how to choose a phd supervisor

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Ten simple rules for choosing a PhD supervisor

Contributed equally to this work with: Loay Jabre, Catherine Bannon, J. Scott P. McCain, Yana Eglit

* E-mail: [email protected]

Affiliation Department of Biology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

• Loay Jabre, 
• Catherine Bannon, 
• J. Scott P. McCain, 

Published: September 30, 2021

• https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009330
• Reader Comments

Citation: Jabre L, Bannon C, McCain JSP, Eglit Y (2021) Ten simple rules for choosing a PhD supervisor. PLoS Comput Biol 17(9): e1009330. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009330

Editor: Scott Markel, Dassault Systemes BIOVIA, UNITED STATES

Copyright: © 2021 Jabre et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Funding: The authors received no specific funding for this work.

Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Introduction

The PhD beckons. You thought long and hard about why you want to do it, you understand the sacrifices and commitments it entails, and you have decided that it is the right thing for you. Congratulations! Undertaking a doctoral degree can be an extremely rewarding experience, greatly enhancing your personal, intellectual, and professional development. If you are still on the fence about whether or not you want to pursue a PhD, see [ 1 , 2 ] and others to help you decide.

As a PhD student in the making, you will have many important decisions to consider. Several of them will depend on your chosen discipline and research topic, the institution you want to attend, and even the country where you will undertake your degree. However, one of the earliest and most critical decisions you will need to make transcends most other decisions: choosing your PhD thesis supervisor. Your PhD supervisor will strongly influence the success and quality of your degree as well as your general well-being throughout the program. It is therefore vital to choose the right supervisor for you. A wrong choice or poor fit can be disastrous on both a personal and professional levels—something you obviously want to avoid. Unfortunately, however, most PhD students go through the process of choosing a supervisor only once and thus do not get the opportunity to learn from previous experiences. Additionally, many prospective PhD students do not have access to resources and proper guidance to rely on when making important academic decisions such as those involved in choosing a PhD supervisor.

In this short guide, we—a group of PhD students with varied backgrounds, research disciplines, and academic journeys—share our collective experiences with choosing our own PhD supervisors. We provide tips and advice to help prospective students in various disciplines, including computational biology, in their quest to find a suitable PhD supervisor. Despite procedural differences across countries, institutions, and programs, the following rules and discussions should remain helpful for guiding one’s approach to selecting their future PhD supervisor. These guidelines mostly address how to evaluate a potential PhD supervisor and do not include details on how you might find a supervisor. In brief, you can find a supervisor anywhere: seminars, a class you were taught, internet search of interesting research topics, departmental pages, etc. After reading about a group’s research and convincing yourself it seems interesting, get in touch! Make sure to craft an e-mail carefully, demonstrating you have thought about their research and what you might do in their group. After finding one or several supervisors of interest, we hope that the rules bellow will help you choose the right supervisor for you.

Rule 1: Align research interests

You need to make sure that a prospective supervisor studies, or at the very least, has an interest in what you want to study. A good starting point would be to browse their personal and research group websites (though those are often outdated), their publication profile, and their students’ theses, if possible. Keep in mind that the publication process can be slow, so recent publications may not necessarily reflect current research in that group. Pay special attention to publications where the supervisor is senior author—in life sciences, their name would typically be last. This would help you construct a mental map of where the group interests are going, in addition to where they have been.

Be proactive about pursuing your research interests, but also flexible: Your dream research topic might not currently be conducted in a particular group, but perhaps the supervisor is open to exploring new ideas and research avenues with you. Check that the group or institution of interest has the facilities and resources appropriate for your research, and/or be prepared to establish collaborations to access those resources elsewhere. Make sure you like not only the research topic, but also the “grunt work” it requires, as a topic you find interesting may not be suitable for you in terms of day-to-day work. You can look at the “Methods” sections of published papers to get a sense for what this is like—for example, if you do not like resolving cryptic error messages, programming is probably not for you, and you might want to consider a wet lab–based project. Lastly, any research can be made interesting, and interests change. Perhaps your favorite topic today is difficult to work with now, and you might cut your teeth on a different project.

