PhD Supervision

PhD supervision is a core activity in an academic career and PhD candidates carry out a substantial part of the research at Bremen University. Your ability to motivate PhD candidates, to help them realize their full potential and address their challenges in a constructive way determines whether they develop into competent, independent researchers and generate high-level scientific results.

If PhD supervisors do not engage in competence development, research shows that they either supervise as they were supervised themselves or, if they were not satisfied with the supervision they experienced, they do the opposite. This approach narrows down the space for action and does not necessarily support each PhD candidate in the optimal way.

The aim of this seminar is to create room to reflect on your role as a supervisor, to exchange experiences with other supervisors and to provide you with tools needed to supervise PhD candidate at a professional level. Teaching at the course is very interactive and alternates between presentations, working with tools and methods, and exchanging experiences related to supervision.

Learning goals - after completing the course you will:

• Be able to reflect on your own supervision style in a broader perspective
• Be able to identify challenging phases of the PhD project and act on upcoming crises
• Apply communicative tools for asking questions that promote independent students
• Give efficient and constructive feedback
• Adapt the supervision process, so the PhD candidates’ learning is optimized
• Be able to clarify mutual expectations between you, the PhD candidate and other supervisors/people connected to the project
• Get inspiration for your supervision by sharing experiences with other supervisors

Preparation:
1)    Before the course, you will be kindly asked to hand in a small home assignment (Description of an issue or problem, which you are currently facing in relation to one of your PhD candidates).
2)    Between the first and second workshop you will work on an observation and feedback task together in supervision peer groups.