REspect

respect

Respect

belonging

expectations

supportive

Support

support

respect

collaboration

respective

Vibrancy

inclusive

Humility

Belonging

trust

Communication

inspiration

support

respect

understanding

communication

supportive

Solidarity

communication

network

supportive

collaboration

My husband is playing his electric guitar Justin - noise everywhere ;-)

Thanks for the responses all. And I'm impressed that everyone stuck to the word count!

Victorian colleagues might be aware that changes to WorkSafe legislation which come into effect next year place a high emphasis on psycho-social safety. With obligations on employees to ensure workplaces free of bullying, harassment, coercion etc. This is part of a move to place such obligations to prevent harm,

It is always good until it is not.....

Please drop questions/comments for Justin & Jonathon into the chat

Has anyone got an independent ambassador/ombudsman in place? I'd be interested to know more about this role

Do UNSW or UoM have options for confidential comments from students or supervisors to Dean GR (or elsewhere) within their HDR progress reporting or other milestones?

Other strategies to help mitigate issues early on might be having an independent chair for progress meetings who checks in with candidate and supervisors separately before formal meeting (possible avenue to raise issues); confidential comments option in online progress reporting system to send a message to the dean

Surely another screening process which needs to be undertaken is the screening of supervisors for established patterns of unacceptable behaviour. There is some correlation between research stars and hi-cites and bullying, crushing and unrealistic work schedules etc.

Have any universities developed effective policies and procedures on how respond to circumstances in which many candidates complain informally about the same supervisor? Informal complaints from many candidates are usually more compelling than a formal complaint from one candidate—but harder to manage within existing policies and procedures.

A confidential comment mechanism would be interesting. My HDR students have asked if we could set something like this up

We have considered the data base of 'problem' supervisors but have been warned that their could be some issues with HR and EBA issues with such a document.

Thanks. Re the difficulty of in-house vs formal processes: The challenge of identifying/articulating these issues without escalating unnecessarily - ie how to find the most productive outcomes for all parties rather than being merely confrontational/exposing. Cascading processes that allow for that kind of shading of issues important.

Yes, UoM has a Chair of every supervision panel, and the candidate meets 1:1 with the panel chair at least at every progress review to raise confidential issues

With regard to bullying, this is an issue well-discussed in HR circles. There are solutions but there are no easy solutions.

USQ does have a confidential reporting line and an internal ombudsperson. Not sure either have reduced the number of supervisor-supervisee conflicts.

We have confidential reporting as part of the progress report, but it isn't on the report itself - it's a separate link that takes the student to a different area. This is because candidates honestly don't believe that anything 'confidential' in their progress report won't be seen by their supervisor. Sexual conduct issues are handled separately again.

That's interesting Susan. We have the same issue, only the panel chair sees the confidential comments but candidates are often uncomfortable writing anything down there

The intersection with HR and line management on appropriate conduct is criticalWith many processes in place for education/development/ prevention -poor performance becomes ultimately a line management issue if it escalates to that point…

We do have a confidential section at USYD in the progress reviews, but there are limits to confidentiality associated with duty of care to the student. But this is new this year, so it is unclear how much this was used. We are doing a review of our new progress review meetings early next year.

100% agree with Christine Bruce. Graduate Deans need to work with Deans and heads of school re management of poor supervision/poor supervisor conduct as performance and conduct issues.

@Denise - agree - we don’t line manage the academics

would be useful to have HDR supervision development and practice more explicitly address in annual performance appraisals of academic staff, rather then defaulting to numbers of students and completions etc.

@alastair. Yet, from the GRS side, we can set up policy and regulations that focus on supervision to give Us a bit more bite when it comes to poor supervision and this can be used in annual reviews with HDR supervisors and their line managers. Definitely not easy and not always effective....

@Stephan Riek….That is the key. We have done that at RMIT. making this performance visible to line managers, taking the lid of the black box.

@Denise Cuthbert - would like to see how you've done that!

Agree. That sounds great Denise, very positive

The wellbeing survey we conducted in 2018, also showed a positive link with sense of belonging to the academic life of research group/ department

It is a matter of getting the relevant fields into the performance management instrument and being able to support with accurate data. We also have this in promotion criteria.

Great slides Stacey!

Yep -- terrific presentation and great findings!

Such a compelling presentation—really helps us adopt a more holistic, systems perspective to solve common issues

Great project!

I’m hearing lots yesterday and now today about building peer networks and support - ways of supporting peer communities /ideas /models would be great

Collaborative research culture and how to build them is my number one question

Our Community of Practice for Research Supervisors has been running for about 6 years now and has been a great success

some good ideas for peer groups in Buissink-Smith's article https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07294360.2013.777034

Could you ask Stacey to discuss which of the variables in her model does she feel are the most modifiable. Sometimes, the levers of change are not the strongest determinants of outcomes but the variables we can change

Hi Peter - I have tried to get our supervisor community of practice going - but so far, not a lot of success. Any tips for getting it going and people engaged?

