Welcome to the course

Welcome to the course Successful PhD Supervision: a Shared Journey! In this course you will explore how to best support your PhD candidate throughout the trajectory, how to establish a relationship of trust with them and guide them on their path to becoming a successful scholar.

These are the different topics that you will encounter during the next three weeks:

Week 1:

• Competences of the PhD supervisor
• The PhD supervisory alliance
• Selection of the PhD candidate
• The PhD journey
• A career after the PhD

Week 2:

• The PhD supervisor – expert and coach
• Interaction in PhD supervision
• Clarifying expectations and setting goals
• Providing effective feedback
• Defining boundaries and finding external support

Week 3:

• The supervisor’s own development – professional identity and personal values
• Core qualities and potential pitfalls
• The supervisor as a role model
• The social and cultural context of PhD supervision

Each week you will learn by engaging in different activities, such as watching videos, reading articles, doing exercises, reflecting on your approach to supervision and discussing supervision practices with other learners.

At the end of the course you should be able to:

• Identify the most important moments and phases in the PhD trajectory
• Assess your own role and shared responsibility as a supervisor
• Experiment with tools and methods to improve the effectiveness of PhD supervision
• Apply effective interaction techniques in conversations with the PhD candidate
• Improve the process of dealing with expectations and formulating goals
• Reflect on your own professional development as PhD supervisor in the academic context
• Demonstrate awareness of your own values, qualities and pitfalls; as well as awareness about being a role model to your PhD students

Supporting your learning

The course was developed by University of Groningen’s Graduate Schools:

Core design team

• Petra Rudolf – Dean of Graduate Studies, professor Experimental Solid State Physics and lead educator of this course.
• Anna Salzano – Trainer and coach PhD supervision and lead educator of this course.
• Tom Spits – Online learning design specialist.

Week 1 design team

• Konstantin Mierau – Associate professor European Culture and Literature, Director Federation Graduate Schools Social Sciences and Humanities
• Ingrid Molema – Professor of Life Sciences

Week 2 design team

• Karen Huizing – PhD psychologist, and trainer
• Margreet Smilde – Lecturer at the Faculty of Law
• Grazyna Drzazga – Senior faculty development consultant and intercultural competence trainer

Week 3 design team

• Joke Fleer – Professor in Health Psychology, focused on stress management and personal development in (PhD) students
• Miranda Trippenzee – Academic teacher
• Salome Scholten – Teacher and trainer personal and professional development
• Janet Jackson – Well-being, Diversity & Inclusion Officer, Faculty of Law

This course was created with the help of many more PhD supervisors, PhD students and support staff. A full list can be found attached.

Share with others

We are looking forward to your contributions in the comment sections. Also, consider joining us on social media to expand the conversations. For those of you who use Twitter, the hashtag #FLphdsupervision will help you to share ideas and experiences of the course.

Good luck and enjoy the course!

Please use the discussion section to introduce yourself, what your role is in the PhD supervision process and explain what you hope to gain from this course. Try to examine what other learners are sharing and perhaps you can find learners with similar intentions and connect during the learning process.