Supervisors are integral to the experience of our doctoral researchers here at City, and the City Doctoral College is keen to provide advice and support to staff who supervise at City.
This page provides a summary of key information. If you have any questions in relation to research supervision, please speak to the Senior Tutor for Research [equivalent to a programme director] in your Department, or contact the Doctoral College.
New to City?
If have recently joined City as a member of academic staff, you will be identified as a Category A/First Supervisor or Category B/Second Supervisor based on your research profile and prior experience of supervising doctoral researchers, in line with our Policy on the Approval of Doctoral Degree Supervisors.
Your supervisor category may change over time.
If you have never supervised a research student before, you should be enrolled on the EDM119 (Research Supervision) module provided by Learning Enhancement and Development (LEaD) – this forms part of City’s MA in Academic Practice.
If you are new to City, the Doctoral College is developing a Moodle course that summarises our policies in relation to Research Supervision, as well as case studies of best practice from colleagues across City – this is expected to be available from September 2021.
Information, Advice and Guidance for Supervisors and Doctoral Researchers
Our procedures for research degrees are summarised in Senate Regulations 23 and 24, supplemented by policies and guidance in Section 9 of City’s Quality Manual, available on Staff Hub.
Our roles and responsibilities document may provide you with a useful summary of what is expected of supervisors.
These policies are also summarised for the benefit of doctoral researchers on the Essential Information page of the Doctoral College website, which may provide a helpful summary for you as well.
Supervisors are generally expected to meet with their doctoral researchers monthly, this is essential for student visa holders and completion of up-to-date meeting records on Research Manager forms part of City’s visa compliance obligations.
As a supervisor, you will need to sign off these forms as an accurate record of discussions held.
There are two key aspects to being a good supervisor:
- Developing the research
- Developing the researcher
Each doctoral researcher should be attached to a Research Centre or Department at City and encouraged both to attend relevant Research Seminars and to presenting their emerging research findings.
Each doctoral researcher has a series of progression milestones up to and including submission of their thesis for examination; these are forms accessed through Research Manager, and you as a supervisor will need to approve each of these forms before ultimate sign off from the Senior Tutor for Research and the Doctoral College Board of Studies.
Across City, Schools provide a variety of skills development sessions for doctoral reseachers which are known collectively as the Doctoral Researcher Development Programme (DRDP); the list of upcoming sessions is available through Research Manager.
As part of the induction process for a new doctoral researcher, and then at the start of each academic year, you should meet with your doctoral researcher and identify what skills they need to develop and what sessions are available as part of the DRDP to support them.
Staff Development at City
Within your Department and School, your Senior Tutor for Research and Associate Dean (Research and Enterprise) should cascade information and encourage the sharing of best practice locally.
Your School will have a Research Programmes Committee or Research Degrees Committee where issues in relation to research degrees are discussed, including the participation of student representatives.
The Department of Learning Enhancement and Development (LEaD) runs a variety of professional development workshops, including an annual Learning and Teaching Conference.
UKCGE Research Supervision Recognition Programme
The UK Council for Graduate Education (UKCGE) have recently launched a Research Supervision Recognition Programme, offering a toolkit including the sector-approved Good Supervisory Practice Framework and offering a route to recognition for research supervisors.
City is keen to support supervisors who wish to achieve this accreditation, including payment of the application fee. For more information, please visit the Supervision Recognition Programme website.