what to do if your phd supervisor leaves

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• v.17(9); 2021 Sep

Ten simple rules for choosing a PhD supervisor

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

Catherine Bannon

J. scott p. mccain, 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 ).

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 ).

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.

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.

Funding Statement

The authors received no specific funding for this work.

View From the Trenches – Advice if your PhD Advisor Unexpectedly Dies

Written by Laura Klasek

Two weeks before my qualifying exam, my PhD advisor — Kentaro Inoue — and I met to discuss the thirty-first draft of my dissertation research proposal and encountered a sticking point on the second of three aims.  I rewrote, and reworked, and rewrote the section throughout the day, returning to lean on his office doorframe three or four times. He did not understand what I was trying to articulate; I thought what he was insisting my proposal contain was an impossible amount of work for one person.  By 4:30pm, we were snarling at each other, then I caved, stomped back to my office, and had the textbook two-weeks-to-QE breakdown. For my own sanity, I decided to study from home the next day.

It was a great choice.  I was perfectly calm the following evening when my labmate called me just before dinner, asking for my address.  He needed to talk to me. This was not standard operating procedure for our lab. I sat at my kitchen table, pushing food from one side of the plate to the other while mentally sorting through what could be wrong.  At first, I thought I had to be in trouble somehow — maybe I should not have worked from home? — but if I were in trouble, why wouldn’t my advisor have called me? Why deputize a labmate? My phone blinked; texts appeared from other students in my year: “I’m so sorry.”  “I just heard.”

What had they heard?

I paced on my front porch, phone clenched in one hand.  My labmate pulled into a parking space, my other labmate in his passenger seat.  Two safe. Two unharmed. Both pale and tense. I let them in — my cat fled to my back room — arms wrapped around myself.  “Kentaro was in an accident, and,” my eldest labmate said, “he didn’t make it.” The three of us stood there, in my front room, frozen.  In my memory, that moment drags out: three people, almost unable to meet each other’s eyes, all wondering, “What in God’s name do we do now?”

Joining my lab two years prior was a decision I agonized over.  As a PI, my advisor was tough, demanding, and hard to read. When asked how he was to work for, one labmate said, “He’s tolerable.”  But I liked him, as a person, and I liked his research, and I liked the people in his lab. So in a split-second decision after about seven hours straight of benchwork without eating, I stopped in his office to say that, yes, I wanted in.

“Good,” he said.  That single word, I would come to understand, was the most and best praise he offered.  Then he said, “I will push you.”

After he died, I thought, “This is a hell of a push.”

There’s no road map to follow when your advisor dies, no protocol for sudden and premature death.  You plunge into a tunnel blindfolded: turn one direction, you scrape skin onto rocks; turn the other, you slip downward, gravity’s victim.  Because the situation is rare, graduate programs do not have any formal resources or plan for what happens either. It’s isolating and terrifying to try to figure out what you do next and how to finish your project, and all the while, you’re grieving for the relationship you’ve lost.  I would never have chosen to go through graduate school like this, but it has made me resilient and adaptable.

My labmates and I stumbled through together.  While I emailed our program chair from my kitchen table, subject line, “URGENT,” they called the other people we had to tell that day.  Over the first couple weeks, we kept the lab limping along while our program sorted out what our options were. We merged with another lab and restructured our projects, and, two and a half years later, we all finished or are finishing our PhDs.  We had each other, and we had a supportive program, and that made a big difference.

PhD advisors are human beings, subject to illness, injury, and other crises.  Bad things happen during PhDs, and you can’t control them. You can, however, control  for  them, to a certain extent: the experimental error term of the PhD equation.  Graduate students, advisors, and programs can take steps before crises happen, in the immediate aftermath of crises, and in the long-term to assist students.

