What You Should Expect from Your PhD Supervisor

If you are considering elevating your academic profile from a master’s to PhD, a PhD supervisor is a cornerstone in this journey. They guide your research, help refine your ideas, and provide the support necessary to navigate the often challenging terrain of a PhD program. Their expertise and mentorship can shape your academic research and professional trajectory. In this article, we will explore the key qualities and responsibilities of an effective PhD supervisor and outline what students can expect from this pivotal relationship. By understanding this dynamic, students can foster productive collaboration and ensure their doctoral experience is as enriching as possible.

What Makes a Good PhD Supervisor?

Not all supervisors are created equal, and their impact on your PhD journey can be profound. A great supervisor goes beyond academic qualifications, combining expertise, empathy, and leadership to support your growth as an independent researcher. Whether it’s intellectual guidance or emotional support, their role is central to your success. You must carefully and thoughtfully choose and find a supervisor for your academic journey. Remember, your PhD interview is your best opportunity to get to know your potential supervisor for PhD journey by asking the right questions. Here are some defining characteristics that set great supervisors apart:

• Academic Expertise and Research Experience: An ideal PhD supervisor has a strong academic background and a proven research track record. Their familiarity with publishing, securing grants, and collaborating across disciplines helps you frame meaningful research questions, apply robust methodologies, and understand academic standards.
• Constructive and Timely Feedback: Clear, detailed, and actionable feedback is key to progress. A great PhD supervisor challenges your ideas, refines your arguments, and strengthens your writing, while ensuring that feedback arrives on time, helping you stay on track with milestones and submissions.
• Supportive and Motivating Presence: The PhD journey is demanding intellectually and emotionally. A supportive supervisor acknowledges the highs and lows of research, encourages setbacks, and helps you build the confidence needed to move forward. Their mentorship often extends beyond the lab to personal growth and career development.
• Fairness and Inclusivity: Great supervisors treat their students with respect and equity, regardless of background or personality. They ensure fair access to opportunities, foster an inclusive research culture, and create an environment where every student feels heard and valued.

What to Expect from Your PhD Supervisor?

Knowing what you can reasonably expect from your supervisor helps establish a healthy and productive working relationship. From early-stage guidance to final dissertation submission and PhD viva, your supervisor plays a crucial role in shaping your doctoral experience.

• Regular Communication and Availability: Consistent meetings, responsive emails, and open-door discussions form the backbone of good supervision. A reliable supervisor creates space for regular progress reviews and problem-solving sessions, ensuring you never feel isolated in your research.
• Mentorship and Career Guidance: Beyond academic input, a strong supervisor acts as a mentor. They help you navigate job markets, build your network, and identify career paths. They introduce you to potential collaborators, guide you in grant applications, and offer strategic advice for life after the PhD.
• Administrative and Logistical Support: The PhD process involves a maze of forms, approvals, and deadlines. A proactive PhD supervisor helps you manage institutional paperwork, ethics reviews, travel grants, and other administrative hurdles. Practically, they free up more of your time for actual research.
• Fostering Independence and Confidence: As your skills grow, a good supervisor gradually steps back, allowing you to take more ownership of your work. They encourage independent thinking, decision-making, and leadership so that you finish your PhD ready to contribute as a confident and capable scholar.
• Advocacy and Recognition: A great supervisor for PhD actively promotes your work, encouraging conference presentations, supporting publications, and writing strong recommendation letters. Their advocacy can open doors, build your academic reputation, and shape the future of your research career.

While PhD supervisors vary in their approach, the best ones balance guidance and independence. They provide structured support while fostering self-reliance, ensuring you emerge as a capable and confident researcher by the end of your doctoral program.

