examiners consider
this happens! that a candidate’s thesis and/or viva, or a
re-examined thesis, has not reached the
2. Award of degree subject to required standard for the award of PhD.
minor or substantial revision. The examiners can then consider whether
These are the most common outcomes. A the thesis, or a revised version of it, would
fixed amount of time (usually several weeks) reach the standard for an MPhil or master’s
is given by when the revised thesis must degree. There is a lot of variation between
be submitted, and it usually requires the universities about the transfer from PhD to
Internal Examiner (and maybe the External MPhil or master’s, so check your institutional
Examiner) to confirm that the revisions have regulations carefully.
been conducted satisfactorily. 5. Fail.
3. Major revision required This is very rare. This outcome occurs when
and resubmit thesis with the candidate has not satisfied the criteria for
re-examination (sometimes the degree of PhD or MPhil/master’s and is
known as a referral). not permitted to apply for re-examination.
The revisions may require a complete re-
analysis or major re-write of the whole thesis,
Success!
“As a supervisor, every PhD is tough. There are so many challenges to overcome, and so
many types of challenges. There is a huge investment of my time and intellectual energy
in each student and the thesis. But without that challenge, it wouldn’t be so rewarding!
After the thesis has been examined and the viva is over, I (almost) feel as elated as the PhD
candidate about the decision to award the PhD. Our whole research group celebrates, and it
is a real inspiration to the other PhD students.” – Experienced PhD supervisor

After the examination
The submission of the thesis, and the by the student, and this is a good time to
completion of the viva are both big events for discuss a new plan and timeframe to complete
the PhD student. They have been extremely the revisions. Probably the most important
focused on their thesis for a long time. After thing to do is to continue to provide
receiving the examiners’ feedback (in the encouragement and help sustain the student’s
viva) and written reports, there can often be motivation.
a sense of anti-climax, plus disappointment
if more work is required. Supervisors have It can be strangely difficult to define when
a role in reassuring the student that this is a PhD ends. Even after the viva and the
normal – most theses require at least some graduation ceremony, there can be an
revision. If the revision is more extensive, ongoing interaction between the PhD
then the student should also be reassured graduate and the supervisor as you work
that the revisions are feasible (if this is the together to complete journal articles. In time,
case). The supervisor has a role to ensure however, the PhD graduate moves on to the
that the requirements for revision and the next stage of their career. In the next chapter,
associated deadlines are clearly understood we look at how you can support them with
this progression.
182 THINKWELL

AT A GLANCE
1 Provide the student with opportunities to present and discuss their

work over the duration of their PhD research, through discussions
with you and other researchers, local seminars, participation
in research workshops, and oral and poster presentations at
conferences. They must become familiar with talking about their
work in an academic context (engaging in academic discourse).
2 Know your university’s rules and regulations about PhD submission

and examination. The detailed regulations about submission
and examination for the PhD degree vary enormously between
universities, so be sure that you and your PhD students are well
aware of them.
3 The primary assessment is of the thesis, not the viva.
4 If possible, encourage and assist your PhD student to have a journal

article accepted by the date of the viva. This almost always makes
the viva decision easier for the examiner.
5 Work back from the submission deadline, and agree deadlines for
submission of individual chapters/papers of the thesis.
6 Select an appropriate external examiner.
7 Provide your PhD students with the list of questions by Trafford and
Leshem as an example of the types of questions that arise in PhD
examinations. Ask a few related and relevant questions, and discuss
both the weak and strong points of the thesis.
8 Even if it is someone else’s responsibility to organise the viva, take

responsibility for ensuring that your student knows the logistical
arrangements for the day it will take place.
9 Accept invitations to be an examiner of a PhD thesis.

10. PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT OF PHD
STUDENTS
Introduction
RESEARCH SUPERVISION
Supervisors have a responsibility to the wider PhD students consider their post-PhD
development of the PhD student. Essentially, options and providing opportunities for them
this means helping to support their future to develop appropriate skills and experience.
career paths and career development options As with most aspects of supervision, a little
(and it says so in most university policies on time spent on effective actions can make a big
PhD supervision). This chapter addresses and difference.
supports the role of supervisors in preparing
PhD students for life after the PhD. As postgraduate researchers continue to join
the workforce outside of the higher education
Naturally, much of the focus during the PhD system, there has been a much greater
will be on the research; however, the PhD is realisation of the need to better prepare them
also a stepping stone to the next phase of a for careers that are not necessarily either in a
career. It is important to spend time helping university or in research.
184 THINKWELL

