Supervisors are integral to the experience of our doctoral researchers . We provide training, advice and support staff who supervise at City St George's.
This page provides a summary of key information. If you have any questions in relation to research supervision, please speak to the Senior Tutor for Research [equivalent to a programme director] in your Department, or contact the Doctoral College.
New to City St George’s
If you have recently joined City St George's as a member of academic staff, you will be identified as a Category A/First Supervisor or Category B/Second Supervisor based on your research profile and prior experience of supervising doctoral researchers, in line with our Policy on the Doctoral Degree Supervisors.
Your supervisor category may change over time.
If you have never supervised a research student before, you will need to complete mandatory new supervisor training before commencing your role as a supervisor. Experienced supervisors will need to complete mandatory refresher training every three years.
Information, Advice and Guidance for Supervisors and Doctoral Researchers
Our procedures for research degrees are summarised in Senate Regulations 23 and 24, supplemented by policies and guidance in City St George’s Quality Manual, available on Staff Hub.
Our Roles and Responsibilities of Research Students and Supervisors guidance may provide you with a useful summary of what is expected of supervisors.
These policies are also summarised for the benefit of doctoral researchers on the Essential Information page of the Doctoral College website, which may provide a helpful summary for you as well.
Supervisors are generally expected to meet with their doctoral researchers monthly. This is essential for student visa holders and completion of up-to-date meeting records on Doctoral Research Manager forms part of City St George's visa compliance obligations.
As a supervisor, you will need to sign off these forms as an accurate record of discussions held.
There are two key aspects to being a good supervisor:
- Developing the research
- Developing the researcher
All doctoral researchers are attached to a Research Centre or Department at City St George's and should be encouraged to attend relevant research seminars and to present their emerging research findings.
Doctoral researchers have a series of progression milestones up to and including submission of their thesis for examination; reflected in forms accessed through Doctoral Research Manager. As a supervisor, you will need to approve these forms before ultimate sign off from the Senior Tutor for Research and the Doctoral College Board of Studies.
City St George's Schools provide a variety of skills development sessions for doctoral reseachers which are known collectively as the Doctoral Researcher Development Programme (DRDP); the list of upcoming sessions is available through Doctoral Research Manager.
As part of the induction process for a new doctoral researcher, at the start of each academic year you should meet with your doctoral researcher and identify what skills they need to develop, as well as what sessions are available as part of the DRDP to support them.
Staff Development at City St George's
Within your Department and School, your Senior Tutor for Research and Associate Dean (Research and Enterprise) should cascade training information and encourage sharing best practice locally.
Your School will have a Research Programmes Committee or Research Degrees Committee to discuss issues in relation to research degrees including the participation of student representatives.
The Department of Learning Enhancement and Development (LEaD) runs a variety of professional development workshops, including an annual Learning and Teaching Conference.
Researcher Development Programme (RDP)
The Researcher Development Programme (RDP) delivers targeted training to help City St George’s staff grow, develop, and strengthen their research and innovation capabilities. Open to academics, researchers, and research-related professionals at all career stages—including teaching-only and professional services colleagues - the programme runs across Autumn, Spring, and Summer terms with online and in-person sessions. All activities align under three core themes: Applying for Funding, Collaborating and Innovating, and Leading and Managing, plus specialist training for doctoral supervisors.
Who to contact
The Strategic Research & Development Team via researchdevelop@citystgeorges.ac.uk
Clare Thornbury, Researcher Development Manager at clare.thornbury@citystgeorges.ac.uk
How to enrol and links
You can register for training sessions via our RDP calendar or take a look at our Researcher Development sharepoint for more information. The RDP is open to all City St George’s staff.
UKCGE Research Supervision Recognition Programme
The UK Council for Graduate Education (UKCGE) has a Research Supervision Recognition Programme to recognise supervisors. This includes information of the sector-approved Good Supervisory Practice Framework
City St George's supports supervisors who wish to achieve this accreditation, including payment of the application fee.
For more information, please visit the Supervision Recognition Programme website.