How Should I Manage My Relationship with My Supervisor(s)?

Abstract

Effective supervisory relationships are critical to the successful completion of your postgraduate research journey. As a postgraduate student, you will play an important role in managing those relationships and we share our thoughts and experiences on this relational process in this chapter. We discuss how you might find or attract one or more supervisors and the importance of clarifying expectations once you have them. We look at different supervisory styles and their implications for how you might relate to them and extend the exploration further to consider relationships with supervisory committees/panels. As there are good and poor supervisors in every university, we focus on the importance of recognising both types. We also review different strategies for troubleshooting problems that may emerge in the supervisor-student relationship.