News

Read our newsletter for March 2026 featuring the launch of the RSVP Collection (and first report), an update on ongoing development work and new supervisor programme, and a new book chapter on team chapter.

We’re pleased to announce the launch of our new 'RSVP Collection' featuring empirically grounded reports, scholarly papers and data and pedagogy-informed position papers on the value of professional development in transforming research supervision practice. The first installment in this collection builds a snapshot of the current professional development provision for, and reward and recognition of, supervisory practice.

Read our newsletter for January 2026 featuring updates on our piloting process, a spotlight on peer mentoring circles and a look ahead to upcoming publications and conference appearances.

In association with the UK Council for Graduate Education (UKCGE), we welcomed Professor Debbie Riby (Centre for Neurodiversity & Development, Durham University) on 28 November 2025 to share insights from her research on neurodivergent PhD researchers and lead a discussion about supervision practices for neuroinclusion.

Ahead of the roll-out of an extended pilot programme of peer mentoring circles across our practitioner partner network, the University of York is currently running an internal pilot with 36 research supervisors in six cross-disciplinary groups. Supervisor peer mentoring circles create a supportive space for supervisors from diverse disciplines, backgrounds, and levels of experience to engage in regular, facilitated conversations about supervision. Participants are encouraged

RSVP's iterative development cycle for our co-creation process Since the start of 2025, the RSVP core partners have been busy developing and piloting Continuing Professional Development (CPD) interventions. We've been taking on board key learnings from our network of 58 Practitioner Partners, who have been a crucial element in establishing the evidence base for the development work. What we’ve learned from our Practitioner Partners to date includes: Over 64% of institutions

Focus groups are a critical part of gathering the evidence base for RSVP, and we have been busy in May and June hosting sessions with two groups of key stakeholders: Deans and Directors of Doctoral Schools, and non-HEI based research supervisors.

Across two days in late April, we hosted our first ' train-the-trainer ' workshop at the University of York for our Practitioner Partners. The two-day workshop explored facilitation tools, covered key continuing professional development (CPD) topics and identified approaches for engaging supervisors in professional development. Cascading and co-creating ideas in this way is part of the approach that RSVP is developing to benefit the whole sector. These events are part of our

Dr Karen Clegg was delighted to be an invited contributor to the Annual Conference of the Network for Professionals in Doctoral Education, held in London from 8-9 April. With a conference theme of 'Back to the Future: The next two decades of doctoral education', the conference was very much aligned with RSVP's focus on Next Generation Research Supervision. Karen provided an extended pre-conference workshop, entitled Professionalising Supervision, which attracted 60 partici

RSVP was delighted to be involved at the 9th Biennial Conference on Research into Postgraduate Supervision, across two days (26-28 March 2025) at Stellenbosch University, South Africa. Our Postdoctoral Research Associate Dr  Liz Quinlan   (University of York) attended the full duration of the conference, and presented their paper discussing some of the exciting empirical data gathered so far from RSVP research initiatives including focus groups with research supervisors and t

Find out what we've achieved in our first year and what we’ve got planned for 2025.

The UK Research Supervision Survey 2024 question set is now available, free of charge, to anyone who is interested.

Discover the key findings from this year’s UK Research Supervision Survey Report and read the full report.

Can you advise us on how best to transform the culture and practice of research supervision within the UK and internationally?

We want to know your thoughts on the highs and lows of the supervisory experience, and what leads to good supervision.

Following an exceptional response to our call for expressions of interest, the Next Generation Research SuperVision Project (RSVP) now...

On Tuesday 27 February 2024, we launched the Next Generation Research SuperVision Project (RSVP). Over 200 people attended to hear presentations from the different stakeholders and to ask questions about this Research England-funded project. A welcome was given by Professor Doug Cleaver – Chair of UKCGE’s Board of Trustees and a Co-Principal Investigator for the RSVP project (under the auspices of Sheffield Hallam University). He began by posing a question to the audience: ​“