The Role of Academic Supervisors
On this page:
- FGR guide to supervision
- The supervisory team
- PhD regulations and guidelines
- Successful working relationships with students
- Enquiries from prospective students
- Start dates for new students
- Interdisciplinarity
- Statistical advice
- Appointing examiners
- Supporting the student
- Supervisor absences from the University
- Health and safety
- Training for supervisors
FGR Guide to Supervision
Please read our main page on supervision (from the section of the website written for students)
The page outlines the responsibilities of both students and supervisors and provides advice on the supervisory relationship.
The Supervisory Team
You will be part of a supervisory team. Roles and responsibilities within the supervisory team.
PhD Regulations and Guidelines
Your role as a supervisor will require you to be familiar with the PhD regulations, guidelines and administrative requirements and to advise students where appropriate. The following pages on the student section of the FGR website contain important information:
- Research ethics
- Public availability of the thesis and intellectual property
- Provisional to full registration (includes guidelines on the full research proposal)
- Thesis guidelines
- Thesis submission
- Thesis examination
- Six-monthly reporting
- Attendance and changes to enrolment
- Support services and research resources
See also the PhD Policy and PhD Procedures.
Successful Working Relationships with Students
Good communication and mutual trust and respect are essential for productive working relationships between supervisors and students. You will need a sympathetic ear.
You will also need to devote time and energy to the task of supervision. For this reason, you should not have too many students at one time.
Although you cannot guarantee your student’s success, you should have a close interest in their research and a commitment to facilitating its timely completion.
Enquiries from Prospective Students
Prospective students may approach you about doing a PhD. Read our guide to the PhD admission process.
Start Dates for New Students
Once a student has accepted their offer of a place at Victoria, they are asked to contact their supervisor to agree on a start date for their PhD. The University has clear expectations regarding start dates.
Please read our guide to start dates from our pages for prospective students.
Deferring a Student's Start Date
It may be possible to extend the period within which the University expects students to begin their studies. Note that any deferral may have scholarship implications.
If a student wishes to defer the start of their PhD, please explain the circumstances to the Scholarships and PhD Admission Manager, who will liaise with the school over start dates.
Interdisciplinarity
You will need to be open to the possibility of your students undertaking interdisciplinary research.
| Document | File size | File type |
|---|---|---|
 Interdisciplinarity in PhDs (FGR guidelines) |
176 KB |
Statistical Advice
If your student’s research project involves statistical analysis of experimental or survey data, you must ensure that they receive proper statistical advice at an early stage of planning their research.
The School of Mathematics, Statistics and Operations Research (MSOR) offers a number of undergraduate and graduate courses in applied statistics.
School of Mathematics, Statistics and Operations Research website
MSOR's statistical consulting service
Appointing Examiners
It is the responsibility of supervisors to help select examiners. See our page on appointing examiners.
Supporting the Student
Without compromising a student’s privacy, you should attempt to keep yourself informed of the range of factors that may have a bearing on the timely and successful completion of the thesis. Where necessary, you may refer a student to the appropriate support services.
Our support page for students contains useful information.
Supervisors should ensure that the administrative supervisor is informed of any problems that develop. Supervisors and administrative supervisors have a joint responsibility to advise the Associate Dean (PGR) and the student's home faculty office as necessary.
Supervisor Absences from the University
If you will be away from the University for more than one month, you must make arrangements for supervision in your absence and inform the Head of School.
Health and Safety
Please tell students about the University’s Health and Safety Policy.
| Document | File size | File type |
|---|---|---|
| Health and Safety Policy |
164 KB |
Training for Supervisors
The Faculty of Graduate Research runs professional development training for supervisors.