More supervision

We met this lunchtime and spent time talking about some issues some people have experienced in supervision. On confidentiality grounds, it isn't appropriate to talk about those issues here, but it does feel appropriate to share some links for further information for those who find supervision is not a perfect partnership. Many thanks to Sarah Robins-Hobden of the Doctoral School for providing this information.

Useful Resources:

Supervision and key relationships - Practical advice on the Vitae website:

www.vitae.ac.uk/researchers/1234/Supervision-and-key-relationships.html

The relationship between PhD supervisor and student - Advice from Catherine Armstrong:

www.jobs.ac.uk/careers-advice/studentships/411/the-relationship-between-phd-supervisor-and-student/

You and your supervisor - Extract from ‘Your PhD Companion’ (Marshall & Green, 2010):

www.findaphd.com/student/study/study-21.asp 

Postgraduate Toolbox - Articles, videos and links on your supervisory relationship:

www.postgraduatetoolbox.net/categories/supervision

Do remember to refer to the Handbook for Doctoral Researchers for current information about arrangements at the University of Sussex, including the responsibilities of both doctoral researchers and supervisors. This can be found on the Doctoral School website:

www.sussex.ac.uk/doctoralschool/internal/resources

Following the Hive discussion, I came across a blog post which may ring bells with some. If your relationship with your supervisor is not working out, do speak to them and share your concerns - they may know something needs fixing too.  Look at the resources listed above for ideas.  If you can't fix it yourself, make an appointment to speak to the doctoral school for advice and find out your options.

Supervision

Speak to any doctoral researcher and they will say their relationship with their supervisor is one of their most important relationships. Our supervisors are our advisors, our mentors, our critical friends, our sources of information and contacts - and lots more besides. At the same time, many doctoral researchers speak of encountering tensions in relationships with supervisors, some of which can be readily fixed and others which may lead to a request for a change of supervisor.

On Tuesday, 27th March at 12noon, the scholars are organising a peer-led discussion in the Hive around supervision. It will offer an opportunity to share the positives of our experience of supervision - and also to share how we have dealt with any problems that have arisen.
Do come along ready to share your experiences and to offer suggestions and support to others.

The changing landscape of our research environment

We all know that we are living in a time of change in higher education - and those changes affect the research environment in which we are currently working. Funding is determined by economic considerations and the impact of the research, squeezing funding for research which academically important.
For postgraduate researchers, this raises issues of whether it will be possible to continue with research beyond the doctorate, and, if so, will it be in an academic context or elsewhere.

The Sussex Research Hive Seminar today heard from three researchers at different points in their careers: Professor Corne Kros, Dr Catherine Grant and Liz Sage. A number of themes emerged from the presentations and there will be an opportunity to explore these further at

The Hive Discussion on Wednesday, 21st March, at 1pm in the Library Research Hive.

All three speakers drew attention to the digital environment  and the changes implicit in the growth of social media and open access materials. However, it was acknowledged that open access is not the same as being open to the public. There can be a tension between the public discoverability, accessibility and understanding - maybe this carries a requirement to determine what we mean by public and public access to research findings...

There was evidence of major changes of direction in career and research interests in the experience of both established researchers, which complemented the requirement on postgraduate researchers to develop sufficient confidence to build our own research paths.

Serendipity and luck can be important - maybe more important than skills and ability at some points in our careers.

The environment is changing? What is shaping it? How can we contribute to that shaping? What are our hopes and aspirations?

Perhaps more than any of the other seminars in this series, questions were raised today which do not have easy answers, but as early career researchers merit our attention.