Every year in early February, PostDoc Office and Doctoral Academy Graz offer an intensive training for (prospective) thesis supervisors. We invite expert Gitte Wichmann-Hansen to work with our postdoctoral researchers and professors for two days, to expand their repertoire of supervisory skills.
This is Gitte's look back at the 2023 workshop, posted on her linkedin just after she visited Graz:
What is the difference between #masters #thesis #supervision and #phd #supervision?
We discussed the question intensively at the Master and PhD Supervision Seminar at Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz, Austria this week.
Evident differences are:
- 1. The level of expected #student #independence and #research #originality and thus, varying degrees of legitimate intervention from the supervisor side
- 2. Double role as #examiner and supervisor at the Master level, which increases the power asymmetry in the supervision relationship
- 3. Length and scope of the #project period, which often affect how personal and #collegial the supervision relationship becomes
- 4. #Recruitment procedures and supervisor's own interest in the project, which may influence how much time and energy the supervisor will invest.
To add to the complexity, many other factors stretch the limits of what is legitimate and adequate supervision at Master’s and PhD level, e.g., #disciplinary, #institutional, and #national traditions. Supervision practice will often vary whether it is #lab-based research or not, whether the project is externally funded or not, whether the national regulations allow the supervisor to examine/grade the project or not. What would you add to list of things that differentiate Master’s thesis supervision from PhD supervision?
I always find it extremely rewarding to organize #supervisor #development #programs that allow participants to discuss these complexities and to provide research-based concrete advice on how to navigate the complex routes of #academic #supervision at different educational levels.
The seminar at Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz was an excellent opportunity to do this because the participating supervisors represented four faculties and nine departments. Thanks to Vice-Rector Mireille van Poppel for this great invitation to organize and facilitate the seminar and thanks to the Postdoc office for all your service and administrative help.