RSVP Newsletter: March 2026
- Mar 4
- 3 min read
Updated: Mar 30
Launch of the RSVP Collection
We’re delighted to share that we recently launched our new report series - the ‘RSVP Collection’ - which will provide us with an opportunity to distill our learnings and research progress to date. It will feature empirically grounded reports, scholarly papers and data, and pedagogy-informed position papers addressing our key research challenges in transforming research supervision practice and culture.
The first installment in this collection is Supporting Research Supervision Practice: a review of UK provision. Authored by Professor Stan Taylor, this joint report from RSVP and the UK Council for Graduate Education uses available data from 149 research degree awarding institutions in the UK to build a snapshot of the current professional development provision for, and reward and recognition of, supervisory practice.
The findings of this report underpin RSVP’s drive to develop what Taylor describes as Initial Professional Development (IPD) for less experienced supervisors and Continuing Professional Development (CPD) for those with more experience.
This provision aims to address the growing challenges that research supervisors face in providing consistent, high-quality supervision in the context of a rich and diverse PGR pipeline.
The report release also featured in Times Higher Education (THE) under the title ‘Quantity, not quality’ of PhD supervisions key to promotion.
Starting Strong: A Programme for New Research Supervisors
Over four weeks, starting on 28 April, we will take new and early-stage supervisors from across a number of practitioner partner institutions on a structured, cohort-based learning journey. The programme aims to build supervisors' confidence by developing foundational skills and knowledge for effective supervision. Central to the programme is structured reflection and discussion of supervisory practices. The current format of the programme is four CPD workshops addressing the following themes:
Session 1: The purpose and scope of supervision
We will start by thinking about what “good” supervision looks like for both the supervisor and candidate. We will consider the changing landscape of doctoral studies and the challenges and opportunities this presents. We will examine the supervisor's multiple roles, the importance of clarifying boundaries and responsibilities, and discuss how to navigate these with confidence.
Session 2: Developing your supervisory identity
Are you hands-on, or do you prefer to give your researchers greater autonomy? This session focuses on identifying personal supervisory style and practices. Supervisors will reflect on their strengths, values and ways of working with others, explore different supervisory models and consider how to operate effectively as part of a supervisory team.
Session 3: Effective supervisory conversations
At the heart of good supervision is strong communication. This session introduces coaching-informed approaches that foster psychological safety and encourage open and honest dialogue. Building on this foundation, supervisors will explore strategies for navigating difficult conversations with confidence and clarity.
Session 4: Enabling progress and independence
This final session focuses on practical techniques for supporting candidates in becoming confident and independent researchers. It will consider how to set and revisit expectations, respond to a candidate’s self-doubt and uncertainty, and keep doctoral projects on track through effective planning and review.
This pilot will be adopting a different approach to our previous CPD evaluation programme (of our initial 18 interventions) with our Practitioner Partners. The Starting Strong programme will be delivered online and centrally by the RSVP team, but we will again be drawing from research supervisor participants across our Practitioner Partners. We will be receiving direct feedback from supervisors to inform the next iteration of the programme before it is made more widely available.
Update on ongoing development work
As mentioned in our previous newsletter, we released 18 professional development interventions as part of the first phase of external piloting with our Practitioner Partners. Work is currently underway to develop interventions that focus on cultural competency, neuroinclusive research supervision and peer observation of supervision. This will also be supplemented by a model for a monthly research supervisor seminar series that gives supervisors the opportunity to address common challenges and share experience and practice within a peer community. Once the materials for these interventions are ready, they will be piloted by our practitioner network later this year.
Publications & Resources
Enabling Effective Team Supervision
Dr Karen Clegg and Natasha Kitano have co-written a chapter on team supervision - addressing one of the core research themes for RSVP. The chapter appears 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, and offers three practical tools for supervisors and researchers.