Looking to get that model to translate to the life of the work of the suoervisors/team - so it becomes culture in the students world

Collaboration is an interesting one - as researchers, we are told collaboration is key to grant success and publications, yet competitive behaviours can really destroy collaborative spirit

We have just added a ‘Supervision & Researcher Dev’ dimension to academic staff appraisals here at UQ

@Penny - our CoP meets monthly, one hour at lunchtime. PreCOVID, it included catering (academics love free lunch). We have two facilitators (not just one - they bounce off each other). We have a set topic each month. We also give a lucky door prize to one participant each month (bookshop voucher) to try and keep things light.

@Susan, that sounds like a great way to create a CoP. What is the uptake so far?

At CSU we have also introduced a supervision plan in our appraisal but don't have the actual data provided as Denise has mentioned. Would be great to have this!

Penny, the key was to recruit some energetic and willing champions from the faculties to run the COP-RS, to support their efforts with a bit of money (I sponsor the catering for meetings), and provide some public recognition of their efforts (certificates of appreciation and the odd small PD grant). I also give regular presentations to the group and involve them in decision-making.

We also need to stop promoting and rewarding people who engage in bad conduct but deliver $$ and other outcomes. The signalling is not helpful.

Great point Al - and that solidarity correlates with the broader sense of the collectivity and 'respectful conversations' of research in general. Supervision should be role-modelling this.

@Honglin … The original CoP waxed and waned - we found it would keep tapering off if left to its own devices. It needs 'feeding' to keep the energy there. Currently we have 30-40 attendees (which is good for our small institution).

Thanks Susan and Peter! Helpful. We started this as an online group (after doing our supervisor training). Maybe next year if we can have f2f events I can get this going!!!

Here we are reaching into the core issue of competing cultures - competitive and individualistic about achieving research KPIs versus developmental , collaborative which should actually lead to even better research outcomes

Ombudsperson often used in USA - be interesting to find out how effective

Thanks Susan. I would be happy with that attendance numbers!

Christine - agree - this is out core challenge - moving from individualistic (distributive) to a contributive culture

As evidenced by DORA we are moving into the realm where research performance is not measured by only metrics like impact factors but more about the quality of the research. So it seems natural that the 'quality of supervision' will be an obvious discussion element in the performance review of an academic instead of simply number of completions, etc. It is a conversation that is underway at QUT

If only us deans had full charge!

We've run informal peer mentoring among supervisors very successfully. Lunchtimes sessions "Sandwiches and Supervision". We have run these face-face as a campus cohort and also online in discipline groups

Local is the approach that we are taking at UQ

Trying to work out the mediation between the competing culture is massive

We have established peer mentoring circles for supervisors which have had good uptake. We also have a programme for early career supervisors to help fast track into supervision in a scaffolded way which has a mentor supervisor component, as well as workshops and online meetings. The mentoring aspect got huge support from mentors and the ECR supervisors.

HI folks, I’m not a Dean but I am responsible for supervisor development for La Trobe. One thing we emphasise that hasn’t come up much here yet is to conceptualise supervision as a team effort, i.e.. moving away from the master-apprentice dyad, which still persists (or as a defect) in some corners.

One of the hardest things to change is the "I am successful and I was supervised like X, therefore I supervise like X and don't care what you say"

‘Team’ supervision then provides a context for peer mentoring on a small scale.

Our supervisor accreditation acknowledges mentor, main and co-supervisors - this has really worked well as some of our excellent supervisors who are “good citizens” engage a lot with others across the uni.

Jeremiah, I think this is also a product of the 'black box' of supervision - the more it's transparent the more we can all benchmark!

you might recall through the mists of time that the professionalisation of research supervision was one of the recommendations of the ACOLA review.....

I think one of the opportunities in this space is to work with People and Culture/HR units to drive the outcomes we want.

A National study on building collaborative research/research education culture ?

Can it be a transnational study? :)

Totally agree @Sarah Stow....we need alliances with HR and Deans!

I hope that NZ will be involved - would be great

At jcu we have been working on this for some time having struggles digging in so to speak. So advisor communities, yes, student peer groups yes, real research education collaborative networks with both advisors and students - tough stuff

It would depend on the number of ethics clearances needed!

but in principle... having NZ involved would be good

Hi Tracy

I’m wondering how many places have dedicated advisor/supervisor developers as jcu and la trobe have?

We have a dedicated resource at RMIT.

@Christine, we attempted to introduce a third category of supervisors - mentor supervisors - who would help out with being a sounding board / rescue team for up-and-coming supervisors... but it hasn't really worked well. It's on my to do list for 2022.