This involves overseeing the active student as an extra pair of hands to complete
development of the student’s understanding research and produce journal articles are
and proficiency in a wide range of likely to be far less supportive of such
professional and transferable skills including development (‘What? You want to waste
research ethics, communication, teamwork, a day away from the lab?’) than those who
project management, budgeting, and writing see the PhD as a training position to help
proposals. These skills are highly valued develop an independent researcher (‘Have
by employers. Many (but not all) students you seen this two-day course? I know it’s not
develop these professional skills during the immediately relevant, but I really think it
PhD; unfortunately, it is often through trial would benefit you in the longer term to go to
and error and ‘forging in fire’, rather than as it’).
part of a planned programme of professional
development. The following tool provides some questions
to stimulate reflection on how you, as
Your motivations for being a PhD supervisor supervisor, support the professional
will have a strong influence on your attitude development of your PhD students.
to training and professional development.
For example, supervisors who see the PhD

Professional development of students
Reflection: how do you currently support the professional development of your PhD
students?
To what extent do you consider it your responsibility to support the professional development of your PhD
students?
Do you currently support the professional development of your PhD students?

What specific actions does this involve?
What three actions do you consider to be most effective? Why?

1.
2.
3.
In your opinion, what commitments do you have toward your PhD students once they have graduated?
What careers do your PhD students pursue when they graduate?
How diverse are these career choices, and are some career choices better supported by you than others?
186 THINKWELL

Times have changed
There was a time when PhD students survey by Vitae found that ‘… only a minority
would spend three (or more …) years totally of doctoral graduates (19%) work in higher
immersed in their topic. They would finish education research roles three and a half years
their research, graduate, receive their PhD after graduating and 22% in higher education
parchment and only then consider: what next? teaching or lecturing.’
(Of course, this can still happen.) This model
of PhD education was intended to produce Of course, not all PhD students prefer to
researchers who were destined to be the next seek employment in higher education. Many
generation of university lecturers, university are keenly aware of the high value of their
researchers, and perhaps researchers in skills, and have no intention of staying in
government or industry R&D labs. academia after they graduate. They go on to
have very stimulating and rewarding careers in
This model is no longer enough. Although industry, government, public service and non-
many PhD students want to continue in governmental organisations. Thus, support for
higher education, there are simply not enough the professional development of PhD students
employment opportunities in the sector for all cannot simply be focused on preparation for
the PhD students who graduate. A UK-based academic careers in higher education.

Practical actions
Cross-cutting issue: deliver the outputs

Regardless of how much professional development occurs, or what career preferences a
student has, the anticipated outputs of the PhD research must be delivered. All potential
employers will look carefully to see whether the main outcomes were achieved. Most often,
these will be to:
- Submit the thesis within a reasonable timeframe
- Publish the research without delay and in respected journals
So, what practical actions can supervisors Increase awareness of

undertake to support the professional institutional support for
development of their PhD students? Here training and development
we suggest several key actions, together with
some tools to assist supervisors. As with While there are things you need to do, the
many elements of supervision, many of these good news is that you don’t have to do it all on
structured activities place the greater burden your own.
on the student to reflect on their professional • The university’s Careers Service will offer
development, and to communicate this. a range of relevant supports and networks
However, even modest amounts of time on for PhD students.
the supervisor’s part can be extremely effective
• Your university may offer programs and
in guiding and coaching PhD students.
workshops that are targeted at professional
Inform your PhD students development. Even if they are not
that you will support their developed specifically for PhD students,
professional development these will be beneficial.
Overall, supervisors are probably the main • Encourage your PhD students to enrol in a
source of professional development for their targeted training program for postgraduate
students. From early in the PhD, as part of researchers, if it is available. These are
setting expectations, and throughout the often provided by universities, but are
course of the PhD, it is useful for you to signal increasingly being provided by professional
that you will be supportive of the student’s societies at conferences and at dedicated
professional development. summer schools.
188 THINKWELL

The gift of coaching
Advice that supervisors can give to PhD students: instead of a traditional Christmas or
birthday present from their families, ask for a session with a career coach or professional
support with interviewing.
Initiate discussions about Make time to discuss career planning with

career planning your PhD students. As a starting point, you
could provide the following list of questions.
When should supervisors start a discussion Your coaching can help your PhD students
about careers? It’s important to do so as to be accountable for actions to plan their
early as possible. It’s usually too late with career.
only three months to go, when the student is
totally consumed with finalising their thesis.
Remember, some training and development
needs a significant lead-in time (e.g. for a
professional accreditation) or might only
occur on an annual basis. It will also take
time to develop professional networks and
contacts.
Career planning
Introductory discussion about career planning
What is your ideal career scenario in five year’s time? Where do you want to be working in five years? What
will you be doing? At what level? Working on what type of projects?
What is your ideal career scenario in three year’s time?
What would you like to achieve in the next year?
What actions are needed to achieve these ideal scenarios?
What can you start working on now?
What time have you scheduled in your diary for activities to support your career?

