Getting Started

Source: https://thefemalescientist.com/guide/anna-ceguerra/2486/the-benefits-of-supervising-undergraduate-honours-research-students/

Getting started with supervision

  1. Explore the guidance and regulations for your discipline, school etc.
  2. Establish clear expectations and guidelines
  3. Help the student define a feasible research topic
  4. Develop a structured research plan
  5. Foster discipline-appropriate academic writing and research skills
  6. Build a supportive and motivational environment

Before the first meeting

  1. Draft five key questions you can ask (and they can answer) before your first meeting with your supervisee.
  2. Review the responses to the form and decide on some (soft) key points to be discussed in the first meeting.
  3. Email these to the student and ask them to add any other points they would like to discuss.
  4. Decide ‘who’ establishes the agenda for meetings.

In the first meeting

  1. Define and clarify roles and responsibilities, and expectations:
    • Acknowledge mutual obligations
    • Demonstrate understanding for positioning
    • Discuss and document what each party expects from the supervision process.
  2. Decide on communication protocols:
    • Agree communication plan
    • Frequency of meetings
    • Response times and nature of/for feedback
    • Response times of other emails etc.

Tools

Template from University of Sussex

One of the best ways to get the most from your supervisory meetings is to plan them. Creating an agenda ensures you cover all the important points and stay on topic. It also helps you to agree actions and monitor progress. Few supervisors will adopt this structured approach, so it is perfectly acceptable for you to suggest better ways of working.

Views from various supervisors

In this video, several supervisors share their insights on first meetings with students, highlighting what should be addressed and carefully considered in the early stages of the supervision process.