1. Viewpoints on Supervision Presenter: Nigel Topham (PhD tutor)

2. The supervisory team Each student/supervisor relationship is different
Minimum of 2 supervisors (University Regulations)
Principal Supervisor
Responsible for daily and strategic direction
Member of School staff or from an Associated Institution who has been approved by College
Second Supervisor
Must be from School staff if principal supervisor is not
If outwith School appointed and agreed by Graduate School
Role varies depending on project
These are an adapted version of some slides on supervision that I put together with Kate Heal from GeoSciences.
The purpose of this short talk is to explain the roles and responsibilities of students and their supervisors, to explain the formal structures, and to make students aware of the flexibility and variability of how supervision works in practice.
My ideal would be to see this presentation (or something similar) be shared between a supervisor and a pdoc or phd students

3. Student-supervisor relationship changes over time
1st meeting: “What do I want from my PhD?” (career aspirations, skills,…)
Month 1: "What am I doing here?"
is there a project out there somewhere?
Months 2-3: "What should I do next"
is that where the project is?
Months 4-6: "This is what I've done so far - what should I do next?"
aha ... I've got a clue what the project is now!
Months 6-36: "This is what I've done and this is what I'm going to do next - is that OK?"
it's your project! – take ownership
This is kate’s attempt to show how the supervisor/student relationship varies through time. Starting from a position where supervisors are providing lots of advice, guidance and maybe even structure, to a position where the student takes over the project and works as an independent researcher getting feedback and advice on ideas (as the student becomes the expert on their project).

4. Groundrules (from Code of Practice) Student to:
Work diligently, and meet expected standards
Be responsible for the academic quality of the thesis
Maintain regular contact with the supervisor, and submit work as required
Publish and present conference papers
Play a full role in the intellectual life of the School
Seek advice from supervisor (or others as appropriate), immediately if a problem arises
Lifted straight from the Code of Practice and pretty obvious

5. Survey of Supervisors’ Views
Characteristics encouraged in research students
Enthusiastic, curious, open-minded, creative, critical
Soon takes ownership of and responsibility for project
Uses time effectively
Regular meetings/communication with supervisor
Appreciates that research does not always goes smoothly; takes constructive criticism well
Views PhD as an apprenticeship in research; small amount of good quality work
Unhelpful characteristics
Does not inform supervisor of progress
Stuck in subordinate role, passive
Reactive rather than proactive
Thinks can write up in last 6 months
Avoids interaction with intellectual community
And what this means in practice – the way in which most supervisors like to work with their PhD students (this is based upon a survey of supervisors in GeoSciences)

6. Groundrules (from Code of Practice) Supervisor to:
Be available throughout study period (or have made alternative arrangements)
Comment on written work within a reasonable time period
Provide access to appropriate equipment and advise on necessary training
Straight from Code of Practice

7. Survey of PhD students
Characteristics students like to see in supervisors
Honesty, enthusiasm, organised
Helpful, defend interests
Approachable, good listener, reassurance
Characteristics that are unhelpful in supervisors
Too busy, absent, forgetful, controlling
Not committing enough time to you
Not finding out what you want from the PhD
And the results of a survey of GeoSciences PhD students

8. What to do if things go wrong
Don’t panic!
Seek advice as soon as possible
Speak to your Supervisory Team
Speak to your Institute Director
Consult tutor for research students
Nigel Topham (or Alex Lascarides)
Speak to Head of Graduate School
Postgraduate Secretaries can offer advice on non-academic matters
University advice services NB
This will need to be updated to reflect the terminology, roles and procedures in informatics.

9. General advice You are all perfectly capable of succeeding So:
Be confident,
communicate your ideas to colleagues,
listen to others, and
seek out PhD “best practice” from others in your group / institute / school
Avoid common pitfalls
Impractical plans (or none at all)
Too much implementation, at the expense of innovation / novel ideas
Irregular or infrequent contact with supervisor
Getting diverted or tinkering / re-working previous results
Procrastination – “I’m OK, 3 years is a long time…”

10. Practical suggestions
Read a few Informatics PhD theses.. see what is expected
Break your work-plan down into 6 – 10 month chunks
Each one builds on previous achievements
Synchronize completion of ‘chunk’ with conference submission deadline
Avoids the ‘’all or nothing’’ problem
Provides externally-defined milestones (will keep you on track!)
Avoid common pitfalls
Impractical plans (or none at all)
Too much implementation, at the expense of innovation / novel ideas
Irregular or infrequent contact with supervisor
Getting diverted or tinkering / re-working previous results
Procrastination – “I’m OK, 3 years is a long time…”