Rule 2: Seek trusted sources

Discussing your plans with experienced and trustworthy people is a great way to learn more about the reputation of potential supervisors, their research group dynamics, and exciting projects in your field of interest. Your current supervisor, if you have one, could be aware of position openings that are compatible with your interests and time frame and is likely to know talented supervisors with good reputations in their fields. Professors you admire, reliable student advisors, and colleagues might also know your prospective supervisor on various professional or personal levels and could have additional insight about working with them. Listen carefully to what these trusted sources have to say, as they can provide a wealth of insider information (e.g., personality, reputation, interpersonal relationships, and supervisory styles) that might not be readily accessible to you.

Rule 3: Expectations, expectations, expectations

A considerable portion of PhD students feel that their program does not meet original expectations [ 3 ]. To avoid being part of this group, we stress the importance of aligning your expectations with the supervisor’s expectations before joining a research group or PhD program. Also, remember that one person’s dream supervisor can be another’s worst nightmare and vice versa—it is about a good fit for you. Identifying what a “good fit” looks like requires a serious self-appraisal of your goals (see Rule 1 ), working style (see Rule 5 ), and what you expect in a mentor (see Rule 4 ). One way to conduct this self-appraisal is to work in a research lab to get experiences similar to a PhD student (if this is possible).

Money!—Many people have been conditioned to avoid the subject of finances at all costs, but setting financial expectations early is crucial for maintaining your well-being inside and outside the lab. Inside the lab, funding will provide chemicals and equipment required for you to do cool research. It is also important to know if there will be sufficient funding for your potential projects to be completed. Outside the lab, you deserve to get paid a reasonable, livable stipend. What is the minimum required take-home stipend, or does that even exist at the institution you are interested in? Are there hard cutoffs for funding once your time runs out, or does the institution have support for students who take longer than anticipated? If the supervisor supplies the funding, do they end up cutting off students when funds run low, or do they have contingency plans? ( Fig 1 ).

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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009330.g001

Professional development opportunities—A key aspect of graduate school training is professional development. In some research groups, it is normal for PhD students to mentor undergraduate students or take a semester to work in industry to get more diverse experiences. Other research groups have clear links with government entities, which is helpful for going into policy or government-based research. These opportunities (and others) are critical for your career and next steps. What are the career development opportunities and expectations of a potential supervisor? Is a potential supervisor happy to send students to workshops to learn new skills? Are they supportive of public outreach activities? If you are looking at joining a newer group, these sorts of questions will have to be part of the larger set of conversations about expectations. Ask: “What sort of professional development opportunities are there at the institution?”

Publications—Some PhD programs have minimum requirements for finishing a thesis (i.e., you must publish a certain number of papers prior to defending), while other programs leave it up to the student and supervisor to decide on this. A simple and important topic to discuss is: How many publications are expected from your PhD and when will you publish them? If you are keen to publish in high-impact journals, does your prospective supervisor share that aim? (Although question why you are so keen to do so, see the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment ( www.sfdora.org ) to learn about the pitfalls of journal impact factor.)

Rule 4: It takes two to tango

Sooner or later, you will get to meet and interview with a prospective PhD supervisor. This should go both ways: Interview them just as much as they are interviewing you. Prepare questions and pay close attention to how they respond. For example, ask them about their “lab culture,” research interests (especially for the future/long term), and what they are looking for in a graduate student. Do you feel like you need to “put on an act” to go along with the supervisor (beyond just the standard interview mode)? Represent yourself, and not the person you think they are looking for. All of us will have some interviews go badly. Remember that discovering a poor fit during the interview has way fewer consequences than the incompatibility that could arise once you have committed to a position.

To come up with good questions for the prospective supervisor, first ask yourself questions. What are you looking for in a mentor? People differ in their optimal levels of supervision, and there is nothing wrong with wanting more or less than your peers. How much career guidance do you expect and does the potential supervisor respect your interests, particularly if your long-term goals do not include academia? What kind of student might not thrive in this research group?

Treat the PhD position like a partnership: What do you seek to get out of it? Keep in mind that a large portion of research is conducted by PhD students [ 4 ], so you are also an asset. Your supervisor will provide guidance, but the PhD is your work. Make sure you and your mentor are on the same page before committing to what is fundamentally a professional contract akin to an apprenticeship (see “ Rule 3 ”).

