HEDC Supervisor Programme 2016
Venue: HEDC Seminar Room
Feb 18: 2- 4 pm

Recruiting postgraduate students
How can you attract, recruit and select postgraduate research students? In this workshop
we will explore ways to advertise your research programme and supervisor expertise. We
will discuss how to deal with enquiries, how to ensure you are selecting high quality
candidates, and Otago processes for admission and enrolment.
By the end of this workshop participants should
1. Be aware of strategies for advertising your research programme
2. Know how to deal with enquiries from prospective postgraduate research students
3. Appreciate how to select high quality candidates
4. Understand Otago processes for admission and enrolment.
Facilitated by Professor Rachel Sproken-Smith
March 11: 2- 3.30 pm

Doctoral supervision pressure points: the early phase
This seminar makes suggestions for preparing to supervise and setting the
supervision off to a good start. What should you discuss? What is better to play by
ear? How can you make it likely that the supervision will be productive and
pleasurable? Award winning supervisors will share their experiences in this panel
discussion.
Facilitated by Dr Vijay Mallan
May 2: 3.00 – 4.30 pm

Helping students to read and write critically
It is often assumed that by the time they reach thesis level, students know how to read and
write critically, and present an academic argument. Unfortunately these skills are rarely
taught explicitly, and many students find it extremely difficult to develop the extended
argument required for a thesis. It can also be difficult for supervisors to make students
understand exactly what is missing from their carefully written drafts. This workshop offers a
simple, structured approach to mastering - and being able to teach others - key skills essential
for successful academic writing.
Facilitated by Carole Acheson
June 14: 2- 3.30

Supporting distant/part-time postgraduate students
Interaction between research students and their supervisors is core to good supervision.
This workshop will help you decide on the best ways to use interaction possibilities to
facilitate your supervision at a distance. We'll discuss reasons for using real-time and
asynchronous technologies; review techniques to use to make interaction with your
students work and consider ways of finding out if the approaches you adopt are working.
By the end of this workshop, you will have had an opportunity to
• discuss your own supervision contexts, and your and your distance research students’
needs for establishing and maintaining supervisory interactions;
• engage with some strategies for interaction with your distance research students; and
• reflect on how the various interaction strategies may work in your distance supervision
context.
Facilitated by Dr Sarah Stein
July 29: 9 – 11

Assisting students to engage with the literature
A thesis must engage with the literature, allowing the candidate to justify their research and
show that they make an original and important contribution to their field(s). But thesis
students often struggle to understand what this means and how they should do this. In this
workshop we will examine a number of clear and effective ways of explaining how and why
students should engage with the literature in their literature review and throughout their
thesis.
Facilitated by Assoc. Prof Clinton Golding
August 12: 9– 11

Assisting students to write
Sometimes it is difficult to get good writing from our thesis students, and we don’t know
what will assist them to improve. This workshop will give you some ideas about what you
can do to assist your students to produce more high quality writing. We will look at tasks you
can set your students, ways of giving feedback on writing, ways of explaining the writing
process, and structures to support your thesis students to write a good thesis.
Facilitated by Assoc. Prof Clinton Golding
August 22: 2-4

Examining a doctoral thesis
This seminar will discuss the areas that examiners are asked to consider when they examine
a thesis, and what examiners typically look for in the examination process. We will also
consider the process after the report has been written and before the final result is reached.
We will also discuss how to examine a publication based thesis. Finally, we will discuss what
we can learn as PhD supervisors from our experience as examiners. The Seminar is designed
for new or inexperienced doctoral examiners.
Facilitated by Professor Paul Trebilco and Professor Rachel Spronken Smith
September 8: 1-3 pm

Building a positive relationship with students
To successfully write a thesis, students need a productive relationship with a supervisor.
How can you build such a productive relationship? This workshop is designed to enable you
to maximise the effectiveness of your supervisory relationship. We will explore ways of
dealing with some common issues, but the main aim is to give you tools and strategies for
building a productive, adult, relationship with your students, right from the start.
Facilitated by Assoc.Professor Clinton Golding
October 31 9 – 5 pm

Annual one day supervision workshop in Dunedin
This workshop provides a holistic view of postgraduate supervision useful for new
supervisors, or as a refresher. The agenda will be determined by the interests of
participants, though topics covered will likely include: student outcomes, graduate
attributes, managing expectations, working with students to resolve issues, building
productive relationships with students, supervising culturally diverse students,
student experiences of supervision, assisting students with writing and providing
feedback, publishing during candidature, tools and resources for supervision, key
processes in Otago and evaluating supervision. There will also be a panel session with
experienced supervisors.
Facilitated by Dr Vijay Mallan, Assoc. Prof Clinton Golding and Professor Rachel
Spronken Smith