Building a Strong Relationship with Your PhD Supervisor

A productive and harmonious relationship with your supervisor is pivotal to your success. This relationship is built on mutual respect, open communication, and shared goals. A well-established dynamic with your supervisor makes your research journey smoother and enhances your personal and professional growth. It is essential to start building such a relationship from the first week (O Week) as a PhD student. Here are actionable steps to cultivate a strong partnership:

Communicate Effectively

Clear and consistent communication is the backbone of a good supervisor-student relationship. Keep your supervisor informed about your research progress, upcoming deadlines, and any challenges you encounter. Prepare a structured agenda before meetings to ensure discussions are productive and focused. If you face difficulties, be honest rather than waiting until the last minute. Open communication fosters trust and collaboration and ensures you and your PhD supervisor are aligned on expectations and objectives.

Be Proactive

Taking ownership of your research demonstrates commitment, independence, and enthusiasm. Instead of waiting for your supervisor to dictate every step, actively set goals, propose new ideas and seek feedback. Proactively addressing challenges and exploring alternative solutions accelerates your research progress and strengthens your supervisor’s confidence in your capabilities. Being proactive also means staying updated on relevant literature, attending academic conferences, and refining research skills.

Respect PhD Supervisor’s Time and Expertise

Supervisors for PhD often manage multiple responsibilities, including teaching, research projects, and administrative duties. Be mindful of their time by arriving prepared for meetings, keeping discussions concise, and sticking to agreed-upon deadlines. Avoid asking unnecessary questions that can be easily answered through independent research. When seeking feedback, provide clear and specific queries rather than vague requests. Showing respect for your supervisor’s expertise and workload will foster a more professional and efficient working relationship.

Be Open to PhD Supervisor’s Feedback

Constructive criticism is a cornerstone of academic growth. Your supervisor’s feedback will refine your work and improve your research quality. Instead of taking criticism personally, approach it with an open mind and a willingness to improve. If their feedback is unclear, ask for clarification or examples to better understand their perspective. Applying constructive criticism effectively demonstrates maturity and a commitment to academic excellence, strengthening your supervisor’s trust in your ability to learn and adapt.

Set Clear Expectations Early On

Every supervisor-student relationship is unique, and aligning expectations from the beginning helps prevent misunderstandings. Discuss your preferred working style, research goals, meeting frequency, feedback timelines, and long-term expectations. Establishing these parameters early on ensures a structured and efficient workflow. If conflicts or disagreements arise, refer to these initial discussions to realign your working relationship and maintain clarity in expectations.

Expectations can vary significantly depending on the country where you are pursuing your PhD. For example, a PhD in the US typically takes between 4 and 6 years and includes coursework during the first two years. Therefore, the expectations between you and your supervisor will differ greatly from those doing a PhD in the UK or a PhD in Australia, where research-focused PhD programs usually last 3 to 3.5 years and do not require subject-specific coursework.

Additionally, your field of study can also influence these expectations. Consider the following examples: PhD in Chemistry, PhD in Computer Science, PhD in Management, PhD in Philosophy, PhD in Law, PhD in Applied Mathematics, PhD in Psychology, PhD in Chemical Engineering, PhD in Environmental Science, and so on. Since the nature of research varies across disciplines, the expectations of both students and PhD supervisors differ significantly. For instance, a Chemistry student is typically required to conduct research in a laboratory, while Law students engage in different academic work. A Computer Science student may have more flexibility to work remotely, whereas a Psychology PhD candidate often needs to conduct in-person research or clinical work.

Express Gratitude

PhD supervisors invest significant time and effort in guiding your research and professional development. Acknowledging their support, whether through a simple thank-you email, recognition of your thesis, or a personal note of appreciation, can go a long way in maintaining a positive rapport. Expressing gratitude strengthens your relationship, making your supervisor more invested in your academic journey and future success.

By actively nurturing a strong relationship with your PhD supervisor, you create a foundation for a productive, enriching, and mutually beneficial collaboration. This partnership enhances your research experience and opens doors to valuable career opportunities and professional growth.