Rule 5: Workstyle compatibility

Sharing interests with a supervisor does not necessarily guarantee you would work well together, and just because you enjoyed a course by a certain professor does not mean they are the right PhD supervisor for you. Make sure your expectations for work and work–life approaches are compatible. Do you thrive on structure, or do you need freedom to proceed at your own pace? Do they expect you to be in the lab from 6:00 AM to midnight on a regular basis (red flag!)? Are they comfortable with you working from home when you can? Are they around the lab enough for it to work for you? Are they supportive of alternative work hours if you have other obligations (e.g., childcare, other employment, extracurriculars)? How is the group itself organized? Is there a lab manager or are the logistics shared (fairly?) between the group members? Discuss this before you commit!

Two key attributes of a research group are the supervisor’s career stage and number of people in the group. A supervisor in a later career stage may have more established research connections and protocols. An earlier career stage supervisor comes with more opportunities to shape the research direction of the lab, but less access to academic political power and less certainty in what their supervision style will be (even to themselves). Joining new research groups provides a great opportunity to learn how to build a lab if you are considering that career path but may take away time and energy from your thesis project. Similarly, be aware of pros and cons of different lab sizes. While big labs provide more opportunity for collaborations and learning from fellow lab members, their supervisors generally have less time available for each trainee. Smaller labs tend to have better access to the supervisor but may be more isolating [ 5 , 6 ]. Also note that large research groups tend to be better for developing extant research topics further, while small groups can conduct more disruptive research [ 7 ].

Rule 6: Be sure to meet current students

Meeting with current students is one of the most important steps prior to joining a lab. Current students will give you the most direct and complete sense of what working with a certain supervisor is actually like. They can also give you a valuable sense of departmental culture and nonacademic life. You could also ask to meet with other students in the department to get a broader sense of the latter. However, if current students are not happy with their current supervisor, they are unlikely to tell you directly. Try to ask specific questions: “How often do you meet with your supervisor?”, “What are the typical turnaround times for a paper draft?”, “How would you describe the lab culture?”, “How does your supervisor react to mistakes or unexpected results?”, “How does your supervisor react to interruptions to research from, e.g., personal life?”, and yes, even “What would you say is the biggest weakness of your supervisor?”

Rule 7: But also try to meet past students

While not always possible, meeting with past students can be very informative. Past students give you information on career outcomes (i.e., what are they doing now?) and can provide insight into what the lab was like when they were in it. Previous students will provide a unique perspective because they have gone through the entire process, from start to finish—and, in some cases, no longer feel obligated to speak well of their now former supervisor. It can also be helpful to look at previous students’ experiences by reading the acknowledgement section in their theses.

Rule 8: Consider the entire experience

Your PhD supervisor is only one—albeit large—piece of your PhD puzzle. It is therefore essential to consider your PhD experience as whole when deciding on a supervisor. One important aspect to contemplate is your mental health. Graduate students have disproportionately higher rates of depression and anxiety compared to the general population [ 8 ], so your mental health will be tested greatly throughout your PhD experience. We suggest taking the time to reflect on what factors would enable you to do your best work while maintaining a healthy work–life balance. Does your happiness depend on surfing regularly? Check out coastal areas. Do you despise being cold? Consider being closer to the equator. Do you have a deep-rooted phobia of koalas? Maybe avoid Australia. Consider these potentially even more important questions like: Do you want to be close to your friends and family? Will there be adequate childcare support? Are you comfortable with studying abroad? How does the potential university treat international or underrepresented students? When thinking about your next steps, keep in mind that although obtaining your PhD will come with many challenges, you will be at your most productive when you are well rested, financially stable, nourished, and enjoying your experience.

Rule 9: Trust your gut

You have made it to our most “hand-wavy” rule! As academics, we understand the desire for quantifiable data and some sort of statistic to make logical decisions. If this is more your style, consider every interaction with a prospective supervisor, from the first e-mail onwards, as a piece of data.

However, there is considerable value in trusting gut instincts. One way to trust your gut is to listen to your internal dialogue while making your decision on a PhD supervisor. For example, if your internal dialogue includes such phrases as “it will be different for me,” “I’ll just put my head down and work hard,” or “maybe their students were exaggerating,” you might want to proceed with caution. If you are saying “Wow! How are they so kind and intelligent?” or “I cannot wait to start!”, then you might have found a winner ( Fig 2 ).

