Hi, my name's James Arvanitakis, I'm the Dean of the Graduate Research School
here at Western Sydney University. So you've decided to undertake a PhD. Great news!
One of the most important things but is the relationship you have with your
supervisor. So what follows in this short video is a discussion by both students and
supervisors about what to expect from that relationship and how to best manage it.
I hope it helps. The most important thing about choosing a supervisor
is finding a project that you're interested in.
There's no point committing to a research project if you're not at all
interested in the topic or the research that you're going to be studying.
So the primary thing you need to do when you're starting to find a supervisor is to
work out what you're interested in and when you start talking to a supervisor
and they start having options for projects, is that something you could see
yourself really being excited about studying for the next few years. So choosing a
supervisor for me was about finding a supervisor in an area of research
that interests you. The supervisor is incredibly important but the research area itself
is probably the most important thing. So I was after a team around me, and I would view you supervisors
as your team, that are going to really give you good feedback, that are kind of
going to be on your case and support you through the process. We have students who come
from all over the world just to be with a particular supervisor because they
know their work. So one of the things that you should do is to think about what do
I need to know about the supervisor before I approach them, or even during the
process of negotiating with them, and thinking about it as a kind of intellectual activity where you
do some homework. Read their stuff, know where they're coming from. Sometimes somebody
who looks good on paper will have a completely different angle. So you need to know
where they're coming from.
Activate your networks, you actually probably know more people than you think
you know and it's by thinking through those networks that you might be able to
identify someone either whose work you are aware of, or someone who you have
already a personal relationship with that you think would make a good
supervisor. Something important when you're trying to find a supervisor is to make sure
that you and the supervisor a good fit with each other and what I'm talking
about is in terms of the level of commitment they want to have into your
project. How much time they're willing to give you. How much time you want from
them, and this can go both ways. You need to make sure that if you're the type of
person who'd like to see them every single day,
do they have the time to be able to see you everyday? Or if you're the type of person
who wants to have connection with them and then go away and do your study and be
left alone, are they the type of supervisor who's going to be able to leave you alone. So
you need to make sure that you and the supervisor are a right fit and you can only
do that by meeting and talking and discussing your expectations.
They're not a teacher. You know you just kind of rock up to school when you're a kid and whoever you got as a
teacher was your teacher. A supervisor is a different kind of person, a different
kind of relationship with you. It's not a teacher, so it's something you have to do
some work in establishing, and thinking about, and knowing their expertise. I think also
meeting the team that the supervisor has underneath them as well, so meeting the
PhD students, meeting the other Postdocs within the
laboratory, talking to the PhD students. They've obviously been under this
supervisor for a period of time,
have a much better understanding of what the supervisor's like as a person,
as well. One of the things that you need to do is get to know the research
culture that you're part of. The institute that I'm in, we have a very lively culture and
that's very beneficial for students because they have to interact with the
whole range of people doing a whole range of different types of projects.
It's a very engaging, intellectually active place to be, so you need to think about where's the
best location for you not just in terms of a supervisor, or a supervisory panel,
but also in terms of a research culture. Doing a PhD is more than just the
relationship with your supervisor or the end product. It's actually a process and
becoming a professional in the research culture, so you're actually
communicating with quite a lot of people during the process of your candidature
and it's best to take advantage of that. Is your supervisor going to be able
to connect you with the field that you're passionate and interested in. Are they going to
be able to take you to conferences that make you connect with people in your
field. Are they willing to provide you with teaching opportunities if you want that
or community engaged opportunities so you need to make sure that your
supervisor is in a position to be able to create certain opportunities for you that
means that you'll get a head start in your career once you graduate.
Supervision is a relationship and like all relationships, it takes work, it takes labour.
You have to establish relations of trust, know how to negotiate the ins and
outs and the demands of academic culture. You need to kind of map out
areas of literatures that you need to read through with your supervisor. It's work.
Meet the team. You can get to know the supervisor. Understand the area of research and choose
an area of research that interests you. It makes for a really enjoyable PhD experience and
that's the idea of a PhD, is to come here and it's an educational experience
but is also an enjoyable experience at the same time. One of the most important things in
your time as a higher degree research student is to have fun. This is a time
in your life where you get to explore and create new ideas, you get to think
and ultimately you want to enjoy what you're doing, so make sure in the whole journey
that you have fun.