Supervisor-Student Relationship Challenges

While many PhD supervisor-student relationships thrive, challenges can arise. Being aware of potential difficulties and addressing them proactively can help mitigate issues:

• Lack of Communication: Infrequent meetings or unclear communication can hinder progress, leading to misunderstandings and delays in research. To address this, students should take the initiative to schedule regular check-ins with their supervisor. Discussing and agreeing on preferred communication methods via email, video calls, or in-person meetings can ensure both parties stay informed and engaged.
• Misaligned Expectations: Differing expectations regarding workload, deadlines, or the level of supervision can create friction, causing frustration for both doctoral students and PhD supervisors. To avoid this, it is essential to have open and honest discussions early on about goals, responsibilities, and timelines. Regularly revisiting and adjusting these expectations throughout the PhD journey can help maintain alignment and prevent misunderstandings.
• Over-Dependence or Under-Support: Some students may rely too heavily on their PhD supervisor for guidance, while others may feel left to navigate their research with little support. Striking a balance between seeking advice and developing independence is crucial. Students should aim to develop problem-solving skills while still maintaining open lines of communication with their supervisor. Supervisors for PhD, in turn, should be mindful of providing the necessary support without fostering excessive dependence.
• Personality Clashes: Conflicting personalities can strain the supervisor-student relationship, making collaboration challenging. Differences in working styles, feedback approaches, or expectations can contribute to tension. Maintaining professionalism, focusing on shared academic goals, and practicing patience can help mitigate conflicts. If necessary, seeking mediation from a department head or advisor can provide an objective perspective and facilitate resolution.

How to Maximize Your PhD Supervision Experience

To make the most of your supervision experience, adopt a proactive and collaborative approach:

• Prepare for Meetings: Come with a clear agenda, progress updates, and specific questions to maximize the productivity of each session.
• Seek Clarity: Don’t hesitate to ask for clarification on feedback, expectations, or processes.
• Leverage Their Network: Take advantage of your supervisor’s professional connections to expand your own network.
• Document Feedback: Keeping a record of feedback ensures you can refer back to it and track progress over time.
• Stay Organized: Manage your time and research systematically to demonstrate reliability and professionalism.

Understand the Challenges PhD Supervisors Face in Selecting Students

As a prospective PhD student, it is important to understand the challenges PhD supervisors face when selecting candidates for their research group. This awareness can help you make sense of any unexpected reactions from supervisors in emails, interviews, or your first in-person meeting. Recognizing these challenges, you can better anticipate what to expect throughout your PhD journey. Many future international PhD students seek financial support. A crucial step in the application process for available fully funded scholarships, e.g., PhD Scholarships in Australia and the Marie Curie PhD Scholarship in Europe, is contacting research supervisors.

Aside from the difficulties the prospective students face within the application process, the supervisors for PhD face their challenges. While shaping the idea of the Applyindex startup in mid-2021, market research was conducted by our founder and CEO, asking PhD supervisors about the challenges they face when hiring a PhD candidate. In brief, some of these challenges are:

• Supervisors receive a high number of emails and CVs every day.
• Students give bad first impressions when contacting supervisors.
• It is hard for supervisors to select a potential PhD candidate from numerous strong CVs.

Quotes From PhD Supervisors at Top Universities 

Below you can read the perspectives of three PhD supervisors about the PhD application process challenges at three different universities in Australia, Switzerland, and Germany:

Candidate Selection by a PhD Supervisor in School of Chemistry at Monash University, Australia

I guess a general problem is that there are simply too many applications. Most often, applications are quite impersonal, and applicants have not informed themselves very well about the requirements and possibilities of carrying out PhDs in my group at Monash University.

 

So, the sheer volume of emails combined with a perceived lack of specificity on the applicants’ side, leads to treating many of the emails as spam. I am aware that this also excludes many certainly capable prospective students, and I wish I had a better way of filtering them, but then I try to be fair to everyone.

 

I would not expect students to know about my minimum requirements for financial support. The system is not transparent enough to allow for outside judgment. Having said that, a certain self-awareness is often useful. I would say that most applicants have reasonable grades though as far as I can judge, even if only a few are good enough to come into consideration from a university threshold point of view.

