UKCGE Research Supervision Recognition
An academic from the Department of Chemistry is among the first in the UK to be recognised by a national Research Supervision Recognition Programme.
The UKCGE (UK Council for Graduate Education) Research Supervision Recognition Programme and associated framework of ten criteria enable graduate supervisors to reflect on their practice and, if they wish, to apply for formal recognition through the scheme. The University of York took part in the pilot of the scheme in 2019 and Professor Jason Lynam was one of three members of academic staff across the university to receive recognition for their approach to graduate supervision.
Supervisors play a critical role in influencing graduate students’ chances of completing on time, in determining the quality of their final outputs and, most crucially of all, in shaping their experiences as early career researchers. The importance of good research supervision is, therefore, hard to overstate.
At the same time, research supervision is an increasingly complex activity, in which supervisors are having to respond to the growth, diversification, and welfare of the postgraduate research candidate population.
The Research Supervision Recognition Programme is underpinned by a Good Practice Framework which sets out – for the first time at a national level – the wide-ranging, highly complex and demanding set of roles that modern research supervisors must undertake to perform the role effectively.
The framework is designed to set expectations for all research supervisors, to support supervisor training and development programmes, and to inform institutional policies so that the demanding nature of modern research supervision is properly recognised.
Dr Lynam said: “It was a great honour to be able to participate in this pilot scheme. It allowed me to realise that the supervisor/supervisee relationship works best as a mutually respectful partnership in which, as supervisor, I hope to inspire my research students to do great research and provide them with a framework for scientific and personal development.”
Professor Tom Stoneham, Dean of the Graduate School said: “York takes research supervision very seriously and these colleagues have demonstrated through their time and commitment to the student experience and to their own professional development that excellent supervision makes a difference to student outcomes and research culture.”