The changing nature of doctoral education over the past three decades has taken on a triadic relationship constructed around expectations-process-purposes and has generated much commentary and critique. The intention of this paper is to focus on the notion of "purpose" from the perspective of doctoral supervisors which we have collated…

In this paper, boundary management illuminates understanding of the doctoral supervisory relationship. Boundary management is presented as a theoretical vehicle that helps to define and explain roles that supervisors employ at different junctures along the doctoral journey and how transitions between these are negotiated. The paper draws on the…

With the massification of higher degrees, the efficiency gaze has fixed on students and supervisors, or on their relationship, as the "problem" to be managed, in need of administrative regulation, skill improvement or perhaps emotional management. This critical review of a selection of higher education journal articles on doctoral…

International policy changes that have prioritised increasing growth in the numbers of doctoral students have led to wide-ranging debate about the changing purpose of the doctorate. However, there has been little research aimed at investigating doctoral supervisors' views of the purpose of the doctorate, despite the significant role supervisors…

This study considered the sources of facilitating experiences and strategies for thesis writing from doctoral students and graduates (N = 30). The sample was balanced between science and social science knowledge areas, with equal numbers of English as Second Language (ESL) participants in both groups. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were used…

The challenges of the doctoral journey can create social and academic isolation. Student support is normally facilitated through the supervisory team and research training programmes. There is little empirical evidence on the role group supervision and peer learning can play in nurturing and sustaining doctoral scholarship. This article explores…

This article explores the role of group supervision within doctoral education, offering an exploration of the experience of group supervision processes through a small-scale study evaluating both student and staff experience across three cohorts of one professional doctorate programme. There has been very little research to date exploring…

The study aimed to investigate the process of reflection in professional nurse education and the part it played in a teaching and learning context. The research focused on the social construction of reflection within a post-registration, palliative care programme, accessed by nurses, in the United Kingdom (UK). Through an interpretive ethnographic…

Literature about doctoral supervision has concentrated on describing the ever lengthening lists of functions that must be carried out. This functional approach is necessary, but there has been little exploration of a different paradigm, a conceptual approach towards research supervision. This article, based on interviews with supervisors from a…

A discussion of the structure of the social sciences doctorate in the United Kingdom looks at the debate over whether the doctoral degree process should be viewed as education or training, the situation in other countries, graduate student learning and development processes, collegiality, the graduate student-advisor relationship, and student…

This article is part of a larger scale project on some aspects of the process of academic socialization of a group of Iranian Ph.D. students studying in five UK universities, particularly focusing on the relationship between these students and their supervisors. The study included eight engineering and five social sciences/humanities students, as…

A study investigated differences in ways that male and female supervisors (n=7) of undergraduate research in a British university approach supervision and the student-supervisor relationship. Results reveal contrasting ways of working and some differences in use of language to describe and discuss the practice of supervision, suggesting gender may…