 

What I do expect though is that applicants, first of all, provide me with all relevant details rather than making me ask for all of them (you can see my motivation to do so is low for unsolicited applications). And I expect people to look into my group, and our research, and be able to show why they want to do research with me. 90% of applications I receive fail at this point. This sends the message of either a) they do not care what they work on, or b) they want to work on their interest, but they do not care if that aligns with my group. Both are immediate killer arguments to discard the application.

Monash University is one of the top universities in Melbourne, which provides competitive PhD scholarships in Australia.

Candidate Selection by a PhD Supervisor in Department of Materials at ETH Zürich, Switzerland

I agree about the many emails and applications we receive. Many CVs are simply not good, so I guess a huge problem is to define whose CV is good and why. This problem becomes even worse when you have to consider people from different countries. For example, it is super easy for me to select a good Greek candidate, however, each country has different rules. So, the real challenge is the lack of a standardized system to shortlist candidates.

 

In my ideal world, you would send a list to the candidate who applies to complete an initial assessment, and then you would only interview if the first test goes well. To be honest with you, if I talk to someone for like 20 min I would know if I want to hire them or not as any test that shows someone to be super smart and with huge chemistry knowledge can easily fail in the personal interview.

I have my own IQ and chemistry test and yet it cannot tell you much about people’s character, motivation, work ethic, etc. and those aspects are much more important in getting a PhD candidate.

ETH Zürich, i.e., the 1st-ranked university in the world by a-index World University Rankings, at a glance.

 Candidate Selection by a PhD supervisor in Department of Chemistry at the TU Darmstadt, Germany

Challenges when hiring a PhD candidate? Many!

The biggest is to find suitable candidates. If you have good Master’s final year students from your own Uni, that is easy. But how do you advertise a PhD position and attract the attention of good students if you are an early-career or mid-career PI, i.e. you are not super famous!?

 

I rely on my network, as well as Twitter, LinkedIn, my website, and paid services such as Find-a-PhD to advertise. If advertised, I receive between 50-100 applications and most of them are useless (candidates with the wrong background, candidates with less unsuitable or relatively poor CVs, etc.). I end up with 5-10 candidates that are, in principle, suitable that I interview via Zoom, I then create a shortlist of approx. 3 that I take into the second round of interviews. In parallel, I ask for recommendation letters.

 

Challenges are then, at least in the UK, that grants and scholarships only pay home study fees (i.e. nowadays only UK students), but most candidates will be international, and there will be a funding gap of approx. 16000 GBP per year. It used to be that we could hire EU students on home fees, but that has changed since Brexit. Thus, at the moment it is nearly impossible to hire non-UK students, which is one of the reasons I moved away from the UK and joined the Technical University of Darmstadt.

 

Another major challenge is to spot talent during the interviews. Candidates usually do not have extended CVs and publication lists yet, and you have to anticipate if they have the talent and the prerequisites to grow into good PhD candidates. The last main challenge is then to get the preferred student to accept your offer, as excellent candidates usually have more than one offer.

 

Are they critical thinkers, will they come up with good ideas, will they work independently in the lab, and do they have “golden hands” to make challenging experiments work? What is their potential to grow if suitably mentored? Marks are not a good indicator of this, and some of my best PhD candidates came with rather average marks out of their Master’s in my group.

Introduction to the Technical University of Darmstadt in Germany, which was recommended by Albert Einstein to his nephew in 1919.

All supervisors for PhD worldwide struggle with (i) the high loads of emails & CVs they get every day from students, and (ii) the slow process of suitable candidate selection. Our goal on the Applyindex, especially for PhD applicants, is to solve these problems and save time, i.e., weeks to months, that supervisors spend filtering the received applications.

Conclusion

The relationship with your PhD supervisor is one of the most important factors influencing your doctoral success. A good supervisor for PhD provides academic guidance and personal and professional mentorship, helping you navigate challenges and seize opportunities. You can maximize this partnership and achieve your academic goals by understanding their role, setting clear expectations, and cultivating a positive relationship. Remember, your PhD supervisor is a mentor, collaborator, and advocate, playing a pivotal role in shaping your future as a researcher and professional.