GRADUATE POSTDOCTORAL SUPERVISION

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GRADUATE / POSTDOCTORAL SUPERVISION

• 2006-2007

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Taking on a Graduate Student Supervisee

• The best way to avoid supervisor-supervisee
  conflict is to admit high-quality students.
• Ask your Chair or your Graduate Program Director
  (GPD) about (1) departmental norms and practices
  for recruiting supervisees and (2) departmental
  expectations with respect to the ideal number of
  supervisees.
• Hold out for good fit.

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Taking on a Postdoc

• See www.mcgill.ca/gps for important postdoc
  information and guidelines (no more than 5 years
  past PhD).
• Offer letter must be clear.
• Agreement on expectations and funding must be in
  writing with Chairs signature.
• Mandatory minimum levels of funding.

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Core Components of Graduate Supervision

• You will help your students
• Develop critical skills
• Choose a realistic thesis topic
• Work out a research proposal
• Conduct research
• Analyse and interpret data
• Produce a thesis (whether monograph-style or
  integrated articles)

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Core Components (continued)

• Promote scholarship, career development
  academic integrity
• Preparation of abstracts
• Conference presentations
• Publications
• Grant and fellowship applications
• Career advice
• RESPONSIBLE CONDUCT OF RESEARCH

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Responsible Conduct of Research

• Professors and departments need to make sure that
  students/postdocs are aware of what comprises the
  responsible conduct of research. Play your part.
• Students must append ethics approval to their
  theses.

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Core Components (continued)

• In relevant disciplines, expect to pay operating
  costs for your graduate students and postdocs
  research, including computers and travel to
  conferences.

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Core Components of Postdoctoral Supervision

• Allow independence
• Meet regularly
• Mentor publications and grant writing
• Mentor graduate supervision
• Mentor career development
• If there are teaching responsibilities, ensure
  that the teaching load is minimal

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Some Supervision Strategies

• Make short- and long-term expectations clear.
  Write them down using the mandatory progress
  tracking forms for graduate students.
• Provide prompt feedback, preferably in writing. A
  turnaround time of 2-4 weeks is the norm, barring
  unusual circumstances. Keep a copy of your
  feedback.
• Expectations concerning authorship, publications
  and collaborative work should be in writing.
• Meet regularly and document meetings (have
  students/postdocs write up minutes that you
  confirm by e-mail).

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Supervision Strategies (continued)

• Encourage submission of written work and written
  ideas before your meetings.
• Give encouragement, combat insecurity.
• Be honest but kind. Let students/postdocs know
  if you have concerns about their work early on.
• Offer concrete suggestions for improvement.

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Supervision Strategies (continued)

• It has been found that graduate students who work
  in isolation have more difficulty succeeding in
  their programs look for ways to involve your
  graduate students with others in a
  scholarly/scientific context.
• Have regular research team/group/lab meetings.
• Consider Brown Bag Lunches and journal clubs.

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Supervision Strategies (continued)

• Be prepared to provide guidance throughout the
  entire process.
• Keep track of your students/postdocs and their
  progress. Advise them promptly when their
  progress is not satisfactory. Document
  unsatisfactory progress and discuss what needs to
  be done to correct the situation. This action
  plan should be in writing and include a timeline
  for completing the various tasks to be
  accomplished.
• Be prepared to advise them to withdraw if
  warranted.

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Supervision Strategies (continued)

• See Adviser, Teacher, Role Model, Friend (be
  friendly but not a friend). http//books.nap.edu/r
  eadingroom/books/mentor/
• Be sensitive to warning signs of academic or
  other difficulties. The GPSO can help with this,
  as can your departmental GPD and your Chair.

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DONT

• Agree to supervise a doctoral student who wants
  to work in an area outside of your expertise.
• Expect Master's students to write doctoral
  theses.
• Expect perfection from doctoral students.
• Expect perfection from yourself.

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DONT

• Take on too many students.
• Write the thesis for them.
• Try to resolve a supervisory problem on your own
  seek help from your Graduate Program Director,
  your Chair or the GPSO.

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Getting Support From Others

• Co-supervision
• is useful for new professors and retired or about
  to retire professors.
• Thesis Committees
• are recommended because they allow the expression
  of diverse viewpoints.
• Make sure ground rules are clear among the
  members of the committee at the outset.

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How to Get Students offto a Good Start

• Get them involved early.
• Clearly communicate your expectations in writing.
• Start students reading critical articles, review
  papers, etc. on their topic and have them report
  on their reading.
• In labs, have students start on small experiments.

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How to Get Students off toa Good Start
(continued)

• Establish a pattern of regular meetings.
• Encourage students to attend invited speakers
  series, lab meetings, etc.
• Report on hot information from conferences you
  attend.

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Mandatory Progress/Graduate Student Tracking

• There are university forms for this.
• It is mandatory.
• It must involve at least one meeting per year of
  supervisor, student and a departmental
  representative (or the thesis committee, if there
  is one, or the GPD).
• Objectives and progress are recorded in writing
  and signed.