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009330.g002

Rule 10: Wash, rinse, repeat

The last piece of advice we give you is to do this lengthy process all over again. Comparing your options is a key step during the search for a PhD supervisor. By screening multiple different groups, you ultimately learn more about what red flags to look for, compatible work styles, your personal expectations, and group atmospheres. Repeat this entire process with another supervisor, another university, or even another country. We suggest you reject the notion that you would be “wasting someone’s time.” You deserve to take your time and inform yourself to choose a PhD supervisor wisely. The time and energy invested in a “failed” supervisor search would still be far less than what is consumed by a bad PhD experience ( Fig 3 ).

The more supervisors your interview and the more advice you get from peers, the more apparent these red flags will become.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009330.g003

Conclusions

Pursuing a PhD can be an extremely rewarding endeavor and a time of immense personal growth. The relationship you have with your PhD supervisor can make or break an entire experience, so make this choice carefully. Above, we have outlined some key points to think about while making this decision. Clarifying your own expectations is a particularly important step, as conflicts can arise when there are expectation mismatches. In outlining these topics, we hope to share pieces of advice that sometimes require “insider” knowledge and experience.

After thoroughly evaluating your options, go ahead and tackle the PhD! In our own experiences, carefully choosing a supervisor has led to relationships that morph from mentor to mentee into a collaborative partnership where we can pose new questions and construct novel approaches to answer them. Science is hard enough by itself. If you choose your supervisor well and end up developing a positive relationship with them and their group, you will be better suited for sound and enjoyable science.

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• 5. Smith D. The big benefits of working in a small lab. University Affairs. 2013. Available from: https://www.universityaffairs.ca/career-advice/career-advice-article/the-big-benefits-of-working-in-a-small-lab/

Top tips for choosing a PhD Supervisor

Özge Özden lays out the pros and cons you need to consider when choosing a PhD supervisor, as well as five key qualities to look out for

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Selecting a PhD supervisor is one of the most crucial – and difficult – decisions a young researcher will have to make. And while there is no failsafe method of choosing one, your decision will undoubtedly be influenced by the subject in which you intend to work, the sort of research you wish to do and your checklist of goals for your PhD.

It is unwise to dismiss the importance of any personality traits that you think may make a relationship with a supervisor difficult. Remember that, when doing research, there will be extreme highs and extreme lows throughout the duration of your PhD studies, so you should try to choose a PhD supervisor with whom you can collaborate effectively during challenging circumstances. There are many supervisors out there, and it is almost always feasible to find someone with whom you can work well and produce a good research project.

• Ten platinum rules for PhD supervisors
• Tips for new PhD supervisors: how to hold effective meetings
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A good PhD supervisor has experience overseeing PhD students through to completion, has a strong publication record, is active in their research field, has enough time to provide adequate supervision, is genuinely interested in your project, can provide mentorship and has a supportive personality.

Numerous PhD students criticise their adviser/s and, due to unstable supervisor-student interactions, end up dropping out. Ineffective and uncooperative supervisors may cause a lot of research students to feel quite uncomfortable. This is doubly important given that 32 per cent of PhD candidates are at risk of developing or already suffer from depression.

The ideas and opinions of your adviser are very important when you choose your doctoral research topic. If a doctoral student works on a subject that always arouses their curiosity and excites them then their discoveries will also often be interesting and they will be more likely to succeed. Of course, if the doctoral supervisor is interested in the subject chosen by their student, then that supervisor will be able to guide their student better.

In my opinion, the key difficulty with completing a PhD is not so much found academically, rather the process is incredibly difficult psychologically and emotionally. And there is added emotional weight if you are pursuing a PhD in a foreign nation far from your home, family and friends. As a result, selecting a good, friendly PhD supervisor is critical for engendering a healthy, long-term educational programme in which you are supported psychologically and emotionally.

What are the qualities of a good PhD supervisor?

1. Effective communicator

Let’s assume you have a supervisor, but it’s still early days and you still have time to leave his or her domain. If you don’t receive a response to your emails from them within a fair amount of time, you need to discuss this. Always talk first, but if it continues you might seriously think about switching supervisors, because if you end up with one who ignores your emails and/or social media communications, such inactivity will always end up causing you issues, either directly or indirectly. An ideal supervisor should reply to your emails and messages promptly, even those sent via WhatsApp or other messaging apps, and offer helpful criticism.

