The supervisory team

Universities are required to appoint more than one person to supervise postgraduate research projects. The supervisory team will normally consist of two or three individuals with interest in your project and progress. Usually you will have a main supervisor, who will be the identified point of contact.

The role of this team is to give you access to a support network and it will normally be made up of academic staff within your department. However you may have members of your supervisory team from other departments, institutions or other organisations.

Usually, not all of the team will be experts in your subject, but they all should be experienced researchers who will be able to support and mentor you. One of your supervisors may be there as ‘personal mentor and tutor' to support your progress in developing as a researcher.

If your research is highly interdisciplinary or brings together methodologies from different areas, supervision may take the form of a joint supervisory relationship where both supervisors have equal weight. These can be very fruitful relationships, but be wary of becoming a ‘bridge' between the disciplines.

Whatever the format of your supervisory team it is worth spending time exploring how each member of the team sees their role and how they will support you during your doctorate. By being up front and clear about expectations, roles and responsibilities it is possible to avoid some of the misunderstandings that inevitably happen between team members and increases the opportunity for this to be a constructive relationship.