J Has Worked Long and Hard Over the Last Two and a Half Years and Has Amassed Plenty Of

Task 1

J has worked long and hard over the last two and a half years and has amassed plenty of material.

However, he does not express himself well, either verbally or in writing, and you know that he views the prospect of writing up, of making a coherent thesis out of his work, and of defending it at a viva, extremely daunting.

He has put off getting down to writing by concentrating on carrying out yet more experimental work (and you had not initially discouraged him in this because the work had been going so well and the data is interesting).

You sense that he is starting to panic at the thought of really getting down to the thesis.

His grant runs out soon. He wonders where more money is to come from and talks of taking up (unrelated) employment. If he does that, you know that the thesis will never be completed.

Task 2

Z is an overseas student for whom you took responsibility when a colleague left, after Z's first year.

Notwithstanding his successful 1st year registration/ CPGS (and you wonder how that was agreed), you find that he needs excessively precise instruction on all aspects of his project and that his spoken and written English is poor.

Everything needs explaining at least twice and he feels the need to seek your approval for every step he takes in his work.

You have so far been unable to see any originality in his work and you are concerned about his cope with the final thesis.

You doubt whether there is any point in his staying on for a third year but he is adamant that he is unable to return home until he's obtained the degree for which his sponsors have sent him here.

He claims also that if he does withdraw or goes back with a Masters, he will be required to pay them back his fees and maintenance costs.

Task 3

S applied the one-year MPhil course in your Faculty this year. He expressed an unusually strong a dedicated preference for the field in which your own research is based and named you as the person with whom he wished to do his research project.

His application was very impressive, leading you to believe that his computing skills were more than adequate for tackling the difficult data analysis in your particular field of research, and on that basis you agreed to supervise him.

After the first session on the dissertation, it became clear that S’s computing skills were hardly better than rudimentary and wholly inadequate to the task.

You told him gently this would be a problem and that he would be well advised to change his research topic. He insisted, however, that this was the whole reason for wanting to come to Cambridge, and to change would be unthinkable.

You agree to carry on, but insist that he attend weekly advanced programming classes as part of the deal. You set these up for him.

You soldier on and things don’t improve. You suspect he is not attending the classes. You feel he is likely to fail his dissertation and write this clearly in your supervisor’s report.

S fails his Masters with a low mark on the thesis. His examiners remark on the inadequacy of his computing skills.

S seeks a review of his examination. His main complaint is that you never told him he might fail or that his computing skills were inadequate.

Task 4

After an amicable relationship with A during his first year, relations between the two of you have deteriorated.

Things started to go wrong when you asked a post-doc to keep a day to day eye on A and to help him out with some particular techniques. (You are a busy Research Fellow with a host of other students and responsibilities.)

A has now developed an apparently hostile attitude to you and this is affecting the general atmosphere in your research group.

A has become secretive about his data and is now accusing members of the group - including you - of pirating 'his ideas' for papers and in grant applications etc.

None of your colleagues are willing or able to take over supervision.

Task 5

Y is an extremely able researcher on a fully funded Research Council studentship, nearing the end of his third year. He hopes (with your encouragement) to obtain an academic post once his grant runs out.

Most of his effort now seems to be devoted to producing publications and preparing material for Research Fellowship applications etc.

Although he has more than enough material to write up his dissertation, he seems to have lost interest in actually completing and submitting it.

Your Head of Department, however, is concerned with the Department's submission rate record and Y could become a 'bad statistic'

Points to Remember

Ø  Check Code of Practice and BGS website

Ø  Recruitment and selection

o  deadlines

o  ‘conditional’ v ‘BGS official’ offer

o  use of language

Ø  Importance of good induction

o  reciprocal duties

o  managing expectations

o  cultural awareness

o  clear timelines / milestones

o  breaking up tasks

o  frequency of meeting

Ø  Troubleshooting

o  Keeping records of communications / agreements / meetings

§  Clarity of language and messages

§  FoI/ DP

o  Timely Feedback to student

o  Timely communication with colleagues

§  ‘Sharing’ difficulties

o  Identify sources of help (liaising with College Graduate Tutor)

o  Identifying sources of additional academic support

Ø  Reporting on Cambridge Graduate Supervision Reporting System (CGSRS)

Ø  FIRST YEAR REGISTRATION

o  defining topic

Ø  Progress

o  Milestones

o  Deadlines!

o  Preparing for the Viva

o  Choosing examiners