TRANSLINK Training Effective Management and Supervision of PhD Candidates

1. TRANSLINK Training Effective Management and Supervision of PhD Candidates University of Indonesia, 9-10 May 2006 Postgraduate Supervision Dr. Paul Timms Institute for Transport Studies University of Leeds

2. Overview of Presentation • Presentation focuses upon practices at ITS, Leeds • Typically a wide variation of practice between • Universities within UK • Departments within Leeds • Presentation mostly focuses upon full-time PhD students • Needs of part-time PhD students considered at the end of presentation

3. “Big Picture” (1) Student needs to produce • A piece of original research • i.e. NOT a textbook or a “consultancy report” • Within • 3 years (target) for full-time students (4 years maximum) • 5 years (target) for part-time students (7 years maximum) • And will effectively become a “world expert” for a (highly) specialised subject area

4. “Big Picture” (2) • Two supervisors will • Guide the student throughout the 3 years • Encourage original thinking • Help the student finish “on time” • By the end of 3 years, the student should know more about the specialised area than the supervisors • It is the student that gets the PhD, not the supervisors • All activities should be “student-centred”

5. “Big Picture” (3) • The relationship between student and supervisors is a “partnership” • As with any partnership • hard rules cannot be set in advance as to exactly how it should operate • much depends upon personalities • However, general guidelines can be given to avoid unnecessary problems • Relationship will change over the three years • Communication to take place “face-to-face” and via email

6. First year • At start • supervisors need to encourage student to think up clear aims for research • supervisors should seem “well thought out” • For first 6 months • student should be encouraged to think of research from a wide range of perspectives • reading varied literature on subject • supervisors should be “inspirational” • For second 6 months • student needs to create a plan as to how to reach objectives within 3 years • plan to be assessed by independent staff member • supervisors should be “available”

7. Second year • Second year is often the “difficult year” • Subject is no longer “new” • Still a long time till the end • Students can often lose concentration • Questioning why they are doing a PhD • Losing momentum • Supervisors need to be like “coaches of marathon runners” • Method depends very much upon relationships developed in first year

8. Third year • Third year is generally much “easier” than second year • End in sight • Final (or “near to final”) text being written • Expertise established • Plans to be made by student on what they will do after the PhD has finished • Hopefully not too much of a distraction • Can help with a sense of “need to gets things finished” • Supervisors relate to students as “collaborators”

9. Listening • All through the research period, supervisors need to be “good listeners” • image of “remote academic expert” not helpful • “people skills” required • Pick up on problems faced by student within research, e.g. • Lack of confidence in scientific methods • Overconfidence in methods, plans • Student might not be aware of problems • Pick up on “outside” problems • Use information provided by student to give advice on how student can deal with problems • Need for flexibility

10. Communication • Throughout the PhD period a “communication norm” needs to be agreed • Regular formal meetings between supervisors and student • Keep written records of discussions, agreements etc in formal meetings • First draft of records to be written by students • Informal meetings • Email communication • Email communication important since it encourages communication in writing • In the end, PhD is judged according to what has been written • Not the good ideas discussed

11. Relationship between supervisors • Important that the two supervisors work out an effective way of relating to one another • Clearly, as individuals, they might have differences • However, these differences should be seen (by the student) as providing “complementary” inputs within a “harmonised” approach • Student should not be in the position of “refereeing” between disputes of supervisors

12. Revision of Objectives • Inevitably a PhD student will revise their objectives as their research develops, in response to: • “Logic of research direction” • Perceived strengths / weaknesses of student • Influence of others (e.g. sponsors) • External developments • However, care should be taken if: • It seems (to the supervisors) that the changes are strong and/or frequent • A change of direction has been suggested in order to avoid some “methodological” difficulty • All PhD research involves the overcoming of difficulties • One of the main benefits of PhD research is to learn how to overcome difficulties

13. Additional Training (1) • Any PhD student will require “additional training” in particular skills • Needs vary over the 3 years • Supervisors are responsible for constant monitoring of training needs of students • Students should be encouraged, as much as possible, to think up their own training needs

14. Additional Training (2) • Much training in not associated with a particular discipline • Can be provided centrally by the university • e.g. computing skills, writing skills, “library” skills, statistical skills, “research philosophy” • Specialist training comes from involvement in • departmental activities (seminars, courses etc) • ad-hoc discussions with other students and members of staff • external conferences, workshops etc

15. Part-Time Students (1) • Most of previous comments about full-time students apply to part-time students • However, there are some important differences • In particular, part-time students probably have other commitments, e.g work and family • Inevitably these commitments will take priority at (most?) times

16. Part-Time Students (2) • Although there is a large amount of time available for a part-time PhD (5 years target, 7 years maximum) • This time needs to be planned very carefully • Particularly in the “middle period” • equivalent to the second year for full-time students • With frequent student-initiated reviews of progress • helped of course by supervisors • On the positive side, part-time students are usually more mature than full-time students • So have more experience in dealing with “life issues” (including time management) • Can relate to supervisors in “more adult” way

17. Part-Time Students (3) For pt students who are employed elsewhere • Employment might provide an important source of information that can help PhD • Information on “real world issues” • Existing data and funds to collect more data • Computer programmes • However • There can be a conflict between “consultancy” needs of job and “academic” needs of PhD • It might be difficult for student to take an independent viewpoint • Employment might change!