Managing your supervisor

How to be creative about your relationshipHow to develop your relationship to be

creative

Prof Carole Goblecarole.goble@manchester.ac.uk

[Richard Butterworth]

supervisedTopics

• A relationship• Communication• Situation• Interactions• Responsibilities

Take Home Message

Your supervisor is human too.

• Think about the roles & responsibilities of you and your supervisor

• Identify the issues in this relationship and how they change over time

• Exchange ideas and strategies

• A positive experience. (Mostly).

Common Issues• False expectations• Seeing the whole

picture• Personality clashes• Lack of

communication

• Other pressures?

http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=3154

What motivates your supervisor?

• Original, brilliant work.• Recognition and reputation• Good research results for

publication• Competitive advantage• Originality, finding new ideas• Testing new ideas they haven’t the time to

test themselves• Being a pedagogue• Avoiding trouble with failing students• Positive relationships with co-workers

What are the stresses on staff (and students)?

• Methodological– Finding something novel– Trying to understand the

problem– Alone in the dark

• Directional– Too many directions at

once– Poor direction– Feeling not getting

anywhere

• Operational– Deadlines– Teaching– Your colleagues

Bonus ones for Supervisors• More teaching • Multiple attention needing

students • Changing guidelines• Research/Admin• Endless meetings• Constant time-slicing

• Personal– Being unappreciated– Guilt– Insecurity, Fear of failure

Making vs Meeting Time

Interaction with your supervisor

• A supervisor contract– Regular meetings– Ask for feedback– Set up an agenda– Take minutes

• Push vs Pull• Lone vs teams• Multiple supervisors• Interdisciplinary supervisors

Meeting Frequency

Supervisor Classification• Professor Never There• Dr Slave Labour No Research• Dr No New Ideas Since 1995• Professor Changes Direction• Dr Lone Worker• Dr Overbearing Interferer• Dr Test until you Break• Prof Perfect Supervisor• Dr Never Satisfied• Dr Happy to be Mediocre• Prof Different planet

• Any others?

• How many PhD students does it take to change a light bulb?

• One.

• The student holds the bulb and the world rotates around them.

PhD student responsibilities (what supervisors like)

• Try not to be late • Questions

– Ask questions no matter how obvious

– Find people who know the answers

• Be – Prepared, Self-motivated– Cooperative, Honest– Passionate– Prepared to take

criticism

Supervisor responsibility (what students like ….)

• Make meetings comfortable– Supervisor pays attention

• Constructive criticism• Clear direction• Notification of absence

– just when you are writing up• Reading your writing

Supervisor responsibility (what students like ….): Reading!

Feeds•Final versions or intermediates?•Pieces of writing: Executive summary•Email it – or deliver paper•Give time to read•Extreme reading together

Quality•Poorly written or Boring•What’s the point?•Get someone else to read it•Read out loud•A template for good writing

Summary:you are both human

• Good communication

• Be professional• Show enthusiasm• Both reflect and

learn• Keep perspective

Acknowledgements

• Dr Lynn Clark & Dr Louise Innes, University of Liverpool Graduate School

• Richard Butterworth – http://www.cs.mdx.ac.uk/staffpages/richardb/PhDtalk.ht

ml

• Diana Bental – http://www.dmst.aueb.gr/dds/rese/phd/phdsups.htm

• PhD Comics– http://www.phdcomics.com