2. Passionate

An excellent PhD supervisor is passionate about the work of their pupils. They should be someone who is inspiring and uplifting, who helps their students reach new heights. Someone is not a good supervisor if they lack enthusiasm and interest in their role as your mentor and do not offer verbal encouragement.  

3. Knowledgeable

Your supervisor ought to be informed and skilled in your area of study and have top-notch study methods and data analysis skills. If they do not, there is a higher probability you will experience difficulties with your academic studies.

4. Supportive of your career

You should try to choose a supervisor who has a demonstrable history of assisting students in launching their careers. Typically, a good supervisor would introduce pupils to his or her co-workers and let PhD students know about any seminars or conferences that are pertinent to their field of study and future plans. Additionally, a competent supervisor should encourage future partnerships once their student’s PhD studies are finished and make the publishing of their research products easier.

In order to support their academic careers, some faculty members who are not actively engaged in research take on PhD or masters students. How can you determine if they are active or not is the question. For a start, try looking up the potential supervisor’s research articles on Google Scholar, ResearchGate or other academic websites.

One of the most important aspects to consider when it comes to supervisors is their previous track record. Feel free to enquire how many research fellows or PhD students they have previously educated and what those fellows went on to achieve. How many went on to become successful academics? Finally, remember that it is usually helpful to spend some time working with your potential PhD supervisor voluntarily before making your final decision.

Above all, remember that this is a significant choice; you should not make it without careful consideration.

Özge Özden is the dean of the faculty of agriculture at Near East University, North Cyprus, where she has been working since 2012.

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How to choose the right PhD supervisor

4 red flags to be wary of in the search for a good match.

Gemma Conroy

Credit: Thomas Barwick/Getty

23 June 2020

Thomas Barwick/Getty

A PhD supervisor can make or break a candidate’s progress. It’s estimated that roughly half of all PhD candidates in North America do not complete their doctoral studies due to a lack of support from their supervisor.

“It’s a decision that should be taken very seriously,” says Anna Sverdlik, an educational psychologist at the University of Quebec in Montreal, Canada.

“This is the person you could be working with for several years and it can shape who you are as an academic.”

Below are four tips that can help PhD candidates choose a suitable supervisor , and the red flags to watch out for:

1. Interview the supervisor

While most candidates focus on trying to impress a prospective supervisor, Emma Beckett took the opposite approach when she was choosing between institutions for her PhD.

“I approached each meeting as if I were interviewing the supervisor, and not the other way around,” says Beckett, a molecular nutrition scientist at the University of Newcastle in New South Wales, Australia.

“Forget the power dynamic and remember it’s about what’s best for your development.”

Asking the right questions can give students a better sense of whether a supervisor is the best match for them, says Sverdlik, who studies motivation and wellbeing in doctoral students.

“Talk to them and see what kind of person they are,” she says. “Students are often too grateful when someone shows an interest, and this puts them at a disadvantage.”

Red flag: If a potential supervisor is difficult to pin down for a meeting, they are unlikely to treat their students as a priority down the line, says Beckett.

2. Get an outside perspective

Reaching out to former students, collaborators, and lab members can be a good way of forming an accurate view of a supervisor’s reputation, says Gerard Dericks from Oxford Brookes University in the United Kingdom, who studies PhD student satisfaction.

“You want to do a mini background check, as it’s difficult to tell how honest a researcher is during an interview.”

Speaking with former co-authors can also give candidates a better idea of how collaborative a supervisor is and how well their skills and research interests match, says Dericks.

Paying attention to how colleagues interact with the supervisor can also prevent candidates from entering a toxic situation.

Beckett says she experienced this first-hand at a lab meet-and-greet session when she was searching for a postdoc position. “Multiple students came knocking on the principal investigator’s door in tears,” she recalls. “That’s definitely a bad sign.”

Red flag: If a supervisor seems to prefer working alone or doesn’t include students as co-authors on their papers, it’s unlikely that they will help the candidate build their resumes, says Sverdlik.

3. Look beyond the PhD

Candidates should look for a supervisor who can help them develop the skills they need to progress in their career after completing their PhD, says Beckett.

