PhD Tips: How to Manage Busy Supervisors

Your PhD project may well be your entire world and existence, but very quickly you will realise that you are just one swirling atom in the cosmos of your supervisor’s universe. A doctorate can be thought of as the intense training period to develop the skills and mindset to be a researcher; but what training and advice are new supervisors given on managing multiple students and their projects? So don’t be surprised if you find it difficult at times to pin your boss down for information/guidance/to arrange a meeting, etc. However, there are practical things that you CAN do to get your voice heard and to work with the chaos, rather than be defeated by it.

Make the most of your meetings:

If you’re only getting an hour of one-on-one time with your boss every fortnight (or less?), make sure you wrest every last drop of value from it. Be prepared; ensure your lab book is fully up to date and graph up any data as soon as you have it. Bring enough materials to your session to give a brief back-story if your supervisor has lost track of events. Consider recording your sessions so that you can talk more freely and discuss more in the time. As soon as the meeting is over, type up the agreed actions as a series of bullet points and email it to both of you. And don’t leave the room without agreeing when you will next meet!

A picture says a thousand words…

Busy supervisors rarely have the luxury of even five minutes, let alone an hour, to drop by the greenhouse/culture room/aquarium where your organisms are kept. So bring your specimens to them – keep a photo album on your smartphone/iPad of their growth and anything usual that you spot. That way, even if your supervisor is only passing through the lab, you can update them on progress or fire a quick question. As a bonus, you will also have a ready source of images for presentations, reports or even your thesis!

Know their schedule:

The old “Nine to Five” tradition typically goes out the window in laboratories… so get to know your supervisor’s habits. Do they teach? If so, what days and for how long? Do they have to leave early on certain days for childcare/family responsibilities? Departmental coffee breaks can be a good opportunity if they habitually turn up to catch them for a quick query or to book a meeting. Ask if you can share Google Calendars and use lab meetings to check if they will be away over the next few weeks for any conferences, etc. But also be considerate – if they only get a half hour break each day to grab some lunch at their desk, do the decent thing and don’t go knocking on their door during this time!

Make your emails work for you:

When you have to rely on email for most of your communication, how can you stop it from being buried under the onslaught of lab/committee/department admin in your supervisor’s inbox? Firstly, use the subject box. If it really is only a quick query, say so, for example: “Quick question – Arabidopsis light regime?”. If they know they can answer it in less than a minute, they are much more likely to open it. Meanwhile, in the main text always make it clear what it is that you want your supervisor to do – even highlight these points in bold or a different colour if necessary, e.g. “Please can you send the PDF of the article?” or “Please could you approve this lab order?” It might seem like nannying, but your boss will probably appreciate being able to see at a glance what it is you want them to actually do, rather than having to trawl through the whole email message. Take note too of when your supervisor tends to answer their emails and target this time for your queries. If you think of something you need to ask on Friday evening, consider hanging fire until Monday morning to make sure it is at the top of their inbox.

And finally…

Cut them some slack! You may be frustrated beyond compare at times, but do remember that the only training most supervisors get for the role is what they learn on the job. Put yourself in their shoes and imagine the trails of your PhD multiplied several times, plus a load of admin and committees thrown on top, plus having to find funding for it all. And one day, it may very well be you trying to keep on top of it all, so take heart, and embrace the chaos!