The RSVP Collection

This report, authored by Professor Stan Taylor, uses available data from 149 research degree awarding institutions in the UK. It builds on the 2018 Eligibility to Supervise: a study of UK Institutions report and provides a snapshot of the current professional development provision for, and reward and recognition of, supervisory practice. The report concludes by recommending that institutions review the duration and content of their development programmes, to better reflect the complex nature of modern research supervision.

Focus Groups were held with research supervisors across a broad range of disciplines to establish an understanding of the status of postgraduate doctoral supervision in HEIs and other organisations in England.

The purpose of the Supervisor Focus Groups is to establish answers to five main questions: 

• What does Supervision look like in different contexts? 

• What does the CPD offer look like in relation to doctoral supervision? ○ What are stakeholder experiences of engaging and interacting with doctoral supervision CPD offers? 

• What is most valued in the doctoral supervision CPD offer? 

• What is missing from the doctoral supervision CPD offer?

The outcomes of the focus group have been used to inform the development of continuing professional development and mentoring support for doctoral supervisors by RSVP. 

RSVP is committed to enhancing doctoral supervision practice and developing appropriate onboarding and continuing professional development (CPD) for all those involved in the doctoral supervision. As such, we have sought the opinions of external doctoral supervisors -  – professionals in organisations outside higher education who contribute the supervision of doctoral (PhD) researchers - to inform the design of novel CPD resources and to improve our understanding of the contribution that external supervisors make to the doctoral process.

The focus groups have involved almost 70 participants across the following broad sectors:

• Science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)

• Medicine, including clinicians and allied health professionals

• Arts, heritage and the creative industries

• Business, management, government and charities

and have helped us to understand how external supervisors approach their roles, support doctoral candidates, and work with university-based supervisors.

We have been seeking the perspectives of Deans and Directors of Doctoral Schools across the UK, with a view to understanding more about their experiences as managers from an institutional perspective, as well as their approaches to dealing with poor supervision practice. We have also been discussing potential policy changes relating to UK research supervision culture, and the impacts that would be most beneficial to the sector.

We have conducted 4 focus groups with 20 participants, capturing input from over 20% of the total body of UK DDSs.