Offer to review your 1. Discipline-specific conceptual knowledge
student’s CV
2. Research skill development
Offer to read the CV of your PhD students
– it is astounding how poor in content and 3. Communication skills
presentation these can be. Some simple advice 4. Professionalism
from an experienced supervisor can make a big
difference. Similarly, you could offer to review 5. Leadership and management skills
your students’ online CV (e.g. LinkedIn
6. Responsible conduct of research
profile). It’s good for them, and it’s also good
for the reputation of your research group and
your university. You could also offer to read
over job application forms of your students The NPA has a self-assessment checklist
when they start job-hunting. (see below) with a breakdown of each of
these competencies that are a great reflection
Ensure that students are aware of a variety of transferable skills. You can
of their transferable skills encourage your PhD students to complete
this to assess their own levels of competence
Transferable skills are skills developed in one
in the six core competencies. Ideally, they
situation which can be transferred to another
would then discuss this with you. You can
situation. Some examples include numeracy,
provide guidance on the accuracy of their
teamwork, communication, problem-solving,
self-assessment, and assist in identifying
planning and project management. It is these
relevant training that may be available in your
skills that are so valued by employers, who
university. This might mean their taking part
recognise the high-level transferable skills that
in a workshop or course or perhaps taking
are acquired during PhD research.
on a new role e.g. attending workshops on
Although it was developed for postdoctoral leadership and teamwork, or teaching a topic
researchers, the National Postdoctoral in an undergraduate course.
Association (NPA, www.nationalpostdoc.org)
The following self-assessment checklist
has established six core competencies that are
of core competencies is adapted from the
relevant to PhD students:
National Postdoctoral Association (www.
nationalpostdoc.org).
190 THINKWELL

Core competencies self-assessment checklist
Modified from National Postdoctoral Association (NPA)
Rate your current level of development in each of the following, with 1 being ‘needs attention’ and 5 being
‘extremely competent’. For more information see www.nationalpostdoc.org/?SixCoreComps
1 DISCIPLINE-SPECIFIC CONCEPTUAL KNOWLEDGE 1 2 3 4 5 n/a
Analytical approach to defining scientific questions
Design of scientifically testable hypotheses
Broad-based and cross-disciplinary knowledge acquisition
Detailed knowledge of specific research area
2 RESEARCH SKILL DEVELOPMENT
Research techniques and laboratory safety
Experimental design
Data analysis and interpretation
Effective search strategies and critical evaluation of literature
Grant application and scientific publishing processes
3 COMMUNICATION SKILLS
Writing
• Scientific publications
• Curriculum vitae, resume, cover letters, teaching statements
Speaking
• Presenting research to scientific and lay audiences
• Conference and seminar presentations
• Job interviews and job talks
Teaching and mentoring
Special situations (networking, managing the news media)
4 PROFESSIONALISM
Workplace: connecting with the immediate working team
Institutional: connecting with the research infrastructure
Collegial: connecting with the discipline of expertise
Universal: connecting with society in representing an expertise
5 LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT SKILLS
Personnel management
Project management
• Establishing priorities
• Short- and long-term planning
• Time management
• Establishing/maintaining effective collaborations
• Developing/managing budgets
• Tracking use of and ordering supplies and equipment
• Recordkeeping in print and electronic media; establishing data back-up protocols
• Running a meeting
• Delegating responsibilities
Leadership skills
• Identifying and clarifying goals
• Motivating/inspiring others
• Serving as a role model
6 RESPONSIBLE CONDUCT OF RESEARCH
Data ownership and sharing
Research with human subjects (where applicable)
Research involving animals (where applicable)
Identifying and mitigating research misconduct
Conflicts of interest

Help develop your students’ professional networks
Networks
“During my PhD, I was so engrossed in articles and research about social networks that
I didn’t build any social network of my own! I then worked on having people around me
who knew what I was doing. Eventually, I was being offered jobs without even applying for
them.” – PhD student, several years after graduation
A professional network is a connected • Even when job interviews are conducted,

