Karen Clegg: ” ‘Two’s company, three’s a crowd’: the case for team supervision”
Karen Clegg, University of York, is our second keynote speaker on day one of the conference, 29 September.
Keynote abstract
This keynote will explore the role that team supervision plays in professionalising PhD supervision practice. Drawing on focus groups with supervisors, Doctoral Deans and Directors, industry stakeholders, doctoral researchers and empirical evidence from the UK Research Supervision Survey 2024 we’ll explore the contribution that different change agents make to the PhD experience.
Together (in pairs and triads), we’ll consider how traditional academic supervisors are increasingly complemented by Assistant Supervisors, typically early career researchers, and the role that non HEI industry-based supervisors can play in and how they fit into the team. We’ll look at how supervisors at all levels can be supported in developing their practice through initial and continued professional development, looking particularly at how peer observation of supervision provides an opportunity for sharing of practice and experience across disciplines. In conclusion, Karen will offer some tentative recommendations about the pedagogic, practice and policy related implications for team supervision.
Related literature: Kitano R & Clegg K (2026) Enabling Effective Team Supervision in Gasson, S. et al Confident Supervisors: creating independent researchers Vol 2. QUT Open Access
Dr Karen Clegg
Co-Director/Principal Investigator of the Next Generation Research SuperVision Project (RSVP) and Reader in Doctoral Education and Practice, School for Arts and Creative Technologies, University of York.
