Choosing a PhD supervisor is the most crucial determinant for a PhD student. When deciding on a PhD supervisor, a researcher should exercise caution and scepticism because this decision may make or break the rest of one's life. One of the most significant individuals in your academic life will be your PhD supervisor.
Your supervisor will serve as a mentor, confidant, cheerleader, and counsellor throughout your PhD. They will be critical to your PhD's achievement, so make the best decision you can. Efficient and exceptional consortium on doctoral supervision becomes a state of survival and development for doctoral programmes across Europe and beyond.
Outlined are a few factors to assess when selecting your PhD supervisor:
1. Look for reliable sources
Discussing your intentions with knowledgeable and reliable individuals is an excellent approach to learn more about possible supervisors' reputations, research group dynamics, and intriguing projects in the field of your interest. If you have a supervisor, your present supervisor may know job opportunities that match your interests. Students are likely to know excellent supervisors with solid reputations in their professions in this time frame for hunting for one. The person you are seeking to be your supervisor should be someone who has dependable student advice has additional information, and mostly someone whose work you respect. Suppose the supervisor you are considering has mentored other students. In that case, it is crucial to verify what they have to say since they may have access to insider knowledge like persona, reputation, interpersonal relationships, and supervision styles that you do not have.
2. Significant research experience
The ideal EDAMBA-EIASM consortium on doctoral supervision will be a recognised expert in their area, with several papers, articles, chapters, and books to their credit —as it should be. Would you want a supervisor with no experience at all? Your supervisor must have prior experience organising/speaking at conferences. It's also crucial that they have contemporary knowledge; check for proof that they're still active in your fields, such as published papers and convention participation, as it's also a good indicator that your supervisor has a lot of citations.
3. Compatibility of work styles
Sharing the same interests with a supervisor does not ensure that you will get along, and just because you like a professor's course does not indicate they are the perfect PhD supervisor for you. Make sure your job expectations and work-life balance are in sync. Here are a few questions to consider:
- Do you like structure or the flexibility to work at your own pace?
- Does your supervisor expect you to be in the lab every day from morning until midnight?
- Is the supervisor okay with you working from home when you have the opportunity?
- Is the supervisor around the lab enough for it to work for you?
- Is your supervisor willing to work with you on flexible hours if you have other commitments?
Before you decide, it is essential to talk about all the relevant aspects.
Doctoral supervision is becoming a critical threat for many universities that provide doctoral management education. In the future decades, the quality of doctorate education and doctoral supervision in management and business studies will be fundamental due to creating a worldwide market for recruiting faculty members.
Visit our website for more information on the 10th EDAMBA-EIASM consortium on doctoral supervision and the new global research landscape.