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• Supervision
• • Supervisory expectations
  • Supervisory meetings
  • Planning supervisory meetings
  • Communicating with your supervisor
  • Dealing with supervisory problems
  • Supervision FAQs

Supervision

A healthy relationship with your supervisor is vital for the successful completion of a PhD. We all hope that our supervisor is as excited about our research as we are, but they are often busy with other supervisees, teaching, admin, and their own research. Supervisory styles also vary.

This section guides you through supervisory expectations, scheduling and planning meetings, communicating with your supervisor, and dealing with any problems. There is also a Frequently Asked Questions page.

• Watch highlights from The Good Supervision Video by Angel Productions on Canvas (Sussex login required).
  
  

Current supervision guidelines

When anyone is starting a PhD, the first step is to agree with your supervisor how you will work together. This will vary according to your area of research and your personal preferences, as well as those of your supervisor. 

PhD supervision meetings normally involve small numbers of people, so while the university's distancing guidelines must be adhered to, it will be possible to conduct supervision face-to-face on campus if you and your supervisor agree. Similarly, you may be away from campus or for any reason prefer to have your supervisions online via Zoom. Both approaches - or a mix - are supported by Sussex, and we’d encourage you to start this conversation with your supervisor as soon as you can.

For the latest information from the University see the Covid-19 advice for PhD supervisors and research students webpage. If you feel at all uncomfortable with anything relating to Covid-19 please get in touch with the Doctoral School (doctoralschool@sussex.ac.uk).

Responsibilities of Supervisors and Researchers

The responsibilities of supervisors and responsibilities of supervisees are explained on the Research Student Admin website. These pages are the equivalent of a handbook for doctoral researchers, covering all the rules, regulations and processes that govern PhD students at Sussex, and will be updated annually.

You can also watch this recording of our Working with Your Supervisor webinar, held in March 2017: