Dr Karen Clegg RSVP Co-PI and Director, and Reader in Doctoral Education and Practice, School for Arts and Creative Technologies, University of York, UK
Karen is a Reader in Doctoral Education in the School for Arts and Creative Technologies at the University of York and Co-PI/Director of the Next Generation Research SuperVision Project (RSVP), a £4.6million, Research England funded project designed to transform the practice and culture of research supervision. An experienced Researcher Developer and senior manager, Karen has created and implemented policy, designed and delivered award winning accredited programmes for research students, fellows and academic staff. Her research and publication portfolio includes assessment, reflective practice and doctoral education. She is an elected executive member of several professional bodies, a trained coach and an accomplished conference speaker.
Natasha Kitano Language & Learning Educator, Graduate Research Education & Development, Queensland University of Technology, Australia
Natasha is a higher education specialist and doctoral researcher with over 20 years’ experience in teaching, researcher development, and academic support. Natasha is a national and international leader in HDR wellbeing, mentoring, and supervision pedagogy who is passionate about building inclusive, connected research cultures and enhancing supervisory practice. Natasha has been successful in the role of Chair for mentoring and researcher development communities (Mentoring for Researcher Developers – M4RD, Network for Researcher Developers -NeRDs), which has seen strong global engagement and impact.
This discussion of Team Supervision appears as a chapter in Confident Supervisors: Creating Independent Researchers, Volume Two edited by Susan Gasson et al. The text champions the benefits of a collaborative, team-based model of doctoral supervision (popular in Australia and the UK) as a viable and sustainable alternative to the traditional single-supervisor model.
It argues that providing researchers with diverse perspectives and networks leads to better research practices and a more inclusive, researcher-centred education. This is explored from the perspective of the core supervisory team and the wider collaborative support community.
The chapter offers three practical tools for supervisors and researchers:
A New Model: To help individuals understand their specific strengths and contributions to the team.
A Checklist: To facilitate conversations about roles, responsibilities, and timelines
Reflective Prompts: To help teams analyse the challenges and benefits of using a wider team approach to foster independent researchers.