community of people that support the they can be strongly influenced by, for
effectiveness of a professional career. It’s example, prior knowledge of candidates
important to remember that a professional or by referrals from members of a
network is not just a collection of names and professional network.
contact numbers; what’s more important
• Those who undertake more personal
is the relationship strength with members
approaches as part of job searching are
of the network. ‘Relationship strength’
more likely to have a job match that
is a combination of the amount of time,
better suits their interests, increases job
emotional intensity, intimacy and reciprocal
satisfaction, lowers turnover, and lowers
services which characterise the connection.
the rate of switching career fields (Judge et
So why is professional networking important al. 2004).
for PhD students?
The following tool can help you assist your
• Networking improves sharing of PhD students to assess their network, and can
experiences and goals that facilitate new form the basis of a targeted discussion (see
insights. below).
• Many jobs are not advertised, and
networking improves awareness by
potential employers of your skills.
Tool for PhD students: Self-assessment of professional networks
The simple network diagram below 2. On a scale of 1 to 5 (1 = very weak, 5 =

represents you at the hub (blue circle), very strong), rate the current relationship
and represents your links to a number of strength between you and each of these
professional contacts (empty circles). contacts. Draw a full thick line between
you and this person if the relationship
1. In each empty circle, insert the is strong i.e. 3-5 on scale. Draw a dotted
names of the main people who you line if the relationship is weak i.e. 1-2 on
currently network with for your career the scale.
development.
192 THINKWELL

3. Looking at the network you have 5. To what extent are you ‘reaching up’ to
just drawn, identify similarities and people who are more senior than you?
differences among the contacts in terms
of: age group; level in the hierarchy of 6. On reflection, who would you add to
their organisation; type of organisation; your network and why?
gender; educational background; and 7. What three actions will you prioritise to
profession. Based on this information, improve your network?
the next two questions will prompt you
to reflect on how diverse your network is. 8. Discuss your network and actions with
your PhD supervisor, or your careers
4. To what extent are you ‘reaching out’ to office.
people and organisations with interests,
skills and professions that are different to
yours?
Adapted with permission from training material designed and developed (2006) by Dr. Claire Gubbins, Dublin City University Business School

How might you discuss the outcome of this • The student’s planned actions to include
exercise with one of your PhD students? selected contacts in their network
Supervisors usually have significantly
• Actions the students can take to improve
more experience of the academic and non-
their employability using selected contacts
academic community associated with a
discipline, and are in a great position to coach • Contact details and referrals to specific
and advise on, for example: contacts in the supervisor’s network (a very
influential action)
• The priority attached to selected
individuals or groups that a student
includes in their simple network analysis
The selfless supervisor

A university professor was asked to chair a discussion panel as part of a breakout workshop
at a high-profile industry conference, and was also asked to select a rapporteur to take
notes and provide a summary of the one-hour workshop. The professor could have chosen
anyone else at the conference to be the rapporteur, but chose a recently-graduated PhD
student from his research group. Instead of introducing himself, the professor instead
chose to introduce his former PhD student. In front of this targeted audience of potential
employers, he took a few moments to give the most positive and enthusiastic endorsements
of his former PhD student’s standards, professional ability and personal character.
194 THINKWELL

Preparing for life after the PhD
Most academics will be most comfortable However, supervisors can provide support
talking about professional development for and opportunities, and the wise advice that
careers in higher education – this is their area professional development shouldn’t be
of expertise, and they are experienced in how focused simply on one type of career over
to succeed/survive in academia. Providing another. Our advice is to guide students
advice on options outside of higher education towards a range of professional development
can be harder for university supervisors opportunities.
– this is often not their area of expertise.
“…we have to get rid of the false dichotomy that

you need one set of skills if you are going into the
academy and another set of skills to go into industry,
government or the non-profit world. Being an
effective writer, communicator, critical thinker or
teacher, along with the ability to work productively in
a team setting, is important whether you end up in the
classroom or the boardroom.” – Beilock, 2015

The table below lists a range of ways you can support the professional development of the PhD
student whether they choose to stay in academia or pursue a different career. Of course, not all
of these activities need to be undertaken by any one student!
Examples of support for professional development

of your PhD students
• Encourage PhD students to initiate and author journal articles.
• Facilitate swift submission of research to ‘high-impact’ journals.
• Apply for funding (even small grants) or merit awards, when possible.
• Identify training for writing project proposals, preparation of budgets for proposals, and
project management.
• Assist in identifying relevant opportunities to apply for research grants.
• Provide opportunities for developing teaching skills e.g. training in pedagogical principles
to support learning and teaching, qualifications, lecturing, marking, tutoring.
• Identify training in PhD supervision and opportunities to gain supervision experience.
• Encourage presentations at prominent conferences in the discipline and facilitate
introductions to relevant people.
• Encourage membership of relevant professional societies and contribute articles to their
associated newsletter/magazine.
• Encourage attendance at relevant industry and peer events.
• Identify relevant graduate development programmes that may be offered by leading
companies for recruitment.
• Provide training on intellectual property, and commercialisation of research.
• Improve knowledge of the relevant industry/industries, and development of relevant
networks.
• Encourage attendance at introductory courses on business planning and management.
• Identify relevant professional accreditation (e.g. in people management, business
management, project management etc.).
• Attend training on financial management.
• Improve knowledge of innovation management.
• Improve knowledge of support for business start-ups.
• Seek an internship with a business or organisation.
• Build links and collaborations with possible employers.
Add your own examples here:

•
•
•
196 THINKWELL

Overview of practical supports from
supervisors
The following tool includes examples implement, or may wish to implement in

of activities that can be implemented by future. Different students will have different
supervisors for most PhD students. Use development needs, so you could have one
the blank lines at the end to insert your sheet per PhD student.
own suggested activities that you currently
Providing professional development

Actions
Advise the PhD student to make an appointment with the Career’s Service of their university.
Review the PhD student’s self-assessment of core competencies, and use this self-assessment to
identify priorities for development.
Identify key topics for a discussion about careers, and schedule time for coaching (see above).
Actively encourage the PhD student to identify and attend relevant training events for personal
and professional development that are tailored not just to their favoured career choice, but are
transferable to a range of career choices.
Encourage participation in relevant graduate programs.
Critique the CV of the PhD student, as well as their online presence on e.g. LinkedIn, Google Scholar.
Introduce the PhD student to your own professional network.
Advise the PhD student on the development of their professional network.
Discuss the ‘rules of engagement’ for how you are willing to support PhD students after they graduate.
What can they expect from you? What do you expect of them?
Add your own examples here:

The next steps
PhD projects can finish in a variety of graduated students, supervisors can still
ways: the PhD graduate gets a job and make a big difference (through small time
leaves; the funding runs out; they move in commitments) by notifying them about
to a postdoctoral position in your research job opportunities, and emailing reprints
group. In any event, it’s important to have of relevant research, especially if the PhD
a discussion about how you will both carry graduate no longer has library access, and
on after the student leaves. This is especially is still writing up their own research for
important if there are journal articles publication.
that remain to be written (and even more
important if the thesis is not yet completed). Supervisors probably contribute most to
When the PhD graduate leaves the university, their PhD students through their letters
it will require more effort and discipline to of recommendation and references for
maintain communication. employment. Referrals from supervisors are
a strong determinant of the PhD graduates
It depends a lot on the individual student- career success, so it is important that
supervisor relationship, but many supervisors supervisors take the appropriate time that
maintain long-term (even if infrequent) these referrals require.
contact with their PhD students. For newly
198 THINKWELL

AT A GLANCE
1 Discuss the post-PhD phase with your PhD students. What are
their plans? How can you best help them? What positions are they
applying for? As a supervisor, you may have an overview or direct
experience of a greater variety of career options.
2 Encourage PhD students to get in touch with the Careers Service of

the university.
3 Discuss the extent to which they are qualified for the careers and
jobs that they are applying for.
4 Read and give feedback on the CV of your PhD students who are
finishing their theses and applying for jobs.
5 Discuss the transferable skills that your PhD students have

developed.
6 Identify opportunities to improve specific transferable skills.
7 Connect your PhD students with relevant people in your network.
8 For PhD students who intend leaving academia, help them to

investigate work placements or internships.
9 Inform your PhD students of relevant job opportunities that you are
aware of.
10 Discuss the completion of the PhD project, and how you wish to
maintain contact after the student leaves.

11. SUPPORT YOUR
OWN PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
In the previous chapter we looked at the professional development of the PhD student. But
you also need to consider your own professional development as a supervisor. Supervision is
a skill that you need to keep on learning and developing, and adapting to the requirements of
individual students.
“I remember being terrified and thinking: ‘What on earth makes

people think I can supervise a PhD just because I have completed
one myself?’ This remains, in my opinion, a good question. Before I
knew it, my name was put on the supervision teams of three students
about to complete, I dutifully attended the course on how not to get
the university sued, and – hey presto – I was fully qualified to be a
Principal Supervisor and sent forth to sink or swim” – Colley, 2013
200 THINKWELL

Good supervisory skills can be quite difficult 2. It’s hard to learn to be better at supervision
to learn, for a number of reasons. because it tends to be done in private. You
don’t get to see how other people do it, so
1. The only role model that people tend it’s hard to pick up new approaches or even
to have for PhD supervision is what to be aware of your own weaknesses.
happened to them during their own PhD.
If it was good, they decide to do more of 3. It’s also difficult to learn because each
that. If it was bad, they decide to do the PhD student is different – what works
opposite. with one student will not work with
another.
Your students only do one PhD

“After supervising many PhD students, I’m sure I will learn to get better as a supervisor;
however, my current students will only do one PhD. As a new supervisor, I owe it to my
current PhD students to actively seek training in supervision rather than learning from
mistakes.” – New PhD supervisor, Irish university
There’s no doubt that much of the development of your supervisory skills will happen on the
job, and, as you work with PhD students, you will develop skills and confidence over time. But
you can speed up the process in the following ways.