Best practices beforehand:

No one predicts untimely death or sudden illness, but there are practices which should be part of any graduate student’s training that can help in the event a PhD advisor dies.  Graduate students can cultivate close relationships with other professors who do similar research, at your university and elsewhere. There’s no downside to knowing your potential collaborators well, and these mentors can support you when your project slides off the rails for normal reasons.  Students and advisors can also practice good planning. If you find yourself having to pick up the reins of your project without your advisor present, it helps enormously to have a feasible project with clearly defined objectives and backup plans for experiments not working. And if you find yourself on any given Tuesday, it helps to have such a project.

Asking a graduate student’s advisor to plan for their own untimely death is perhaps a little morbid.  However, it certainly cannot hurt for an advisor to think about what collaborators and friends could step into their shoes.  Even temporarily — emergencies come in many different flavors. Advisors should also ensure that critical laboratory information and records are well-kept and accessible to students.  Leaving the contact information for the centrifuge repair person in a place where at least one student can find it only helps in a normal situation.

Beyond the advisor, graduate programs should recognize that this situation will happen and have procedures in place in advance.  It’s not reassuring as a student when you feel like everyone else around is making up the procedures as they go along.

Immediate concerns (first month after sudden death):

Hopefully, your precautionary actions will just mitigate small crises and minor problems, but in the event your advisor dies, the immediate aftermath is chaotic.  Telling people. Meeting with the people who run your department. Whatever the funeral is. Sending flowers to your advisor’s family. And, if you’re anything like my labmates and me, you’ll try to work in there as well: because a research imperative requires it, because it’s a safe place to hide, or because you don’t quite know what else to do.  After one meeting with our department, I stood in the corner of the lab leaning against the -80 with my eyes closed because I knew nothing short of an actual earthquake was knocking that thing over.

Decisions might be made quickly — for me, our department was trying to assign us to a new advisor within 48 hours, almost forgetting to consult us or the other professor.  Within the chaos, grief becomes almost secondary, but grappling with the loss of this incredibly important person, however best for you as an individual, should be the priority.  You should figure out the minimum requirements to keep the lab running — how to order pipet tips, for example — and you will have to handle things that no one else has the knowledge to handle, like locating the safety and usage documentation for your radioactive materials.  But aside from that, your responsibility is grieving. You’ve lost a central person in your life, and it is not a simple loss to cope with.

Graduate programs and departments are responsible for finding sources of funding for you.  They figure out how to handle your lab’s grants, and they can find options for you to continue working on your degree, on the same project or in another lab.  You can help find yourself funding and options for continuing, but, at a certain level, this is just not your job. Especially when dealing with large grants. If it seems like they do not have your best interests at heart, reach out to whoever you can to advocate for you — there will be people who want to help.

Some do-and-don’t guidelines for the immediate aftermath phase include:

• Communicate clearly and widely — don’t let yourself be kept in the dark about what’s happening, and get the backup from high-ranking department members that you need.
• Get things in writing, especially funding.  Do NOT skip this step because you’re the lowest person on the totem pole.
• Decide what you’re going to do immediately.  Graduate programs should not pressure students into a decision; they are smart people who should be able to hold off funding agencies for at least a month.
• Feel like it’s your responsibility to continue your research to honor your advisor. You’ll honor your advisor whatever you chose to do, and you should choose what’s best for you, not what will please someone who has passed away.

Deciding what’s next: Should you go, or should you stay?

You will not have unlimited options about what to do, and the options you do have may not be good.  There’s no right answer to whether you should continue your project with a different advisor or change labs or apply to a different program to start over or move to New York to be a nightclub singer.  Contemplating walking away is difficult and…emotionally complicated, for lack of a better term. You’ve invested your time and sanity to your project, and the idea of starting over is overwhelming. But.  Continuing a project with a new advisor is not easy either. Expect to add to your graduation time and/or sacrifice most of your planned project if you switch advisors. If you are in your first or second year, seriously consider changing labs or programs.  I didn’t want to change projects, for reasons that were all emotion and no logic, and I was just far enough along that I had the option of continuing, but that does not make it the smart decision. Just the one I made.

