Transcript How to manage your supervisor Tennie Videler Vitae Programme Manager: researchers Vitae Champions the personal, professional and career development of doctoral researchers and research staff. •

How to manage your
supervisor
Tennie Videler
Vitae Programme Manager: researchers
Vitae
Champions the personal, professional and career
development of doctoral researchers and research staff.
• Website www.vitae.ac.uk
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About me
New: What do
researchers do?
first
destinations of
doctoral
graduates by
subject
(WDRDS)
All physical sciences and
engineering, types of work
Computer science, types of work
What do
researchers do?
Career profiles of
doctoral
graduates
Session outline:
• Communication
• Who can help?
• The supervisor’s role
• The student’s role
• Plan for managing your supervisions
• Assertiveness Techniques for student-supervisor
interactions
• Summary
Exercise 1..
Who can help?
Who else?
Second supervisor
Postgraduate tutor
Other academics
Research staff
Librarians
Trainers
Career advisors
SupervisorMan
they are only human
But…
Perhaps it might help if
they had a bigger brain
or a smaller ego
or extra arms
or a mini me
Exercise 2: Your perfect
supervisor
• In groups of 4 or 5
• Draw your perfect supervisor. (5 minutes)
• Feel free to add genetic modifications Don’t worry
about any discomfort to the supervisors – make sure
that they suit your needs.
• Feed back to group
Your supervisor and you
Your supervisor should usually:
• ensure that you understand what is expected
• meet you regularly for a formal supervision
• give guidance about literature, training, research
techniques and academic conventions
• provide constructive feedback on written work
• advise on courses, both specialist and concerning
transferable skills
• advise you on where to present your work
Your supervisor and your project
Your supervisor should usually:
• ensure that you are aware of how your research fits
into any research groups or projects of which you are
part
• help you to co-ordinate the supervisory team
responsible for your project
• give feedback on your overall progress
• help you to submit on time
• read and comment on the whole of the final thesis.
Your role:
You should:
• undertake research training as agreed
• produce written work as agreed
• comply with reporting procedures
• arrange for informal sharing of information and
practice
• decide when to submit the thesis and ensure that it is
submitted on time
• ensure that the thesis complies with regulations.
Be proactive
Try to:
• find out what is expected
• take the initiative in raising problems or difficulties
• help the supervisory team to ensure consistency
• discuss with the supervisory team how to make
guidance more effective
• agree and organise a mutually convenient schedule
of meetings
Managing the Process
Agree a
plan of
supervisions
Prepare for
supervision
Submit work
for supervisor
to read
Attend
supervision
Summarise
what you
agreed
Send summary to
supervisor
Six monthly review of progress
Annual meeting with your thesis committee
Managing Supervisions
• Produce a written report or piece of written work for each
supervision.
• Prepare for each supervision, construct an agenda for each
meeting and send it to your supervisor.
• Take notes during your supervision.
• Summarise decisions made at the end of the supervision.
• Send your summary to your supervisor and bring it to the next
supervision.
Assertiveness
Passive:
I’m not okay, you’re okay
Assertive:
I’m okay, you’re okay
Aggressive:
I’m okay, you’re not okay
3 Step Method
Step 1
Show you listen and understand
Step 2
Say what you think and feel
Step 3
Say what you want to happen
3 Step Method
Step 1
Listen and show you understand
I understand that you are very busy and that you have limited
time.
Step 2
Say what you think and feel
However, I am feeling very anxious about whether I am going
in the right direction with this section, and without your
feedback I feel unable to progress further.
Step 3
Say what you want to happen
I need you to read this outline in the next week and tell me if
there are any major omissions, and whether the structure
make sense.
The 5 step method
Step 1
Listen
Step 2
Show you understand
Step 3
Say what you think and feel
Step 4
Say what you want to happen
Step 5
Work on a common solution
Other techniques
• The broken record
stick to your point until you are heard
• Fogging:
acknowledge feelings
agree without commitment
helps to promote calm communication
Role play practice
Student Scenario: you’ve been working on a particularly challenging bit
of coding for the last few weeks. You have got quite stuck and think that
you need a bit of input in order to make any further progress but your
supervisor seems to be avoiding you. You have emailed reminders and
got no response. You resolve to go to see your supervisor to try and
make an appointment to discuss this later on in the week.
Supervisor’s Response:
•
I’m very busy.
•
I’m just off to a conference, I’ll see you when I get back
•
I’m trying to get a paper written before I leave
•
Why don’t you leave the coding and do a bit of literature searching
•
You really need to be more independent - work it out.
Role play practice
In groups of three, take turns in taking on the role of the
supervisor, student and observer.
Student role: practise using the 3 step method and broken
record to ask your supervisor for what you need.
Supervisor role: try to make it difficult for the student by
focusing on how busy you are and how difficult it will be to
fulfil the request
Observer role: watch the interaction of the student and
supervisor so you can provide feedback on what you think
worked well.
If things go wrong
1. Talk to your supervisor – bring the problem into the
open
2. Try and analyse the situation and work out what is
going wrong
3. Gather advice from those around you
4. Constructive complaining
5. Know your rights
Take home messages
• Your supervisor is only human, but usually has your
best interest at heart.
• You need to be proactive to make the most out of
your supervisor
• Remember your supervisor is only one source of help
and support
• If you have problems – deal with them quickly.