Reflect on your supervisory Attend workshops for PhD
practice supervisors
What is working? What isn’t? What do Many university training events focus on
you want to change? What practical actions institutional regulations (how to satisfy the
should you take to achieve this? Throughout more bureaucratic requirements of the PhD
this book, we’ve provided opportunities process, and ‘how not to get the university
for reflection and suggestions for practical sued’). Although these are necessary, look out
actions to improve supervisory practice. for other workshops that focus more on the
Reflective practice is important for pedagogy of supervision, and facilitate the
supervisors, and comprises part of their own sharing of experiences and lessons learned
professional development. among participating supervisors.
Discuss the process of Read relevant resources
supervision with a mentor
There are many resources that can help
Mentors or experienced colleagues can be PhD supervisors (this book, for example).
an excellent source of shared insight and However, other resources are available from
relevant discussion. Don’t just use them to societies and universities in the form of
solve immediate problems, but also focus on journal articles, books, webpages, reports,
supervisory styles and practices in general. blogs and videos.
There is also an abundance of resources for
PhD students. Even by directing your PhD
students towards these resources, you are
improving their research training.
What I had to do with this

chapter is add two more
pages as the total book
needs to be divisible by
4 to be a complete book.
Perhaps add images to fill?
202 THINKWELL

Identify training and Accept an invitation to act
development for specific as an internal or external
supervisory skills examiner
Training and development opportunities When a supervisor has sufficient experience
within universities often provide support to do so, getting involved in the examination
for specific practices that are directly or of a PhD thesis and the conduct of a PhD
indirectly related to supervisory practices viva is a great way to learn the process and
e.g. recruitment and selection, provision of engage with your own and others’ assessment
different types of feedback, guidelines on of the standards of the PhD degree.
PhD examination criteria, the teaching and
development of writing skills, the pastoral And finally
care of students, and support of professional Finally, we conclude with a self-assessment
development. and reflection tool for each of the major
Co-supervise with a more themes in the book. We encourage you to
experienced colleague identify elements of good practice in your
current supervision. In addition, identify two
Most universities now require that new new actions that you think could help you to
postgraduate supervisors engage in co- improve. Be as specific as possible, and start
supervision with an experienced colleague with small changes. Try these out, and decide
who is considered to be a good supervisor. whether they work for you or not. If not, how
You should get an opportunity to see how could you modify them to better suit you and
they supervise, and discuss the effectiveness your students?
of alternative supervisory approaches. If your
university does not insist on this, there is
nothing stopping you from inviting a more
experienced colleague to be a co-supervisor,
and requesting that they mentor you.

Your supervisory practice: Self-assessment
What are you doing well, and what could be improved?
Meeting the challenges of supervision
Two strong points of your current practice

1.
2.
Two actions to improve your practice

1.
2.
Recruitment

1.
2.

1.
2.
Getting started in the first few weeks

1.
2.

1.
2.
204 THINKWELL

Planning

1.
2.

1.
2.
Meetings

1.
2.

1.
2.
Writing

1.
2.

1.
2.

Feedback

1.
2.

1.
2.
Thesis examination and viva

1.
2.

1.
2.
Professional development of PhD students

1.
2.

1.
2.
206 THINKWELL

Your own professional development

1.
2.

1.
2.

