Relationality in research supervision: Implications
for effective practice in a changing world

As policy and process change at national and local levels, traditional research supervisory practices come under scrutiny. Increasingly, especially in technological universities, postgraduate students are undertaking projects that relate directly to their current or future world of work. The challenges for research supervisors, while varied and increasingly complex, have implications for the supervisor-candidate relationship.

A key concept that facilitates analysis and transformation of supervisory roles is relationality, which refers here to the variation in meaning of phenomena across people, time, process and situation. In a world of change, how the main players (supervisors and candidates) work together to deal with these differences will influence the effectiveness and appropriateness of their interactions. Of direct relevance are their differing interpretations of the environment in which they are collaborating. Aspects of the environment that currently are the focus of attention include:

The presentation will explore these issues through the lens of relationality. It will consider how supervisors might, through reflection and discussion, explore the variations in meaning, given that the experience, situation and expectations of their research students are often different from their own. The presenters will draw on their own experiences in research (in which, for them, relationality is a central concept), postgraduate supervision, supervisor training and the design and conduct of programmes for postgraduate research students.