If you’re in the middle of your PhD, here are a number of questions about a potential replacement advisor to think about:

• Is there a qualified (and willing) professor to take over as your advisor?
• How close of a relationship do you have with that professor?
• How similar is their mentorship style to what you’re used to?
• How familiar are they with your project?
• How many graduate students (at what stages) are in that professor’s lab, and how many graduate students (if any) are coming along with you from your original lab?
• How many postdocs are in that professor’s lab, and how many are coming with you?
• What is the replacement’s professional reputation (this is the time to dig out the dirt), and are they as well-connected as your original professor?  (And, in general, think like a rotation student — how happy are the current students, how quickly do they finish, what kind of jobs do they get, etc.)
• What sources of funding are being offered to you for stipend support and for research materials, how long are those guaranteed for, and are they adequate (expect to wander down more black holes than may be typical)?
• How involved is your committee, and how much are they willing to be involved?
• Are there people (lab alumnae, collaborators, etc) who can be recruited as sources of aid or missing expertise?

If you’re towards the end of your PhD, you’ll need someone to write recommendation letters in place of your advisor, and you may not have that much time for that person to get to know you.  Who is the next person on the list to write you recommendation letters? How well do they know you and your project? Is there a draft or an old recommendation letter from your original advisor that can be given to them?  Can someone (for example, your department head) step in and write a letter explaining the situation? Do you have the resources to find and get the next step on your career without your original advisor, and if you don’t, who has those resources?

None of these questions are fun.  Everything about this situation is awful, and if you’re trying to make this decision, I’m so sorry.

Concerns that arise in the first year:

After the immediacy of crisis-mode passes, then things get easier and harder.  Get help to handle the grief, and, unfortunately, don’t expect it to be quick to fade.  Six months after my advisor died, I realized I was furious with him for dying, and I then got stuck on rage for the next year (how do I wish that statement was hyperbolic).  Try not to let yourself become isolated, and try not to take on responsibility for things that are not your job. We continued working in our original lab space for the first six months and got used to wrangling lab management almost entirely on our own.  That helped initially — our lab was comforting and familiar, and one less thing to have changed — but eventually, it was like working with a ghost right outside the door.

You will have to take a hard look at your project and decide what is and is not possible without your original advisor.  The earlier on you are, the harder the look. You will also have to work to establish a relationship to your advisor, which I, at least, have not found the easiest task, through no fault of my new advisor.  It’s hard to trust someone new in the PhD advisor role, especially if you lost the first one in a brutally unexpected fashion. What helps is to cling like a limpet to your other mentors: other professors you know well, older graduate students, lab alumni.  They can help keep you afloat while you’re trying to remember how to tread water. Keep seeking out more mentors — the more help, the better. You should try to get some research done, too, even if it is not brilliant. Anything you accomplish here against such ridiculous odds is a huge victory.

A new advisor should be cognizant that this situation may be excruciatingly hard for their new student.  It helps if new advisors communicate clearly about what they will honor about a student’s original plan, what they expect, where their funding is coming from.  In writing, if possible. Three years down the line, both advisor and student will want to remember what you first agreed, even if you’ve mutually changed everything about the project.  Becoming familiar with the background for a new student’s project will be time-consuming, but an advisor’s unfamiliarity can become a source of frustration for the new student. If you have no idea what to advise, facilitate the student seeking additional help.  Finally, figure out how to move the new student into your research space.

Graduate programs should finalize and formalize all funding arrangements in writing with you, and if they don’t, this is something you should be a pain about.  Your program can also assist your new advisor by letting them take equipment from your old lab or shuffling some of their service responsibilities. And programs should institute regular checks on the student.  Once things started to go back to “normal,” I felt awkward asking for assistance, even if I still needed it.

Later concerns:

One year turns into two, then three.  New students and professors enter the program; waves of undergrads flow through campus; and your experiments fail, perplex, and hopefully — eventually — succeed.

