Doctoral Supervision And Research Culture

"Drawing on original survey data, reflective accounts, and case studies of supervisory practice in different disciplines, Doctoral Supervision and Research Culture explores the supervisor experience and demonstrates the craft, compassion and consistency required of supervisors in responding to different researcher's needs. Based on empirical data and using the voice of research supervisors, the authors throw a spotlight on the challenges and opportunities supervisors face in supporting doctoral researchers through to successful PhD completion. This book acts as an invitation to institutions, funders, industry and academics to review what, and how they support PhD provision and to elevate the status of supervision practice. It shows how research cultures - disciplinary, institutional and individual - affect the supervisory experience and highlight the challenges that supervisors face, as well as the rewards that successful supervisory relationships bring. It is also a celebration of the contribution that doctoral researchers and all those who support research make to society. Designed to provide opportunities for sharing of practice across disciplines and the sector, Doctoral Supervision and Research Culture will be of interest to both new and experienced supervisors, to staff and researcher developers in institutions, and to funders, policy makers and senior management in universities who seek to improve and enhance the supervisory experience for all agents"--

Drawing on original survey data, reflective accounts, and case studies of supervisory practice in different disciplines, Doctoral Supervision and Research Culture explores the supervisor experience and demonstrates the craft, compassion and consistency required of supervisors in responding to different researcher’s needs. Based on empirical data and using the voice of research supervisors, the authors throw a spotlight on the challenges and opportunities supervisors face in supporting doctoral researchers through to successful PhD completion. This book acts as an invitation to institutions, funders, industry and academics to review what, and how they support PhD provision and to elevate the status of supervision practice. It shows how research cultures - disciplinary, institutional and individual - affect the supervisory experience and highlight the challenges that supervisors face, as well as the rewards that successful supervisory relationships bring. It is also a celebration of the contribution that doctoral researchers and all those who support research make to society. Designed to provide opportunities for sharing of practice across disciplines and the sector, Doctoral Supervision and Research Culture will be of interest to both new and experienced supervisors, to staff and researcher developers in institutions, and to funders, policy makers and senior management in universities who seek to improve and enhance the supervisory experience for all agents.

Navigating the gap between novice and expert is a process that will continue for years into an early academics’ career. This book will serve as practical tool for PhD candidates and early career researchers (ECRs), providing them with an understanding on how to sustain long-lasting supervisory relationships and how to develop their networks.

One of the major intangible benefits associated with the postgraduate research experience is precisely that: the experience. And more specifically, for an increasing number of international research students: the British doctoral experience. This experience is often largely defined and shaped by their relationship with, and support from, their supervisor. Enhancing the Doctoral Experience brings together the authors’ experience and research, frameworks and models as well as pragmatic feedback and understanding. This synthesis of scholarly theory and pragmatic sampling has produced a book that provides a scaffold for students and supervisors to have conversations about their expectations; to discuss what supervision is; to articulate clearly what both parties need in order for a successful relationship to occur, and to build a mutually beneficial endeavour. In many cases, these conversations can be complicated by cultural and linguistic differences so the text explicitly addresses these and other sources of misunderstanding. Against a challenging background of growing numbers of students but also increasing pressures on time and costs, Enhancing the Doctoral Experience offers an approach to improve the effectiveness of the doctoral student and increase the professionalization of research supervision. It does so by providing both with an awareness of, and a toolkit to approach, student diversity.

This book focuses on the practical needs of supervisors, drawing examples from a wide range of countries and using self-interrogation as a means of encouraging readers to reflect upon their practice, making it an essential read for anyone involved.

Recognising that graduate supervisory practice is not an abstracted academic pursuit, but an activity that is subjectively bounded by content and context, impacted by the experiences and beliefs of supervisee and supervisor, this text explores the unique dynamics of graduate supervision in the Global South, as perceived and experienced by students and academics within those same contexts. Bringing together contributions which reflect a rich diversity of perspectives on supervisory practices at regional universities in the Caribbean and South Pacific, Graduate Research Supervision in the Developing World explores how supervisors navigate unscripted supervisory terrain; contextualise supervisory best practices; establish roles and relationships, and work to understand supervisees’ needs. By highlighting the effect on graduate supervision of complex sociocultural interplay and the relationship between learning environments and student success, contributors look to locate best practices through analyses of stories of success and failure. As the contributors demonstrate, there is a need to restructure the standardised operation of graduate supervision across diverse faculties. This text will be of great interest to graduate supervisors and their supervisees as well as scholars in the fields of continuing professional development and higher education, in international and comparative education and Sociology of Education.

"This publication represents a thorough updating of an earlier book that was, in its own right, very useful. The second edition...is a significant improvement on its predecessor and I cannot recommend it highly enough for novice or experienced doctoral supervisors." Journal of Adult and Continuing Education How can I get my students to produce good theses on time? My last student failed! What could I have done to prevent it? I am supposed to train the new supervisors in my faculty; where can I get some good ideas? This new edition of Supervising the Doctorate still provides everything you ever wanted to know about the doctoral supervision but were afraid to ask! It includes: New material on supervising professional doctoral theses A new chapter on the changing policy context in higher education Latest research findings Experiential material from staff development sessions throughout the United Kingdom and New Zealand Now that supervisor training is compulsory, this practical, no-nonsense handbook is essential reading for both the novice and the experienced higher degree supervisor. For novices there is a developmental sequence of advice, guiding them through all stages of supervision from the first meeting to the viva and beyond. For experienced supervisors there are fresh ideas on how to improve practice and solve problems. Grounded in research, this book is invaluable to academics in all disciplines. At a time when there is increasing pressure to ensure 'quality' provision, to improve the doctoral completion rate, and to turn out employable graduates, the need for a practical guide is obvious. An essential item for every academic's bookshelf.

The quality of the academics who undertake the work of teaching and research is critical to the significance, status and relevance of our universities. There is widespread evidence that doctoral students are not being properly prepared for the changing face of higher education and that once they take up academic positions, they often experience many frustrations and tensions. This book, based on a four-year-long research program conducted by four academics and four graduate students, investigates the experiences of doctoral students, new academics and senior academics as they engage in their work related to doctoral education. Doctoral Education: Research-Based Strategies for Doctoral Students, Supervisors and Administrators offers research-based strategies for improving doctoral education in a non-technical and conversational way. Those strategies include learning to be a new supervisor alongside other academic work, developing an intellectual network during the doctoral journey, giving and receiving feedback on scholarly writing, and preparing for the oral defence. Also, based on research evidence, the book challenges taken-for-granted practices and policies surrounding doctoral education, including the gendered nature of disciplinary practices, the paradox of writing in doctoral education and the public oversight of more and more aspects of academic work. Intended for doctoral students, academics, staff and administrators, this book provides several perspectives on the topic of doctoral education and contains the actual voices of doctoral students and new academics to illustrate its discussion.