Future Students

Graduate research usually involves supervision of the student by two or more members of staff. External supervisors are welcome additions.

Generally, allocation of supervisors is a matter for individual negotiation between student and supervisor, and students are free to choose. You should make your choice with great care, as the effectiveness of the student/supervisor relationship has a major effect on your experience.

The role of supervisors is to advise, guide and provide constructive feedback to you through the processes of choosing a realistic topic, designing a viable project, doing the research and interpreting the findings and writing the dissertation.

Before deciding on supervisors, you should:

• read the University's Code of Good Practice for Graduate Research and Supervision
• talk with the Graduate Research Coordinator for the school in which you intend to study
• visit the University's Research Specialist Interests website. This is a list of the research interests of academic staff. You will find that many areas of research cross school boundaries, and there may be various possible supervisors in your area of interest, in different schools
• talk with a few prospective supervisors about their styles of supervision and what they expect of their students. You can read about our Research Leaders, who you may want to work with as a supervisior.
• talk with your prospective supervisors' current and former students about their experiences
• talk with prospective supervisors about their research interests and prospective topics

Select supervisors whom you expect will:

• maintain an interested, professional, mutually respectful and supportive supervisory relationship with you throughout the three to four years of your project
• meet with you regularly to discuss your research
• provide on-going clear, adequate, good-quality advice on the planning and execution of your research
• provide you with timely and constructive feedback on all aspects of your work
• guide you through the completion of your degree and into the next stage of your career

Things to discuss and negotiate with your supervisors very early in the program include:

• your and your supervisors' preferred styles of supervision. A useful resource is the University's Student Perceptions of Research Supervision (SPORS) questionnaire. This is designed to help students and supervisors discuss and negotiate important matters related to supervision
• how you and your supervisors will resolve issues of intellectual property, authorship of publications and so on
• the regularity, timing and format of your meetings
• the type and level of assistance that you would like, and your supervisors are prepared to give, with respect to: