PhD students/candidates and Supervisors

Introduction Ton Dietz CERES Cafe Wageningen Febr. 13 2009

My own experience
PhD in 1987, supervised by two very different supervisors I supervised 31 PhD graduates and am currently involved in ten more As director of CERES (2002-2007) indirectly related to 250+ PhD projects and 150+ supervisors. Also: role as conflict mediator SANPAD supervisors workshops

Sobering thoughts I:
PhD studies face many problems: - a high percentage of non-completion - many take far too long (often more than five and sometimes more than seven years) - for many PhD candidates it is a lonely and stressful episode, often at high personal costs - it is often also stressful and frustrating for supervisors, jeopardizing relationships for a long time - PhD studies often have a low scientific and social impact, and can sometimes be regarded as a very wasteful way of spending research time and money

Sobering thoughts II: What goes wrong

Reasons for problems with PhD trajectories: - bad research design, no focus, no adequate research question - lack of realistic expectations ('targeting the sky') - inadequate research background; lack of training in methodological and writing skills (inadequate Bachelors and Masters training) - problematic research facilities to do a good PhD: (time, office, computer, assistance, money, flexibility in rules, underfunding essential tasks) - many competing tasks (teaching, consultancies, family life) - bad planning and bad phasing

Sobering thoughts III; what goes wrong too?

major problems with writing academic English negligent or inadequate supervision; often unclear, strained relationship inadequate networking
not aware of others working in the same field of studies no contact with peers parochial local research cultures

breakdown of motivation, psychological stress due to isolation and lack of feeling useful lack of participation in a vibrant research culture Being among peers who are also competitors and not always very nice people...

Sobering thoughts IV: what if???

You fall in love with your supervisor (and he or she in you???) Your supervisor changes position, and is no longer interested in you Your research is no longer your supervisors hobby or interest Your supervisor has a major dip (ill, mad, wornout, crazy, overwhelmed by work, personal dramas) MAKE SURE YOU DONT DEPEND ON JUST ONE PERSON!

high didactics needed

Supervising PhD studies = supervising maturing professionals, needing leadership + guidance + room for own creativity and independence. Ideas based on a combination of theories from organisational psychology and tertiary didactics. Lot of background literature. Classic: Phillips E. & D.S. Pugh, 1994 (2d edit), How to get a PhD. A Handbook for Students and their Supervisors. Buckingham: Open University Press

Also:
Dietz A.J. (Ton), Jonathan D. Jansen, Ahmed A Wadee, 2006, Effective PhD Supervision and Mentorship. A Workbook based on experiences from South Africa and the Netherlands. Pretoria and Amsterdam: Unisa Press and Rozenberg Publishers (133 pp)

Erik Hofstee: Constructing a Good Dissertation, 2006, see www.exactica.co.za

Types of PhD students I

Formal position:
Employees or bursaries Regular or sandwich AiO or OiO (NWO) or other With or without teaching With or without participation in a research school or graduate school Full-time or part-time On schedule or way behind

Types of PhD students II

Age and gender Experiences with (academic) culture: Dutch? UK? American? African? Asian? Latin? Personality: degree of independence, 'selfsecurity', expertise, maturity, motivation, commitment, ability to articulate wishes, communication abilities and styles. Multi-tasking needs and abilities

Types of PhD students III

Type of research output
Part of a larger programme or single? Individually designed dissertation or part of a larger research frame? scholar or data slave? Recruited on a vacancy or on own project idea? Book project or PhD product based on articles? Publication ambitions: only one book? One, two, five, additional publications? Single authored or multiple authored?

Types of Supervisors
Task Orientation

NO

YES product

YES process

Relationship Orientation
Businesslike Personal

Types of Supervisors
Task orientation NO YES YES

Product Relationship orientation Businesslike Personal Delegator Friend Quality controller Editor

Process

Expert guide Coach

What type of supervisor would you like to have?

Percentage:
Delegator (leave me alone) Friend (be my buddy) Quality controller (keep me sharp) Editor (Help me write) Expert Guide (tell me what to do) Coach (steer my ambition; groom me into academics)

You and your supervisor(s)

Give %
Delegator Friend Quality controller Editor Expert guide Coach Your desire In practice: your In practice: your promotor daily supervisor

Context:
Supervisory styles have to do with:
the personality of the supervisor(s) the personality of the PhD student 'chemistry' between supervisor(s) and student research (and power) culture in the department, and 'past performance' phases in the PhD project.

Phases in the dissertation project?

1 initiation: quality controler 2 research design: expert guide and delegator 3 research proposal finalisation: editor and quality controler 4 fieldwork: coach (or delegator) 5 data analysis: expert guide 6 write up: editor or coach or delegator 7 final fieldwork: coach and quality controler 8 final editing: editor and quality controler 9 preparation for defence: coach 10 actual defence: delegator 11 follow up: expert guide and friend

How to deal with confusion?

Strike a balance between different needs and between different phases See the relationship as a game of negotiations Be open: talk about expectations Be flexible Steer your supervisor(s) and their crowded agendas Avoid open conflicts Dont come too close: friendship is OK, but there is always a hierarchical relationship

Make use of the little power you have

Make sure you know the rules of the game. In the Netherlands it is ultimately YOU who decides where and with whom you want to graduate! Be informed about mentorship and complaint regulations: in your department; in the research school. You can claim between 250 and 400 supervision hours, so use those hours! Your success also is the success of your promotor(s)
Prestige Joint publications Joint visibility The university now earns 90,000 Euro for each PhD graduation

And create your own social field

Invest in relationships with your peers Make use of the opportunities offered by local graduate schools, national research schools, and international domain institutions Do a bit of teaching (but not too much, and preferably close to your own research) and insist on mentorship (learn how to teach) Create your own co-readers community and dare to have high aspirations in whom to contact (your heroes) Use summerschools and conferences to shine

But:
Be aware that some phases demand multi-tasking attitudes and other phases monomaniacism Be clear about that in your contacts with peers, supervisors, and life partners Find a compromise between productive visibility and destructive visibility

Avoid a clash of paradigms with your supervisor(s)

In the academic world there are tribes of paradigm-lookalikes, with their approaches of inclusion and exclusion: - Qualitative vs quantitative - Realist vs constructivist - Book vs articles - Academic goals vs societal goals
(improve citation index vs improve the world)

In case of a real clash of paradigms

Change promotor or institute or discipline Be prepared for a real and potentially devastating fight, and make sure you are not in a hurry... Postpone your fights until you are a postdoc

PhD is a step in a career

Think about your career wishes from the start. IF you want to enter academics in the Netherlands or UK/USA MAKE SURE you already work towards academic visibility If you want to compete for NWO-related funds for postdoc or VENI positions: you need PhD + 5 refereed publications in preferably high-citation journals

In that case...
Publish with your supervisor(s) and with your peers But make sure you are preferably the first author (arrange that in advance!) Select the best journals (and know your journal field) Make sure that your lists of references reflect the heroes in the field (and also those from the Netherlands) Make sure you have your own personal website, with preferably all your products downloadable as pdfs Whenever you have a (joint) publication, send it to >5 of your heroes in the field, and ask them for comments Invite your heroes to come to conferences, co-organised by you, and turn those into masterclasses.

And follow up!

Your PhD dissertation should not be the final product: follow up with a varied set of follow-up activities And keep your contacts with your former supervisor(s) and peers.