Supervision

One of SOAR's aims is to strengthen PhD supervision. SOAR arranges supervision courses for PhD students and supervisors regularly.

We recommend all PhD students and supervisors in SOAR to participate in supervision courses.

 

You may find valuable advice in this publication:

Estelle M. Phillips and Derek S.Pugh, How to get a PhD: A handbook for students and their supervisors, Buckinghamshire: Open University Press, 4th edn, 2005, pp.220, ISBN: 0335216846. A copy is available in SOAR secretariat if you would like to browse through.  

 

You can also find good inspiration in the Good PhD Practice folder

 

Supervision courses

Go to sub-page Supervision Courses

 

Next supervision course 15 April and 24 June. Registration by 14 March by e-mail to .  

 

Last supervision course was held on November 2nd 2006. Slides and handouts from the course are available under supervision courses in the menu to the left.  

 

Problems in the relationship between PhD student and supervisor?

SOAR can help find the right people to talk to.

At KU/LIFE the PhD cordinator is usually the person to help you clear problems. Furthermore each department has selected a PhD spokesperson among the PhD students at the department. One of the functions of this PhD spokesperson will be to have meetings with the PhD student and the PhD coordinator whenever there are problems, e.g. in relation to the PhD supervisors. SOAR may also be able to guide you to other people to talk to in case of problems. The best is of course to avoid problems, and here it is very important to clarify mutual expectations between supervisor and PhD student from the beginning.

 

PhD students from overseas

Special issues may emerge for PhD students from overseas. In addition to adapting to the culture of the institution and research environment, one also faces the challenge of a different culture in a new country. I found a couple of interesting articles from the Australian Association for Research in Education, Mini-conference 2003 (http://www.aare.edu.au/conf03nc/):

Cultural Conflict in PhD supervision, by Chen, Absalom and Holbrook

Defining the doctorate with Asian research students, by Bryce

 

Key Supervisors

SOAR has a number of key supervisors attached - researchers with expertise in organic agriculture and food systems. The Scientific Advisory Board decides on acceptance of a person as key supervisor in SOAR. PhD students in SOAR should have at least one supervisor, who is a key supervisor in SOAR, to ensure that supervision is linked to organic farming research.

 

As Key Supervisor you will receive information directly from SOAR as well as having the opportunity to participate in seminars and courses arranged specifically for supervisors.

 

Key Supervisors in SOAR are expected to:

• meet the usual requirements to the supervisor role (Senior Scientist or Associate Professor level).
• actively contribute to achieving the aims of the research school, thus allocating sufficient time participate in relevant seminars, and help to plan and conduct meetings and courses when needed.
• enter the co-operation and network that constitutes the research school
• be interested in working interdisciplinarily within the framework of the research school
• participate in SOAR's supervision course, or other supervision course.

The Key Supervisors in SOAR are listed in two different lists, A and B. List A are key supervisors with supervision responsibility, and list B are potential supervisors. Key Supervisors from list B automatically enters list A when they take on the supervision responsibility. In each list key supervisors are listed according to research area - see themes below.

 

List A - key supervisors with PhD students in SOAR
List B - key supervisors currently without SOAR PhD students