“Too many students get caught up in the PhD topic or project, but it’s about building skills that can help you pivot into what you want to do next,” she says. “The outcome of a PhD is not about output, but who you are as a scientist.”

Sverdlik says that candidates should discuss professional development opportunities with potential supervisors, such as writing workshops , training in advanced statistics, and research integrity seminars.

Red flag: Too much emphasis on publishing papers can be a sign that the potential supervisor lacks integrity and isn’t focussed on helping their students’ skill development, says Beckett.

4. Consider the supervisor’s working style

Rather than choosing a supervisor for their prestige and research interests, Beckett says candidates should pay attention to the workplace culture and how things run day-to-day.

This can mean discussing expectations before committing to a potential supervisor, such as working hours, meeting frequency, and how the supervisor tracks their candidates’ progress, she says.

“Some students like to be micromanaged, while others prefer to do things in their own time,” says Beckett. “Finding out whether your day-to-day controls and procedures are compatible is a way of understanding their ‘big picture’ ethos without actually asking.”

Red flag: Prospective supervisors who expect candidates to work on weekends or be on-call outside of working hours are likely to be more interested in a student’s productivity than their growth and development, says Beckett.

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How to find a PhD supervisor

Study tips Published 3 Mar, 2022  ·  5-minute read

Along with choosing your research topic and writing your proposal, selecting your supervisor is one of the crucial steps in starting your PhD journey . Join us and 2 current candidates as we explore how to find a PhD supervisor in Australia.

Your supervisor is going to be one of the most important people in your life for the next 3-4 years or more*.

*In fact, many PhD candidates become lifelong friends with their supervisors. But that’s a topic for another time.

So, you don’t want to find just any supervisor. For a fulfilling and successful candidature, you need to know how to choose a good PhD supervisor – as well as understanding what to expect from your PhD supervisor.

We spoke with 2 UQ PhD candidates, Sarah Kendall and Chelsea Janke, about how to find a PhD supervisor who aligns with you and your research project.

Completing your PhD at The University of Queensland?

Find a UQ PhD supervisor

Get googling

We’re not kidding. The best starting point is to jump online and start researching your options.

Sure, Google might not be your go-to platform once you’re researching your actual thesis. But for finding potential supervisors, Sarah believes it’s not a bad place to start.

“The first thing I would recommend to find the best supervisor for you is to do a whole lot of googling,” says Sarah.

“Google different academics, read about their areas of research, and compile a list of academics whose research aligns with your areas of interest.”

You likely already know some academics to google from your undergraduate or postgraduate studies. However, you can also explore potential PhD supervisors on university websites like UQ’s researchers hub .

Create a shortlist

As you’re researching your options, take note of any academics who seem like they could be a great fit.

You might find it helpful to use a spreadsheet or similar file to keep track of your shortlist, including details such as:

• university and school
• contact details
• link to their research page.

Consider including a space to write down 1-2 unique things that put each academic on your shortlist. For example, you may have studied under them previously and enjoyed their approach to teaching , or perhaps one of their recent projects is highly relevant to what you wish to research.

Meet with your potential supervisors

An important step in how to find a PhD supervisor is to find out what they’re like in person. This means contacting and setting up a time to meet each person on your shortlist.

Chelsea suggests an introductory email to get the ball rolling.

“Send an email briefly outlining who you are, your background, and what your research interests are,” she says.

Then it’s time to organise a face-to-face (or at least a screen-to-screen), and Sarah reckons this is the moment you’ll know whether it’s a match or not.

“I would recommend meeting with as many of the academics on your list as possible – whether in person or via Zoom,” says Sarah.

“Once you’ve talked with a potential supervisor, you’ll know immediately if they’re a good fit for your project – trust your gut!”

You want a supervisor who is encouraging, communicates well, and is enthusiastic about you and your project.

Sarah’s advisory team consists of 3 supervisors: Dr Caitlin Goss , Professor Heather Douglas , and Dr Robin Fitzgerald . Here’s what drew her to these academics:

“I chose this supervisory team because they’re all incredible role models and mentors for young women who are seeking a research career. They are open and encouraging, and I know they’ll always support me through the highs and the lows. Each of them also brings a unique skill set and body of expertise, which is important to me because I like approaching problems from different perspectives.”

