Fostering inclusive and effective doctoral supervisory practice: the Let’s Talk About card game
The relationship between doctoral research supervisors and their students is crucial for success during doctoral study. Supervisors face increasing complexity in managing these relationships, compounded by job precarity and the pressure to ensure timely doctoral completion. Equally, doctoral studen...
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| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Association for Learning Development in Higher Education (ALDinHE)
2025-06-01
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| Series: | Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://journal.aldinhe.ac.uk/index.php/jldhe/article/view/1362 |
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| Summary: | The relationship between doctoral research supervisors and their students is crucial for success during doctoral study. Supervisors face increasing complexity in managing these relationships, compounded by job precarity and the pressure to ensure timely doctoral completion. Equally, doctoral students will navigate a competitive job environment with limited time and funding, exacerbated by structural disparities in gender, race, and class outcomes. Our study explores the need for formalised expectation setting and interpersonal familiarisation within supervisor-doctoral student relationships through the development of the Let’s Talk About (LTA) conversation toolkit. LTA was designed with community input, gathering and refining questions from doctoral students and supervisors to explore key areas including expectations, career development, social dynamics, and policy. The toolkit was trialled with supervisor-student pairs, showing significant improvements in understanding and aligning expectations, particularly regarding personal commitments and required support. Results indicated an 81.8% increase in students’ perception of their supervisors’ awareness of their commitments and a 102.5% increase in supervisors’ awareness of students’ needs. These findings underscore the importance of structured and inclusive communication tools that foster supportive academic environments. The study highlights the effectiveness of formalised conversation prompts in enhancing communication and understanding in doctoral supervision, leading to stronger, more productive relationships. The integration of LTA into supervisory practices offers a promising solution to key challenges in doctoral education.
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| ISSN: | 1759-667X |