Shifting Players: Supervision Changes During the Ph.D. Journey

Abstract

This chapter addresses the academic, professional and personal implications of changes in doctoral supervision. Drawing on my own narrative as a Ph.D. candidate, this chapter contributes to our knowledge of varied kinds of doctoral experiences. This supervision journey emphasises the centrality and importance of supervision in relation to the impact and quality of doctoral programmes, and the experience of doctoral candidates. Three key implications of supervision changes are presented: (1) the practical and immediate policy outcomes; (2) academic and research delays associated with the loss of a mentor; and (3) the adjustment for the supervision team. Analysis of my experience is enriched through the use of identity development theory, which offers a platform from which to examine how changes in supervision impact on the doctoral candidate’s development as a scholar, researcher and active member of the academic community. In my story being shared, readers are invited into the process of carefully negotiating academic and professional relationships set within a system fraught with policy, administrative and academic tensions. My successful (and timely) completion of the doctorate with strong professional relationships with all supervisors offers hope and strategies of moving forward in response to shifts in supervision.