Discover what else makes a good PhD supervisor .

But what if you meet multiple academics who fit the brief?

Well, that’s when understanding yourself becomes the tiebreaker. Chelsea believes knowing your personal preferences can help you choose a good PhD supervisor to match your work style.

“Identifying if a PhD supervisor might be good for you will be an individual thing,” says Chelsea.

“Some students want a supervisor who lets them be very independent, while others prefer someone who gives them very detailed instructions and has a lot of time for them.”

Think about what you want and aim to find someone who meets those criteria.

Sarah agrees that finding a PhD supervisor who gels with your personality should be a top priority.

“At the end of the day, you need to choose someone who you’re comfortable with, as you’ll be working with them for the next 3-4 years,” she says.

Speak with other students

Chelsea believes a great route to find out what to expect from your PhD supervisor is to talk to candidates who have researched with them.

“The best way to get a feel for how someone is as a supervisor is to ask their current or past students,” she says.

Things you can discover about a potential supervisor by speaking with their students include:

• whether they have a hands-on or hands-off approach
• if they’re easy to talk to
• who else they work with (e.g. other academics relevant to your research)
• whether they have funds
• how many other students they’re supervising at the moment.

These conversations with other candidates can reaffirm the vibe you got from your meeting with the academic, or it might encourage you to seek out someone who wasn’t that high on your shortlist.

Consider having multiple supervisors

You know what they say. Two’s company. Three’s a more comfortable PhD experience.

Did you know you can have more than a single PhD supervisor? Chelsea is quick to remind us of this, though she also warns against turning your research project into a research party by inviting too many academics.

“Keep in mind that you can have multiple supervisors, so one supervisor may have the funds while another may have more time for you,” she says.

“Although, having more than three supervisors is probably going to get very tricky to manage!”

In fact, if you do your PhD at UQ , you’ll conduct your research with an advisory team consisting of a principal adviser and at least one associate adviser.

Want to learn more from Sarah and Chelsea? Easy:

• Read Sarah’s series on becoming a law academic .
• Read about Chelsea’s award-winning PhD thesis on keeping crops healthy.

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How to find a research supervisor

However niche your research topic is, there’s probably someone who is already working on it - but where and how do you find them?

Where do I start?

The very first thing you’ll need to do is a lot of independent research. Hopefully you’ve already read a few articles in your research area - try looking up the authors to see which departments they’re in. You could also ask academics you’re working with at undergraduate level for their recommendations. If you don’t have any good leads to get started on, you can go straight to Google to see if you get lucky  or start by looking at a list of academic departments at Oxford to see if there’s a broad match for your subject area.

Remember that research areas can overlap different departments - our Medical Sciences Division lets you browse all supervisors by their research theme , instead of by department, to make sure you don’t miss anyone. Most department websites also let you browse all the staff, groups and projects broken down by themes, to help you narrow down your options.

How can I tell which academics would supervise a research student?

Sometimes it might not be clear whether the academic you have found is available to supervise.

You may find a list of students they’re supervising or a research group/lab they’re in charge of. They might even say something on their webpage about whether they’re available to supervise.

If you’re not sure, you can still make contact (if you do actually need a supervisor lined up — read on for more on this) to explain your interest in their research and that you’re looking for a supervisor in this area, because they might able to recommend someone.

What do I do next?

It’s always a good idea to make sure that where you’re applying has the right expertise to support your research, but every academic department has its own policy on whether you should go a step further and contact potential supervisors. It’s usually necessary in the sciences, and often optional in humanities and social sciences — check out the How to apply section for your course page and check ‘Do I need to contact anyone before I apply?’

The next part involves, yes, more reading and prep — but we’re nearly there now, and we’ve got our research question: Why is this person the best person to supervise your research?

Understand what they do

Now you have a person, start with their profile on the academic department’s website and go down the rabbit hole. You’re preparing to discuss their research and your interests, as well as developing an increasingly detailed picture of whether and how those things fit together.

If you prep well, it’ll come through in your email and help to differentiate your email from dozens of others your person might get.

Read their publications, look at their website, see if they have a X (Twitter) account. X (Twitter) is popular with research academics (you can try TikTok but we’re not making promises) and they might have posted links to their recent work or opportunities to study with them (maybe even fully funded opportunities).

