4.1 The student will be supervised by a team which will be led by a Director of Studies and include normally one or two Second Supervisors. The PVC Dean of Faculty or Deputy has the responsibility for ensuring that a Director of Studies is appointed for each student. The Director of Studies would normally be appointed simultaneously with the offer of a place. Under no circumstances should Faculties ask students to find their own supervisors.
4.2 No member of staff should be appointed as Director of Studies unless they have supervised one research student to completion and completed key components of the Supervisor Training Course.2
Where a Director of Studies only has one completion, whether it as Director of Studies, Second Supervisor or Third Supervisor, the supervision of that research programme must have been for more than 2 thirds of the whole programme, anything less will not be considered sufficient to meet this requirement.
However, where a member of staff has had substantial experience of supervising graduate students and where the team as a whole has supervised at least 2 research students to completion, the relevant Committee with the Faculty or Department Postgraduate Research Tutor, will assess whether the experience is sufficient to take on the role of Director of Studies. The recommendation must be approved by the Chair of the Research Degrees Committee before the member of staff can be appointed.
4.3 One individual shall not normally be Director of Studies for more than 6 full-time research students (pro rata for part-time students) and a further 6 students may be supervised as Second Supervisor, but the total number should not exceed a maximum of 12 students.
The Postgraduate Research Tutor and PVC Dean of Faculty or Head of Department shall assess the workload of a member of staff to ascertain the appropriate number of students to be supervised by that individual. Supervisory time should be included in the individual’s workload plan.
4.4 Staff acting in the role of Second Supervisor should not supervise more than 6 full-time students (pro rata for part-time) If this number is exceeded, a letter should be provided from the PVC Dean of Faculty, confirming that the numbers allocated to the individual had been addressed through the Faculty workload planning review.
4.5 At least one supervisor should normally be a member of academic staff of the University. The PVC Dean of Faculty must ensure that the supervisors are suitably qualified for the proposed project. The supervisory team should have substantial research experience in the relevant subject area and normally have experience of supervising at least 2 research degree candidates to successful and timely completion at the appropriate level (see Section 9.5 of this document).
4.6 Supervisors are entitled to decide what subjects they can usefully supervise; although every effort will be made, the University cannot guarantee that students will be able to work with any particular supervisor or that they will have the same supervisor throughout their period of study at the University.
4.7 A student may ask for a change of supervisor if the student considers the relationship between the student and supervisor has irretrievably broken down and the student should take the matter up with the Director of Studies in the first instance.
If there is no way to resolve the situation, the matter should be referred to the Postgraduate Research Tutor, stating the reasons for the proposed change. The Postgraduate Research Tutor should then advise the PVC Dean of Faculty of the most appropriate action, such as the appointment of an additional or replacement supervisor. If the supervisor in question is the Postgraduate Research Tutor, the matter should be taken up with the PVC Dean of Faculty.
4.8 Supervisors must demonstrate their willingness to maintain and update the relevant supervisory skills. This should include attending the training provided by the University’s Director of Researcher Development.
4.9 Exceptionally the role of Director of Studies may be divided between no more than 2 Co-Directors of Studies. A Co-Director of Studies may supervise 12 students but this should not be added to the full quota allowed for other supervisory roles. In these cases, the role of each person would have to be clearly identified at the outset and a case made to the relevant Sub-Committee for approval.
4.10 All part-time lecturers and supervisors, whether internal members of staff or external, must be issued with a contract containing full details of their role and responsibilities in relation to them supervisory role on a student’s team.
2 Key components include attendance at relevant elements of the Supervisor Training Programme. The level of equivalent courses will be considered by the University’s Director of Researcher Development, the Faculty or Department Postgraduate Research Tutor and Chair of the Research Degrees Committee.