What supervisors and universities can do to enhance doctoral student experience (and how they can help themselves)

Over the past two decades, there has been a flurry of government papers and policy reports worldwide calling for increased number and diversity of doctoral researchers and a broadening of the curriculum to meet the developing needs of respective national 'knowledge-driven' economies. This has been followed by position papers and best practice examples of employability skills development in boundary-crossing doctoral programmes, especially in response to these initiatives. However, there is a disassociation between this ample literature expounding the new doctorate with its broader remit, inclusivity and production of 'industry-ready' graduates, and the comparatively sparse literature on the doctoral candidates' experiences of their programmes and career readiness. Within this review, we briefly outline international government initiatives and examples of the responses by Life Science and Biomedical doctoral programmes to address these various challenges. Further, we explore the recent literature on the lived experience of doctoral researchers by examining their perception of the recent changes to the research context to make recommendations for universities and supervisors on how to better support an ever more diverse doctoral population for a wide range of career opportunities. Examples of how doctoral researchers themselves can make the best of currently available opportunities are also provided

Introduction

© The Author(s) 2019. This chapter introduces the conceptual underpinning and aims of the book, and outlines its content. It discusses how, although the doctorate represents the most advanced form of adult education and qualification, and considerable effort, research and training has been expended on the process of completing a doctorate, there has been far less interest or focus on the lived experience of doing one. It describes how, and why, this book focuses on the human dimension that underpins the highest level of formal learning achievable. This chapter also outlines the volume’s unique organisation around the themes and concerns that students themselves have identified as centrally important to successfully completing their research degrees. The introduction describes how, from assessing the self to working with others, from building resilience to developing networks, and considering how ethical conduct permeates a researcher’s practice, this book takes readers-both students and supervisors-on a journey towards successful doctoral learning. It also describes how, while each section is framed by ideas and concepts suggested by the editors, who are experienced doctoral supervisors, the core content of the book is purposely student-driven and authored, in order to provide an authentic account of the doctoral experience

Commonalities and Variations in Understanding Doctoral Supervision in Two Australian Universities: A Collaborative Autoethnography and an Interdisciplinary, Phenomenographic Case Study

Rossi, DM ORCiD: 0000-0002-5093-6443This chapter reports selected elements of a broader collaborative autoethnography and an exploratory case study involving a Doctor of Philosophy candidate and her three doctoral supervisors who, as participant–researchers, examined the commonalities and differences in the meanings that we assigned to the idea(l) of “supervision”. Guided by our defined boundaries for a collaborative autoethnographic case study, we examined our respective conceptions of supervision through phenomenographic means, utilising data from interviews conducted with each of the authors individually to explicate our varied understandings of supervision. The analysis elicited three distinct categories of description – doctoral supervision as a relational endeavour, as a pedagogical commitment and as reciprocal growth – and an outcome space centred on the holistic development and self-actualisation of doctoral students and their supervisors alike