Potential sources of conflict between PhD candidates and supervisors
Why is it important to do reflections on research supervision?
• Supervisors can make or break a PhD student
• Communication between supervisor and student is key to project and thesis success
• ‘Concept’ of research supervision and own experience as doctoral student are key influences on supervisors’ approaches to supervision
• Not all students need the same supervision style
Predominant problems of PhD students with supervision
• Learning experience very little organized
• Confusion in the messages transmitted by the supervisor
• Expactations often not explicitly verbalized
• Limited feedback from supervisor
• Difficult relation with supervisor, not enough interaction to discuss progress and competences to be developed
• Feelings of isolation and stress