Postgraduate supervision

Supervision of postgraduate research students

If you are a postgraduate student you will receive close individual support from a knowledgeable academic in your field – your Faculty or Department will assign you a personal supervisor whose role is to guide your programme of study or research. Supervisors are there to provide subject-specific advice relating to your research project and general academic advice to students. More detail about postgraduate supervision can be found on the postgraduate admissions website. You will often have an advisor in addition to a supervisor, who is able to offer an outside perspective on your work.

Teaching opportunities

Postgraduate research students (PhD) may have the opportunity to gain supervision and demonstration experience by undertaking teaching on behalf of Colleges and Departments: this be be undergraduate supervision or practical demonstration. Undergraduate supervisions involve the teaching of undergraduates in small groups of between one and four students at regular intervals throughout the Term. Demonstrating involves helping academic staff in running laboratory classes and various teaching exercises such as drawing or computer-aided process engineering.

Should you wish to get involved with undergraduate supervision as a research student, please do speak to your research supervisor or a teaching staff in your Department. You can also speak to your College tutor or any of the Directors of Studies (DoS) for subjects you are interested in at your College. Finally, you can get in touch directly with a Course Coordinator to ask whether they know of any Colleges looking for supervisors.