Programme
On 10 June 2024, the conference The Role of the Supervisor took place. This conference was organized in the framework of the National Sector Plan for Law, hosted by Erasmus School of Law and jointly organized with Leiden Law School, Tilburg Law School, Faculty of Law Radboud University, and Erasmus School of Law.
The programme consisted of a panel discussion with PhD candidates about supervision and three workshops: (1) Giving and Receiving Feedback, (2) Different roles of the supervisor and (3) Supervision of a heterogeneous group of PhD candidates. The conference concluded with a panel discussion with vice-deans of research and directors and coordinators of graduate schools.
General introduction
First of all, it was noted that there are already a lot of good things to say about supervision practices. Every supervisor would like his/her PhD candidates to succeed, but it can be a challenge as well. This conference discussed how the supervisory role could be fulfilled and best practices and do’s and don’ts were shared. Finally, attention was paid to lead times.
An improved system of effective supervision requires a gradual cultural shift within academia. Universities are increasingly aware of this need and are taking steps to improve their supervisory practices. Developing adequate supervisory frameworks, ongoing training, and a culture of feedback and accountability are essential components of this long-term process.
There is no holy grail for improving the lead times. Many measures have already been taken and not all of them can be shown to have an immediate effect.
Take-aways
- Training for supervisors is essential. Balanced: stimulating and interesting, do not overburden supervisors with another requirement.
- Organize intervision for experienced/senior supervisors, as a follow up for the supervisor course.
- A broader cultural change as to the importance of PhD supervision is needed, next to structures to address problems (PhD dean, evaluation supervisors).
- Golden rules about supervision should be shared and guidelines ought to be developed about the number of PhD candidates a single supervisor can supervise, expectations towards supervisors. Evaluation of performance of supervisors deems more attention as well as a clear framework about how to deal with underperformance of supervisors.
- Think in advance about how to provide engaged and conscious feedback. Feedback is always two-sided, so attention also needs to be paid to receiving feedback.
