Appendix C: Compiled Additional Resources
General Resources
Spotlight on best graduate supervision practices by Mohamed Berrada and Daniel Halton. September 13, 2023.
https://www.universityaffairs.ca/features/feature-article/spotlight-on-best-graduate-supervision-practices/
- Best practices discussion with a range of graduate supervision award winners
- Practices discussed include:
- focusing on developing student independence and autonomy even if that means making mistakes
- remembering that each student is a unique individual
- stressing the broader picture of their research
- maintaining regular contact
- showing humanity and empathy to students
Dericks, G., Thompson, E., Roberts, M., & Phua, F. (2019). Determinants of PhD student satisfaction: The roles of supervisor, department, and peer qualities. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 44(7), 1053–1068. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2019.1570484
- Examines PhD student satisfaction across 63 universities in 20 countries.
- Finds that supervisor supportiveness, along with academic qualities and supportiveness of departments, has greatest impact on PhD student satisfaction.
- Explores how increased satisfaction would contribute to PhD student wellbeing and performance.
Mackie, S. A., & Bates, G. W. (2019). Contribution of the doctoral education environment to PhD candidates’ mental health problems: A scoping review. Higher Education Research & Development, 38(3), 565–578. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2018.1556620
- Reviews current literature on PhD candidates’ mental health, with four primary outcomes: 1) Issues affecting PhD candidate mental health are multifaceted and interrelated, 2) need better alignment between interventions and stressors identified in literature, 3) need better designed, standardized instruments to validate stressors and evaluate interventions, 4) need updated typologies that include the full range of stressors.
- Discusses connection between PhD candidate mental health and supervisor relationships and whole research ecosystem.
- Examines interventions for mental health among PhD candidates, finding: 1) they are not well aligned to contributing factors, 2) they are focused on treating symptoms rather than underlying causes of mental health issues.
Hargreaves, C.E., De Wilde, J.P., Juniper, B. and Walsh, E. (2017). Re‐evaluating doctoral researchers’ well‐being: what has changed in five years. Imperial College London. Retrieved from https://www.imperial.ac.uk/media/imperial-college/study/graduate-school/public/well-being/Wellbeing-for-GS.pdf
- Found: a decline in graduate student wellbeing from 2009 to 2014; lower degree of satisfaction for women; wellbeing declines with advancing stages of doctorate.
- Threats to wellbeing include developmental and career uncertainty, along with changing contexts and communities.
- Top 10 impacts on wellbeing similar between earlier and later study, but the impact was greater in 2014. (Supervisory issues fall in the middle of the top 10.)
- Four primary recommendations: Enhance integrated support for doctoral students, in particular female students; improve support for later stage doctoral researchers; develop training and understanding of wellbeing for all staff who engage with doctoral students; improve signposting of support to all (staff and students).
No Other Choice
How our treatment of international students fails EDI goals in Canada by Benjamin Maiangwa, Antony Puddephatt, and Oluwatomi Akinyede. September 12, 2023.
- Argues that one of the main barriers to the pursuit of EDI goals in post-secondary education stems from inadequate financial and cultural supports for international students from the Canadian government and the university.
- International graduate students face much higher tuition, higher costs of travel and accommodation, and are often denied many opportunities and positions that domestic students are guaranteed.
- International graduate students need to be financially subsidized at least as much as domestic students to achieve EDI goals in universities and Canadian economy more broadly.
Negotiation: A skill that can transform your graduate school experience and beyond by Ceryl Tan and E. Idil Temel. May 2, 2023.
- Engaging in successful negotiation will be required throughout graduate school (e.g., negotiating research projects, funding, time management, authorship, milestones, and job offers) and managing it well can have a direct impact on success.
- Try to have the conversations as early as possible, be professional, and come with a clear vision and set of reasons. Be humble, but unapologetic.
- If negotiation fails, reach out to an independent third-party, such as your graduate committee, advisory team, or coordinator.
Adrian-Taylor, S. R., Noels, K. A., & Tischler, K. (2007). Conflict between international graduate students and faculty supervisors: Toward effective conflict prevention and management strategies. Journal of Studies in International Education, 11(1), 90–117. https://doi.org/10.1177/1028315306286313
- Focus on common areas of conflict in supervisory relationships with international graduate students.
