Course PhD Supervision (supervisors)

ECTS: 0

Course leader: Mette Krogh Christensen

Language: English

Graduate school: Faculty of Health

Status: Course is finished

Semester: Fall 2021

Application deadline: 06/10/2021

Cancellation deadline: 06/10/2021

Course type: Classroom teaching

Start date: 03/11/2021

Administrator: Johanne Gregor Nielsen

NB!

All applicants are placed on the waiting list untill the application deadline.

Mandatory for main supervisors.

Please note that the course is mandatory for main supervisors.

The course, A132/23 PhD Supervision, is being offered by the Graduate School of Health, Aarhus University, autum 2021

Criteria for participation: Postdocs, assistant professors, clinical associate professors, clinicians at AU HE or AUH that currently undertake supervision or co-supervision of enrolled PhD students or research year students at AU HE.
NB! Please note that the course is mandatory for main supervisors.

Aim: The quality of PhD students’ education is largely dependent on the PhD supervisor’s competencies as a supervisor. The aim of the basic course in PhD supervision is to expand the participants’ repertoire of supervision strategies and methods in order to provide a flexible approach to supervision, strengthen their reflections on practices, roles and relationships in the supervision process, and share experiences and new knowledge for advancing PhD supervisors’ competencies.

Specific goals: The specific goals of this course are that the participants are able to:

  • Describe and give reasons for own supervision practice.
  • Analyse and consider actual dilemmas in supervision.
  • Identify and argue for individual choices in managing one’s own supervisor role.
  • Write a supervisory letter in order to explicate values and traditions in the researcher community.
  • Apply communicative methods that underpin progression in the supervision meeting.
  • Give constructive text feedback and thus promote the PhD-student’s writing process.
  • Describe and give reasons for the ways in which talent identification and talent development takes place in the supervisor’s research environment.
  • Adapt the rules and regulations of the Graduate School of Health.
  • Discuss responsible conduct of research.

Content: The course is about supervision in research education, including supervision of PhD students and research year students. The course aims at developing supervisors’ competencies and flexible approach in the actual supervision process, thus the course put emphasis on hand-on training, exchange of knowledge and sharing experiences across the faculty. The supervisor’s ability to approach the supervisee in a flexible way is a key issue in the course. Flexibility in supervision is a matter of knowing how to adjust the guidance of students with different needs, different challenges, and different backgrounds. The content of the course focuses on the following basic elements:

Module 1: Roles and expectations in PhD supervision

  • Clarifying supervisor and student expectations in PhD supervision
  • Supervisor roles – teacher, master, colleague, supervisor, mentor
  • What is successful PhD supervision – according to research?
  • Identifying and fostering talent in research – the supervisor’s role

Module 2: Rules, regulations and research integrity

  • Introduction to rules and regulations
  • Framework and Information
  • How do you get into the PhD programme?
  • What requirements are there along the way?
  • How do you complete a PhD programme?
  • What kind of support is available, if you have an international PhD student?
  • Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR)

Module 3: Communication, feedback and training

  • The process of writing and giving text feedback
  • Peer-feedback
  • IPTO – Intended PhD Training Outcome
  • Communication, active listening and feedback on dilemmas in supervision: applying a four-stage dialogue model

Working methods: The course comprises of three modules (one day per module) with in-class activities. In addition to the modules, the participants are expected to conduct out-of-class activities such as written assignments, collection of exemplars of students’ texts and supervisors’ feedback, and/or observation of supervision. The participants’ working methods at the course vary from small group exercises, small group discussions, individual training and reflection, and plenary discussions. In order to stimulate collegial network and cooperation the participants are grouped in learnings groups of 4-5 persons per group. These groups are recurring groups throughout the course.

NB! Please note that parts of the course content might change.

Organizer: Mette Krogh Christensen, associate professor, PhD, Centre for Health Sciences Educations, Health, AU.

Participation: The workload of full participation in the course is about 40 hours  including three days of course participation (the three 7-hours modules), participation in group work, individual reading and out-of-class activities, and a concluding assignment.

Approval of the course participation presupposes full participation, participation in group work, and handing in a concluding assignment. A maximum of 20% absence in the course modules due to own or child’s illness or the like is acceptable.

Venue: Loftsalen (1266-316), the Victor Albeck Building, Vennelyst Blvd. 4, 8000 Aarhus C.

Course dates:

  • 03 November 2021 09:00 - 16:00
  • 10 November 2021 09:00 - 16:00
  • 24 November 2021 09:00 - 16:00