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When Things Dont Work Out... the Student May
Have to Withdraw

• Voluntary withdrawal.
• Failure of two courses.
• Two failures of comprehensive examination.
• For demonstrated lack of research progress
• (must be documented using annual progress
  tracking two unsatisfactory reports are grounds
  for requiring a student to leave).

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Thesis

• Traditional (monograph-style) About 200 pages
  for PhD 75 pages for Master's.
• Integrated articles (also known as
  manuscript-based) 3-5 articles for PhD 1-2 for
  Master's.

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Thesis Evaluation

• Do not nominate examiners who have a working
  relationship to you or were your PhDs/Postdocs
  less than five years ago.
• Be aware of conflict of interest.

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Thesis Failure

• Thesis plagiarism VERY SERIOUS CONSEQUENCES
• Revise and Resubmit (R R)
• departmental request
• Challenge (follows R R)
• only with approval by a standing committee of
  CGPS
• 6 examiners nominated
• 2 must pass thesis

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Funding

• Play an active role in supervising students
  fellowship applications.
• Be sure your letters of recommendation are
  complete, detailed, TYPED and ORIGINAL.
• Be sure to check out Making Ends Meet
• on the GPS website www.mcgill.ca/gps.

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Fellowship Funding

• Recruitment
• McGill Tomlinsons
• Recruitment Excellence Fellowships (REFs) 5K
• McGill Graduate Studies Fellowships (MGSFs) 5K
  
• MIDAs program (includes MELS Differential Fee
  Waivers)
• In-course
• McGill Majors (10-15K)
• MIDAs program

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Sources of Funding - Canadians

• Federal Council Fellowships and Stipends CIHR,
  NSERC, SSHRC, Regular CGS
• Québec Health Card Holders FQRSC, FQRNT, FRSQ
• Canadian Students Abroad DAAD, CIDA, IDRC

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Other Graduate Student Funding For Both National
and International

• Stipend funding from professors grants
• Teaching assistantships
• Course lectureships
• Financial aid Loans and bursaries Student Aid
  Office, not GPSO
• Alma Mater Conference Travel Fund

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Funding from Grants

• Stipends Students are paid to work on their own
  thesis research which is part of a professors
  program of research an annual sum tax exempt in
  Quebec.
• Research Assistants Paid an hourly rate to work
  on professors research on a topic not
  necessarily linked to their thesis research can
  be a work-study student taxable in Quebec.

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Services to Help You

• Departmental Graduate Program Director and
  Secretary/Coordinator
• Jane Everett, Associate Dean, Graduate
  Postdoctoral Studies
• 398-3175
• Norman Miller, Ombudsperson (398-7059,
  ombudsperson_at_mcgill.ca)
• Student Services (Counseling, Mental Health,
  Physical Health, Dental, Office for Students with
  Disabilities)

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Helping Build the McGill Community Network

• Watch for signs of stress and distress in your
  students.
• Call for help sooner rather than later
• Your Graduate Program Director
• Jane Everett, Associate Dean, Graduate
  Postdoctoral Studies 398-3175
• Student Mental Health Services 398-6019
• Counseling Service 398-3601

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Helping Build the McGill Community Network
(continued)

• Be aware that graduate studies are very different
  from undergraduate studies.
• Different stage of life.
• More intense, more intimate relationship to
  supervisor and peers.
• Help students find help.

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GPS Career and Placement

• McGill has a Graduate Postdoctoral Career
  Officer at the Career Placement Service.
• Encourage your students to attend CAPS Graduate
  and Postdoctoral activities
• Workshops on careers in and out of academia.
• PGSS/CAPS Career Week

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Written Documents to Help You

• See McGill Documents at www.mcgill.ca/gps
• -SMOOTH SAILING A GUIDEBOOK FOR McGILL
  GRADUATE STUDENTS
• -MAKING ENDS MEET A GUIDE TO GRADUATE FUNDING
  AT
• McGILL
• -GPS GENERAL INFORMATION, REGULATIONS AND
  RESEARCH GUIDELINES (a.k.a. The Red Book)
• -INFORMATION GUIDELINES FOR POSTDOCS
• -INFORMATION GUIDELINES FOR DEPARTMENTS/RESEARCH
  UNITS
• -GUIDELINES AND POLICY FOR ACADEMIC UNITS ON
  POSTDOC EDUCATION (also in The Red Book)
• -Various RESEARCH POLICIES (AUTHORSHIP,
  RESEARCH ETHICS,
• INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY) (also in The Red
  Book)

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Language and Writing Courses/Services

• English and French Language Centre credit
  courses on written and spoken English
• ESLN 590 Writing for Graduate Students
• ESLN 650 Pronunciation and Communication

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Important Policies in General Information Booklet

• Failure Policy
• Vacation Policy
• Deferrals and Health Leave
• Family Leave
• Comprehensive Examination Re-reads

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Research Policies

• Authorship
• Intellectual Property
• Ethics
• Students in Research
• Agreement with Non-University Partners

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Confidentiality

• You cannot reveal information about a student
  without written permission from that student (be
  careful when responding to unexpected telephone
  calls).
• Quebec law allows students access to any kind of
  written information about them, such as e-mails,
  letters of recommendation, anything in a
  departmental or university file.