References
Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2007). National Survey of Mental Health and Well-being: Summary of
results. Catalogue No. 4326.0. Canberra, ACT: Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Beilock, S. L. 2015. Preparing PhDs for diverse careers. Blog post, December 18, 2015.
https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2015/12/18/helping-phds-prepare-diverse-careers-essay
Colley, H. 2013. Learning to supervise: some personal turning points. Blog post, October 21, 2013.
https://patthomson.net
Delamont, S., Atkinson, P. and Parry, O. 1997. Supervising the PhD. A guide to success. The Society for
Research into Higher Education and Open University Press.
Eacott, S. 2013. Learning to supervise: from ‘taking on’ to ‘recruiting’ research students. Blog post,
October 14, 2013. https://patthomson.net
Finn, J.A. 2005. Getting a PhD: an action plan to help manage your research, your supervisor and your
project. London: Routledge.
Golding, C., Sharmini, S. and Lazarovitch, A. 2014. What examiners do: what thesis students should
know. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 39: 563-576
Hockey, J. 1997. A complex craft: United Kingdom PhD supervision in the social sciences. Research in
Post-Compulsory Education, 2: 45-70.
Jackson, C. and Tinkler, P. 2001. Back to basics: a consideration of the purposes of the PhD viva.
Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 26: 355-366.
Judge, T.A., Kammeyer-Mueller, J. and Bretz, R.D. 2004. A longitudinal model of sponsorship and
career success: A study of industrial organizational psychologists. Personnel Psychology, 57: 271-303.
Kiley, M., & Mullins, G. 2004. Examining the examiners: How inexperienced examiners approach the
assessment of research theses. International Journal of Educational Research, 41: 121-135.
Lawton, D. 1997. ‘How to succeed in postgraduate study’ in N. Graves and V. Varma (eds) Working for
a Doctorate: a guide for the humanities and social sciences, London: Routledge.
Trafford, V. and Leshem, S. (2002) Starting at the end to undertake doctoral research: predictable
questions as stepping stones. Higher Education Review, 35: 31-49.
Winter, R., Griffiths, M. and Green, K. 2000. The academic qualities of practice: what are the criteria
for a practice-based PhD? Studies in Higher Education, 25: 25-37.
208 THINKWELL

Notes

Notes
210 THINKWELL

Notes

ALSO BY THINKWELL
The Seven Secrets
Of highly successful research students
Rate yourself on the 7 secrets and work out exactly what you can do to improve your progress. Topics
covered include dealing with your supervisor, writing, being realistic, reducing distractions and
hanging in there when the going gets tough.
Planning your PhD

All the tools and advice you need to finish your PhD in 3 years
A PhD can be overwhelming. There’s so much to do and organise. How do you know if you are
doing enough? Where do you start? Start by reading this book. This book has grown out of the very
successful course, Planning Your PhD, which has helped thousands of students take control of their
PhDs and finish on time. Here you’ll find all the tools you’ll ever need to successfully manage your
PhD.
The PhD Experience

What they didn’t tell you at induction
At PhD induction they tell you where the library is, what paperwork to complete, and if you’re lucky,
where the toilets are. But they don’t tell you about the emotional side of doing a PhD. This book
features ten PhD students telling their stories and sharing their own personal rollercoaster rides, as
we attempt to explain the normal emotions that students feel when completing their PhDs.
Defeating Self-Sabotage
Getting your PhD finished
Procrastination, perfectionism, over-committing. These are all common experiences for PhD
students. Learn how to identify your own patterns, why you might do them and what you can do to
tackle them and get your thesis finished. Topics covered in this book include: self— sabotage, over—
committing, procrastination, perfectionism and 20 excellent excuses for not starting work on your
PhD.
The Imposter Syndrome

Why successful people often feel like frauds
How is it that successful people can often feel like a fraud? Despite clear evidence that you are
doing well you still have that nagging feeling that at any moment someone is going to tap you on the
shoulder and say “We need to have a chat. You’re out of your depth aren’t you. You shouldn’t be here.”
This book draws on the best research in psychology to explain where these feelings come from and
how to deal with them.
212 THINKWELL

Turbocharge Your Writing
How to become a prolific academic writer
If you want to be an academic or researcher you have to write. And if you want to be a successful
academic or researcher you have to write a lot. Yet many academics and researchers never learn the
techniques and strategies that can significantly increase their writing productivity.
Time for Research

Time management for academics, researchers and research students
This is packed full of practical strategies that have helped thousands of researchers and research
students achieve more with less time and effort, and feel less stressed. Find out about where your
time goes, creating productive golden hours, beating the paperwork monster, saying no, dealing with
procrastination and distractions, better ways to deal with students, and what researchers really think.
The Ultimate Time Management Guide For GPs

(and in fact anyone in private practice)
This book is packed full of practical strategies that have helped to change the quality of life of
thousands of doctors and medical professionals across Australia. Find out where your time goes, how
not to run late, beat the paperwork monster, say no, deal with procrastination, deal with patients and
what doctors really think!
Presenting Your Research with Confidence

The step-by-step guide to powerful presentations — eBook
This eBook takes you step by step through the process of getting ready for and giving a presentation
about your research. It follows a timeline that starts with thinking about your audience, then
preparing your content and materials, moving on to practising, and finally, the delivery.
By John Finn
Getting a PhD:
An action plan to help manage your research, your supervisor and your project.
London: Routledge, 2005.
This book provides guidance that will help research students avoid needless mistakes and address the
demands of their PhD research project with confidence. It informs and advises research students on
many of the important facets of postgraduate research.
Visit www.ithinkwell.com.au
For free resources
To order other book titles
For more information on programs and courses
To view and download peer-reviewed publications