- Argues need for conflict management and prevention in these relationships (involving a third person who is nonjudgmental, will offer solutions and has conflict management training).
- Outlines common sources of conflict: differing expectations about responsibilities and relationship; lack of useful feedback; differing values about important skills; lack of respect, openness, time, support/guidance and communication.
Dimitrov, N. (2009). Western guide to mentoring graduate students across cultures. Western University Centre for Teaching and Learning. Purple Guides, 4. Retrieved from https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1004&context=tsc-purple-guides
- Highlights recurring challenges, discusses impact of culture on the relationship and provides concrete suggestions for building positive relationships across cultures.
- Identifies five primary challenges: assumptions about the nature of research and knowledge production; cultural differences in power and status; differing needs for saving face; cultural differences in communication styles; expectations about following rules.
- Includes case studies to promote reflection/discussion about the material and additional resources available for faculty and students at the university.
Skarakis-Doyle, E., & McIntyre, G.L. (2008). Western guide to graduate supervision. Western University Centre for Teaching and Learning. Purple Guides, 3. Retrieved from https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1005&context=tsc-purple-guides
- Guide for effective supervision based on focus groups and surveys with graduate students and faculty.
- Focus on graduate supervision as a form of pedagogy.
- Offers tips and strategies from experienced supervisors and includes additional resources.
Disclosures
Ryan, T., Baik, C., & Larcombe, W. (2021). How can universities better support the mental wellbeing of higher degree research students? A study of students’ suggestions. Higher Education Research & Development, 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2021.1874886
- Notes data on high rates of psychological distress among graduate students and asks students for suggestions on what could be done to improve their wellbeing.
- Identifies nine primary themes within responses, the four most prominent being: culture and community; support services; supervisors and supervision practices; peer engagement and networking.
- Argues for a refined roadmap of policy, action and research to better understand and address high levels of psychological distress.
- Findings suggest that graduate students are likely to benefit from a whole-of-university approach to supporting their wellbeing, and from an academic research culture that values the wellbeing of all its members.
Williams June, A. (2021, May 17). Students struggling with mental health often confide in professors. They want more guidance on how to help. The Chronicle of Higher Education.
- Study conducted in Spring, 2021 found nearly eight out of 10 professors had a one-on-one conversation with a student about mental health in the previous 12 months, but less than 30 per cent reported receiving training from their institution.
- One in five faculty report having 10+ conversations with students about their mental or emotional health.
- 70 per cent of professors want to better understand mental-health issues and would like training; 61 per cent support mandatory mental-health crisis response training for faculty.
- One in five professors report their own mental health suffered through supporting students without support/training.
- Nearly 50 per cent agree or strongly agree that their institution should invest more resources to support faculty mental health and wellbeing.
Skallerup Bessette, Lee. (2020, September 22). Staff get little to no say in campus governance. that must change. The Chronicle of Higher Education. https://www.chronicle.com/article/staff-get-little-to-no-say-in-campus-governance-that-must-change
- University staff often characterized as useless “administrative bloat.” They have little say in institution governance and lack protections to express disagreement with policies.
- Staff need to be proactively given a voice and treated as colleagues. They could be allies to faculty and students in disagreeing with administration.
- Little support, or active discouragement, of faculty-staff collaboration leads to overtaxed faculty.
- Need to overhaul governance system and create permanent structures that meaningfully integrate staff into governance and addressing problems on campus (rather than more ad hoc committees or temporary empowerment).
Zoom Fatigue
Is academic Imposter Syndrome an imposter? by Bailey Sousa and Alexander Clark. September 28, 2023.
- Argues that the concept of imposter syndrome in academia needs to be reevaluated as possibly “cast[ing] deeply embedded systemic failures as individual psychological failings to be fixed.”
- Recognizing the links between Imposter Syndrome and the systemic biases and discrimination can help counter compounding shame and refocus on addressing systemic inequities
- Self-affirmations, thinking about successes in the third person, and a growth mindset may help counteract Imposter Syndrome.
Six steps for stellar student-supervisor meetings by Alexander Clark and Bailey Sousa. April 3, 2023.