Contacting a potential supervisor

Drafting the email.

Your email should be polite, concise and well-written. It will explain your interest in the supervisor's research and what you want from them, including when you’re looking to start your DPhil/PhD.

Your interest in their work needs to be well-informed and specific.

It needs to be individually tailored to the person you’re writing to. This means your interest in their work needs to be well-informed and specific. How you connect their work and yours will really depend on your research area, but consider:

• Is one of their publications going to be key to the work you want to do? Are there open questions in their work that you’re hoping to answer? Have you identified a gap in this area you want to contribute to?
• Do they work with an archive or facility that you’re looking to use in your research? Do you have research experience in a project with similar aims or using similar techniques to theirs?

You need to make the case, as briefly as you can, that you have the right skills and background to work in this supervisor's research area. Is there something you can easily point to as evidence of your achievements and commitment to the subject area - mentoring, funding or an award you’ve received, an outstanding grade or ranking, or research experience? Don’t be immediately put off if there are relevant skills or experience you don’t have - developing new skills is an important part of a PhD, and it’s more important to show that you know which skills you’ll need and how you’ll develop them, and demonstrate an ability to do this. Academics will look at your potential to learn new skills and they’re not expecting you to know everything on day one. Look back at where you’ve come from and what you’ve already learned.

Attach your CV ( here’s some advice on writing an academic CV ), and your draft research proposal if you have one, rather than trying to go through all the detail in your email. (Make sure these are clearly labelled and not huge files, or your well-written email might get flagged as spam or a security risk.)

Before you hit send

Make sure you use the supervisor's correct title and surname here, eg ‘Dear Dr Lastname’. If you’re not sure on the title, use Google to check - if there are no hits for ‘Professor Lastname’, try looking for ‘Dr Lastname’ and other variations instead. Check the spelling of the supervisor’s name. Ask someone you trust to proofread your draft email for you - they don’t have to have a profound understanding of your subject area, just look for typos, grammar and tone.

How many potential supervisors can I contact?

A scattershot approach to finding a supervisor is not a good move. You want quality over quantity here. You can contact more than one potential supervisor, but we’d suggest only one or two at a time, and make sure you put your full effort into making a completely individual approach to anyone you contact. 

I’ve got a reply - what now?

If you've received a positive answer from your potential supervisor, that's great news! Make sure you put their name in your application (there’s a box for it). Having an enthusiastic supervisor lined up is a great start for a competitive research degree application, but remember that even the keenest supervisor can’t make you an offer on the spot.

Next you’ll need to submit your full application, to be assessed by more of our academics against our entry requirements and other people who applied.

Questions for your supervisor

You’ll spend a lot of time working with your supervisor, so this is also your chance to get a better sense of whether they’re a good fit for you. You could ask:

• What is the funding situation?
• Are you applying to a funded project, are there are funding opportunities they’re aware of?
• What sort of support and training is usually offered in the first year?
• What training in research skills is provided?
• Will you have the chance to teach or take part in outreach activities?
• Will you have the opportunity to go to conferences?
• What’s their approach to supervision?

What to do with a 'no'

If you've had a reply from the academic to say that they are not able to supervise you, this might be due to the fit of your research interests or skills with their research, or it might be for reasons totally beyond their control - lack of funding, time, even lab space. If that’s the case, ask for their feedback on your application and if they can recommend anyone else who might be a potential supervisor for your work.

I didn’t get a reply - what now?

There can be all sorts of reasons that you don’t get a reply. If your department doesn’t require you to contact a supervisor before you apply, you’ll be less likely to hear back (don’t take it personally - term time can be really busy and academics can get more emails than they have time to respond to). If you do need a supervisor and you’ve done everything we’ve suggested - tailoring your email, keeping it concise, checking it carefully, making sure you’re a good fit - it’s time to think about who else to approach.

This is a lot, we know, but if you’ve done it all you’re now in a great position to finish up your research proposal or personal statement, and to make very informed decisions about which postgraduate degree programme you’re interested in. Keep up the momentum with our advice on  writing a research proposal  and have a good read of the  Application Guide , which covers everything you’ll need to know about completing the application form.

• Application Guide: Proposed supervisor

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