@Susan...we tried that too...sunk like a stone! 😖

@Susan, we have a mentor supervisor category as well, but little guidance around what their role is - definitely more work to be done

@Susan. Same experience with regard to mentor supervisor - we found that there was no incetive apart from being a good citizen. We are revamping accreditation in 2022.

can't imagine why senior supervisors didn't warm to the idea of getting involved with staff/candidatures that were a bit off the tracks ….!

History tells us that most Australian graduate schools evolved out of one or both of examination and admission (and scholarship award) functions.

discuss the relative risks and associated mitigation strategy in delivering on the HES element of a;a. Highly Devolved structure and,b. Highly Centralised structure

Room 7 looked at induction. We noted that our institutions all have a shared approach tot his, with central and devolved elements. Risks to centralised induction include: not able to encompass discipline knowledge, health and safety risks, no induction into local area research culture. Risks of devolved induction include: inconsistency of policy/process interpretation, missing pieces, difficult to ascertain compliance with standards. Mitigation = shared approach with mechanisms for feedback (e.g. @ LTU: induction checklist).

do add all comments here if you haven't been able to share thoughts

Induction - balancing info everyone needs (central orientations help with this) with local differences and creating cohorts and research communities (local induction events are good for this - also info in a handbook important as a reference, thanks

I think an approach which privileges principles over structures is the way to go.

Our room discussed decentralised and shared models for addressing conflicts of interest in examination - and the risks born by students when examination is conflicted.

Agree - I ticked shared for that one!

Some of us are poets :-)

@ Belinda. In addition to the generic GR orientation, we also run different program inductions (eg Masters, PhD Integrated) - which really helps with detail as well as cohort formation.

Interesting, thanks Rose

Al, I'm sure you're both respected AND liked!

totally agree with Al on partnering with Deans. the key lesson I have learned is you can do more by doing less (and getting others to do it for you).

LOVE THE PIC!

What a deeply heartening talk, Al - thank you

Thanks Al!

Great distillation of wisdom Al, thanks!

Wonderful, thanks for that insight!

Thanks Al, great reflection!

Well done Graeme!!!

You were a great Dean, Sue BP! Years ago, I remember you inviting me (as School HDR director) to address Board of GR about good practice in our School. This helped us to feel positive about our efforts to build research culture @ School level. Great leadership.

It’s all about the team work! 🙂

😍

🤝

Thanks Al and Sue - I’m in excellent company!

😄

Thanks to both of you; the job suddenly feels much more possible, much more joyful

So lovely to see and hear from you. Love your top tips!

🏆 well done Sue and thank you

DDOG with a bone

I thought the same, Jen! :)

Thanks Sue - you’re a wonderful colleague and have transformed HDR at GU

Thank you both Sue and Al.

🍩🍷 For you Sue - it's been a blast!

Was that test your thinking or your patience, Pat?

Thank you Pat, Al and Sue - brilliant as always

Wonderful talks - thanks Al, Sue and Pat

Wow. What a delight to hear all three of you. Thank you for this gift of your earned wisdom

wonderful - thank you

Al, Sue and Pat - such great affirmations of what’s vital

Thank you all

Thanks Pat. Always sage advice. Thank you.

So appreciated, thanks all.

Such insightful reflections from all of you - thanks so much Al, Sue and Pat

wonderful and helpful reflections from all - many thanks!. As an also outgoing dean (9 years) I would add in expect change!

Three mightily impressive role models, as always!

Thank you Pat, Al, Sue. A pleasure to have worked with you all.

Congratulations, Graeme!

I'd like to know what was your more significant 'learning moment' Al, Pat and Sue

Fantastic Al, Pat and Sue

most

well done to you all! I have always appreciated your support and wisdom

Those talks were so inspiring and helpful—it’s s hard to reduce the complexity of this role into a few key pearls of wisdom—but somehow you all achieved that

Agreed graeme it is a distinctive feature

I’d like to know how our three sages maintained their grip on that when it’s less visible up and down!

Thanks Graeme - all the best to you.

I guessed that Sue!

Have I slip away- thanks for a fabulous two days all

Bye Christine

Lovely to see you Christine -take care

Thank you Al

Please do take a moment to complete the meeting feedback survey https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/KVPW6HB

Thank you! This role depends on all our other colleagues, and especially those who really do know how to hold it all together

Thanks Al, Sue and Pat for sharing your insights.

Thank you Al and all the best Imelda

Fiona is a star ! 🌟

Fiona is wonderful!

As always exceptional work from Fiona!

Al, best of luck in your new role. I'm gonna miss you.

Well said re work of FZ!

Thanks all and especially the Exec!

Fiona - a real star and champion for research training

Thank you all!

Bye everyone I will miss you all

Thanks everyone- well done Fiona- and so good to see everyone again

Thank you all - have a great weekend!

Bye everyone! Stay safe!

Thanks to all!

take care all

Thanks everyone

Thanks all

Wonderful meeting, thanks all!

Thank you for a great meeting

Thank you all