- A range of useful tips to ensure supervisory meetings are successful
- Be intentional with meetings, plan together beforehand, and assess afterwards
- Agendas can be helpful to note action items, needed follow-ups, and keep track of tangential items that should be covered later
- Openly acknowledge and address perceived and actual power differentials and structural inequities.
Wisker, G., & Robinson, G. (2016). Supervisor wellbeing and identity: Challenges and strategies. International Journal for Researcher Development, 7(2), 123–140. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJRD-03-2016-0006
- Interview study to understand supervisors’ professional identity, perception of stress in supervision and wellbeing/resilience strategies.
- Identifies three primary categories from responses: 1) personal (relationships), 2) learning (research stress, helping students across conceptual thresholds, feelings of uncertainty and letting students down), and 3) institutional (expectations, time, balance, language, role as advocate and gatekeeper).
- Details supervisor strategies for wellbeing and resilience.
Pyhältö, K., Vekkaila, J., & Keskinen, J. (2015). Fit matters in the supervisory relationship: Doctoral students and supervisors’ perceptions about the supervisory activities. Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 52(1), 4–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/14703297.2014.981836
- Compares doctoral student and supervisor perceptions of supervisory activities across faculties.
- Having similar views about supervision is important — to avoid problems and promote satisfaction and resilience.
Huet, I. & Casanova, D. (2020) Exploring the professional development of online and distance doctoral supervisors. Innovations in Education and Teaching International. https://doi.org/10.1080/14703297.2020.1742764
- Examines changing trends in graduate student supervision, especially in supervisory environments (e.g. increase in informal and distance supervision).
- Presents a model for the professional development of supervisors engaging in distance supervision that can be adapted and implemented by institutions.
Contentious Authorship
Whose name should go first? By Adam Crymble. December 4, 2013.
https://www.universityaffairs.ca/career-advice/career-advice-article/whose-name-should-go-first/
- Tensions related to authorship can be alleviated by discussing as early as possible – when first pitching project ideas to potential collaborators, as soon as a student arrives, or when first being asked to collaborate on a project
- Authorship norms vary widely across disciplines, so it’s especially important to discuss early in a project when working with colleagues in other disciplines
- Framing the conversation around discussing intended project outputs or perspectives on authorship generally can be better for initiating the conversation.
Jairam, D., & H. Kahl Jr., D. (2012). Navigating the doctoral experience: The role of social support in successful degree completion. International Journal of Doctoral Studies, 7, 311–329. https://doi.org/10.28945/1700
- Focuses on impact of social support on doctoral degree completion.
- Links stress and feelings of social isolation to doctoral attrition.
- States that social support can mediate negative effects of stress.
- Recommends graduate students to: a) align with a small group of academic friends and prepare for inevitable peer competition, b) educate and seek assistance from family members, c) establish good rapport with a doctoral adviser.
Halse, C. (2011). ‘Becoming a supervisor’: The impact of doctoral supervision on supervisors’ learning. Studies in Higher Education, 36(5), 557–570. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2011.594593
- Focuses on what and how supervisors learn from doctoral supervision relationships.
- Supervisors learn about social and political context of supervision (learning the ‘rules of the game’ and self-protective strategies) and respond differently depending on seniority/cultural capital.
- Supervisors also learn about: Disciplined supervision (creating a professional relationship with students); self and other within the relationship (being more adaptive and responsive to student needs, learning through failure and acknowledging power dynamics); their own academic discipline (gaining insights from students).
Cardilini, A. P., Risely, A., & Richardson, M. F. (2021). Supervising the PhD: identifying common mismatches in expectations between candidate and supervisor to improve research training outcomes. Higher Education Research & Development, 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.02.20.958520
- Investigates impacts of common mismatches between PhD candidates and supervisors on research training outcomes and mental health.
- PhD candidates and supervisors differ in expectations of guidance given and in the perceived impact of the relationship on mental wellbeing.
- Supervisors believe they give more guidance to candidates than candidates perceive.
- Personal expectations and research progress negatively influenced over half of all candidates’ mental health.
- Provides four suggestions to supervisors to increase effective communication, avoid potential conflict and promote candidate success and wellbeing.
