Supervision

Supervision of PhD students

By getting involved in supervision, postdocs can provide highly valuable support to PhD students and their supervisors, while developing management skills and experience applicable to multiple roles.

While they can not be principal supervisors for postgraduate students (see exceptions and reasons below), postdocs whose contributions to the training and development of a student is significant, encompassing intellectual insight and guidance beyond the sole provision of technical support and training, can apply to see their role recognised as Assistant Supervisor.

Assistant Supervisor

The Assistant Supervisor role was piloted in the MHLS Faculty during the academic year 2019-2020, and was implemented across the university in summer 2021.

The Assistant Supervisor role was created to officially recognise and regulate the significant contribution of postdocs who are involved in the supervision of PhD students but who are not eligible to be listed as Supervisor. It recognises supervision already carried out by postdocs, encourages and provides an opportunity for postdocs to gain supervision experience, and defines a framework to supervision activities by postdocs.

For more information about the role and to see if you are eligible, read the Assistant Supervisor Guidelines.

The advantages for postdocs include an official title to use on their CV, an official appointment letter, the official recording of their contribution by Queen's (on the student system, Qsis), access to the supervisory meetings (which are an important development opportunity) and mentoring on supervision from the student and their principal supervisor.

Once appointed, the Assistant Supervisor is of course considered as a valuable member of the team involved in supervising the student, but they are not considered as part of the "Supervisory team", as defined by the Study Regulations for Research Degree Programmes. In the context of the said regulations, the term "Supervisory team" implies a range of obligations and responsibilities that do not apply to Assistant Supervisors.

Benefits of the Assistant Supervisor role

The role of Assistant Supervisor is not essential (many students do not have an Assistant Supervisor), but it can bring clear benefits to all involved.

We listed some of these benefits below, which reflect the feedback we received from postdocs, students and supervisors involved in the pilot.

Benefit for the Postdoc Assistant Supervisor
- Official recognition: the PDC issues the Assistant Supervisor with an appointment letter and their involvement is recorded in Queen's internal system, appearing on their individual Pure profile (note: at time of writing, this was being developped but wasn't yet functional; expected update in 2021-22)
- Opportunity to gain supervision experience with students from other groups (usually when their own group doesn't have students)
- Easier to report on CV
- Development opportunity: access to supervisory meetings, mentoring from the supervisory team and feedback from the student, in addition to learning by doing (the PDC will in time provide additional training resources such as workshops, panel discussions / Q&A, peer-mentoring etc.)
Benefit for the Postgraduate Student
- Direct training and support to develop technical and analytical skills, wider research skills (experimental design, critical thinking etc.), transferable skills (organisation etc.)
- Valuable additional perspective on the research, enriching discussions
- Additional point of contact, who can often be more available and less intimidating than other supervisors
- Feedback on draft presentations and written work
- Mentoring on multiple subjects, including navigating a PhD and postdoc life
- Way for you to recognise their contribution and make them feel valued
- The official appointment drives their commitment supporting you
Benefit for the Supervisors
- Support for the student when unavailable
- Valuable insight on the research benefiting the project
- Assistance with some supervisory duties
- Can provide initial feedback to presentations and written work
- Supporting the student with the PhD experience
- Way to recognise and develop your own postdocs and valued colleagues
- Potential link to other teams, Schools, Faculties

Process to be appointed as an Assistant Supervisor

Check your eligibility (Assistant Supervisor Guidelines)
Contact the student and their Principal Supervisor to discuss the possibility of your appointment and define your role and responsibilities
Fill the Assistant Supervisor Appointment Form and ensure that the Principal Supervisor (or both Co-Supervisors) and the student (as well as your PI if not a supervisor), fill and sign their part of the form
Send the form to the Director of Graduate Studies / Chair of Postgraduate Research Committee or nominee in your School or Centre (see form) for approval and signature
Send the final approved form to the PDC (pdc@qub.ac.uk)

The postdoc is responsible for the application and the transfer of the form to the relevant people.

Once accepted, you will receive an official appointment letter from the PDC. This is usually quite quick; do not hesitate to ask for the status of your application if you haven't heard back from the PDC after a week.

Supervisor for Postgraduate Research Students

According to the Study Regulations For Research Degree Programmes (5.1.10), there are certain circumstances where it may be appropriate for a postdoc to be appointed as the principal supervisor for a postgraduate research student.

A research fellow employed on a contract that would cover the duration of the proposed research degree to be supervised, who is leading an independent research programme and of equivalent status to lecturer or above, or a holder of an institutional fellowship scheme (e.g. the Illuminate Fellowship Scheme), may be considered for appointment as principal supervisor. This category of staff must be supported by an experienced second or co-supervisor who has successfully supervised at least two doctoral students through to completion.

As for all supervisors, postdocs need to complete QUB's "Supervising Research Students" training course (booking on iTrent).

For more information on supervision, visit the Supervision page of the Academic and Student Affairs website.

Supervision of Undergraduate and Postgraduate taught students

The involvement of postdocs in the supervision of students who are not postgraduate research students is regulated at School level, but the PDC and members of the PDC Representatives' Network developed institutional guidance and recommendations on the topic, which were accepted by PROG in 2022 and by the Education Committee (Student Experience) on the 16th of March 2023 (and noted by Academic Council in June 2023).

The aim of this work was to:

Promote a reasonable and more consistent approach to supervision by postdocs across the University
Enable and officially recognise supervision contributions by postdocs
Mitigate potential negative effects that too much supervision by postdocs can have on students and postdocs themselves

The recommendations brought forward and accepted by the Education Committee (Student Experience) are:

That postdocs are allowed to be involved in the supervision of students, proposing projects when appropriate
That the student projects involving postdocs always involve an established academic and remain part of the academic’s workload, with no ‘transfer’ of responsibility to the postdoc
That postdocs’ contributions are captured on relevant forms and systems, notably by enabling the listing of two supervisors per project

For more details on the recommendations and guidance, read the full paper