SUPERVISING PHD
STUDENTS
This book is a guide to the practical activities, strategies and tools used by effective PhD
supervisors. It looks at the main processes that relate to PhD supervision: the personal
motivations of supervisors, recruitment, clarifying expectations, how to run productive
meetings, providing effective feedback, academic writing, the interpersonal challenges that arise
during the PhD, the PhD examination, and professional development. We address these key
supervisory practices by offering a range of practical advice and activities that can inform and
guide supervisors. Throughout the book, we highlight examples of good and bad practice that are
inspired by real-life examples.
The book provides a range of templates and supports that supervisors can provide to their PhD
students. This is one of our strongest motivations for writing this text – to help supervisors
to improve the experience of doctoral research not just for themselves, but also for their PhD
students.
About the authors

Hugh Kearns has over 25 years of experience of working with thousands of PhD students and
their supervisors. He is an internationally recognised speaker and author on the topic of self-
management and regularly lectures at leading universities and organisations all over Australia
and around the world including Harvard, Stanford, Cambridge and Oxford. He lectures and
researches at Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia and is co-director of Thinkwell.
John Finn has had a long interest in research training for undergraduate and postgraduate
students, and regularly lectures on professional development for early career researchers. He is a
Programme Director with the Agri-Food Graduate Development Programme in Ireland. He is a
senior researcher and PhD supervisor in agricultural ecology with Teagasc in Ireland.

Hugh Kearns, John Finn - Supervising PHD Students. 1-ThinkWell

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Hugh Kearns, John Finn - Supervising PHD Students. 1-ThinkWell

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

SUPERVISING

Hugh Kearns & John Finn

Purchased by arindam.basu@canterbury.ac.nz for their use only

First published in Australia in 2017

Supervising PhD Students

Written by Hugh Kearns and John Finn

Purchased by arindam.basu@canterbury.ac.nz for their use only

Hugh Kearns & John Finn

Purchased by arindam.basu@canterbury.ac.nz for their use only

We recognise that supervisors are faced with many

Hugh Kearns, ThinkWell, Adelaide, Australia

Purchased by arindam.basu@canterbury.ac.nz for their use only

2. Recruitment and selection 14

3. Getting started: the ﬁrst few weeks 36

4. Helping your student plan their PhD 58

8. Common challenges encountered by PhD supervisors 146

9. Thesis examination and the viva 166

10. Professional development of PhD students 184

11. Support your own professional development 200

SUPERVISING PHD STUDENTS 3

The supervision of postgraduate students career. For the university, effective

Purchased by arindam.basu@canterbury.ac.nz for their use only

2. Developing the researcher

SUPERVISING PHD STUDENTS 5

Motivations for being a PhD supervisor

Exploring a core research interest of the supervisor

Institutional requirement to supervise a minimum

Purchased by arindam.basu@canterbury.ac.nz for their use only

Training and development of the next cohort of

SUPERVISING PHD STUDENTS 7

A mechanism to produce journal articles

Purchased by arindam.basu@canterbury.ac.nz for their use only

Good researcher = good supervisor?

SUPERVISING PHD STUDENTS 9

Characteristics of an effective PhD supervisor

Purchased by arindam.basu@canterbury.ac.nz for their use only

What do you consider are your current strengths and weaknesses as

SUPERVISING PHD STUDENTS 11

Purchased by arindam.basu@canterbury.ac.nz for their use only

1 Postgraduate supervision is important for the supervisor, the

2 PhD supervision has two main purposes: developing the

3 Your motivation for becoming a supervisor greatly inﬂuences

4 Being a good researcher does not automatically mean you will

5 Good supervision involves a wide range of activities: selecting

6 Reﬂective practice can be a powerful tool to help improve your

SUPERVISING PHD STUDENTS 13

Supervisors generally enjoy supervising PhD also that problems in a student-supervisor

“In the contexts in which I have worked, arguably the most

Purchased by arindam.basu@canterbury.ac.nz for their use only

Every supervisor hopes to get a great fit

SUPERVISING PHD STUDENTS 15

Purchased by arindam.basu@canterbury.ac.nz for their use only

So how do you attract students to your

The road less travelled still needs a signpost

SUPERVISING PHD STUDENTS 17

Recruitment in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and

Purchased by arindam.basu@canterbury.ac.nz for their use only

The amount of effort invested in recruitment Arranged marriage

SUPERVISING PHD STUDENTS 19

Purchased by arindam.basu@canterbury.ac.nz for their use only

SUPERVISING PHD STUDENTS 21

Case study: Advertise your PhD fellowship

Purchased by arindam.basu@canterbury.ac.nz for their use only