C2. Optional Reflective Activity - Supervision

A close look - Reflection on supervisory relationship

It is a good idea to at least discuss key expectations with your supervisor on what the supervision relationship would look like. In some Faculties there are agreements in place that supervisors and students sign after they have had the conversation their relationship.

This document suggests themes for that discussion. At the end of each theme, there are suggestions on what questions could be asked. From these questions, you can formulate a more formal agreement with your supervisor. It could be something you both sign, or just an email back to your supervisor after your conversation on what you have agreed.

If your supervisor does not start this conversation, you are in a position to initiate it. It is easiest to start with owning your position as new to academia and seeking to learn more and to build a good relationship. These conversations are easier with some than others, but it typically pays off to keep at them until you feel comfortable in your relationship. Your relationship with your supervisor is likely to be the most influential academic relationship you have at this point in your career, so it is worth investing in it.

Consider what would be the events that would most harm your PhD work?

• Is it too much time taken by other tasks?
• Could it be your ideas/results given to someone else?
• Or possibly feeling excluded from the research group and thus lacking a sense of belonging? • Your supervisor simply not being available?

Once you have identified these, consider what would you expect your supervisor to do (their responsibilities) to help you avoid these risks? Would you want to agree on workload, data ownership, some social boundaries so you would feel more secure about your position and could thus concentrate on your research work better? Are there essential aspects of your supervisor’s availability that you would want to identify and agree? Is there a need for a back up supervision plan if the current supervisor is for some reason unavailable for example?

Consider what would assist you most in your PhD work?

• Would it be enough time to rest and spend outside the research work?

• Could it be feeling like you can openly say where you at at and not be judged?

• Has it got something to do with the way you communicate with your supervisor - how often, in

  person, via email?

  Once you have identified these aspects, consider how your supervisor can support you? Your supervisor is not in charge of everything in your life, but they have a lot of influence over many aspects, so stating clearly what you think you need to do a good job as a researcher will help your supervisor know what to do to support you.

  Consider how decisions are made in your research work?

  People start their PhD journey from multiple points in life and in their career. Some look for great extent of autonomy for their work and others wish for greater amount of direction and guidance. So consider the following questions as a way to identify what you wish for your decision-making space

• Should my work be allowed to follow my research interests even if they start to divert from those

  of my supervisor?

• Do I wish for great clarity and guidance from my supervisor when my research work has come to

halt and I am not sure what to do next?

• Do I wish to be able to explore ideas with my supervisor and then make my own decisions or do I wish we make decisions together?

Again, once you have explored these questions, consider how would you like your relationship with your supervisor reflect this. How would these considerations reflect on the way you work together and how you make decisions? What would your collaborative framework look like? Would this influence when/how you meet? How you share information? How you approach writing? How you resolve disagreements?