While I write this, my eldest labmate is days away from turning in his dissertation.  My second-eldest labmate is in the oscillating phase where sometimes he’s a month from graduating and sometimes a year.  I am getting there. It would make more sense, in many ways, to wait until I graduate to write all this down because then I could say it is possible to finish, that you can make it.  But I think if I wrote this at the end, I might be tempted to skip the slog as we worked to graduate in favor of those first frantic days and months. For about the first year, we were finding new problems, trying to fix them, and forging connections with our new lab.  But once we’d mended and replaced what we could, there were still gaps we just had to live with and work around.

A PhD is already extremely difficult, and if your advisor dies, you have a permanent handicap.  Continue to get help for grief if and when you need it and for the anxiety and depression that graduate school handed out at orientation.  Continue adjusting your project to best suit your new advisor and find the people, expertise, and materials necessary to fill in for your original advisor.  Advocate for yourself. Your program wants you here and wants you to succeed, but as time goes by, your program will sometimes forget that everything is just a bit more complex for you if you let them.  Remember why you’re getting a PhD, and check in periodically to make sure you’re getting a PhD for yourself. If you continued your project, you might find out months or years down the line that it is not, in the end, possible.  The initial decision you made about what to do might not have been the right decision, and you can change your mind or press your program for changes. Graduate programs should fulfill the funding commitments they made and continue to provide assistance.  They should also recognize that you will sometimes have to play by a different rulebook for what is and is not possible.

For me, the wound where my relationship with my first advisor was severed has scarred over, and I can go more than one day in a row without noticing the scar.  Then, the speaker at his memorial seminar will project his picture, and I’ll feel like I’ve been punched in this stomach. I’ll struggle to reproduce data from a previous student, and I don’t know if the problem is something my advisor never got around to telling me.  While I argue with my new advisor about an experiment, I’m arguing in my head with my first advisor. It is still hard, and it will never not be hard.

When I joined my lab, my first advisor said, “Good.  I will push you.” He did, in ways neither of us ever expected.  I’m still pushing back.

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Ten types of PhD supervisor relationships – which is yours?

Lecturer, Griffith University

Disclosure statement

Susanna Chamberlain does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

Griffith University provides funding as a member of The Conversation AU.

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It’s no secret that getting a PhD is a stressful process .

One of the factors that can help or hinder this period of study is the relationship between supervisor and student. Research shows that effective supervision can significantly influence the quality of the PhD and its success or failure.

PhD supervisors tend to fulfil several functions: the teacher; the mentor who can support and facilitate the emotional processes; and the patron who manages the springboard from which the student can leap into a career.

There are many styles of supervision that are adopted – and these can vary depending on the type of research being conducted and subject area.

Although research suggests that providing extra mentoring support and striking the right balance between affiliation and control can help improve PhD success and supervisor relationships, there is little research on the types of PhD-supervisor relationships that occur.

From decades of experience of conducting and observing PhD supervision, I’ve noticed ten types of common supervisor relationships that occur. These include:

The candidate is expected to replicate the field, approach and worldview of the supervisor, producing a sliver of research that supports the supervisor’s repute and prestige. Often this is accompanied by strictures about not attempting to be too “creative”.

Cheap labour

The student becomes research assistant to the supervisor’s projects and becomes caught forever in that power imbalance. The patron-client roles often continue long after graduation, with the student forever cast in the secondary role. Their own work is often disregarded as being unimportant.

The “ghost supervisor”

The supervisor is seen rarely, responds to emails only occasionally and has rarely any understanding of either the needs of the student or of their project. For determined students, who will work autonomously, the ghost supervisor is often acceptable until the crunch comes - usually towards the end of the writing process. For those who need some support and engagement, this is a nightmare.

The relationship is overly familiar, with the assurance that we are all good friends, and the student is drawn into family and friendship networks. Situations occur where the PhD students are engaged as babysitters or in other domestic roles (usually unpaid because they don’t want to upset the supervisor by asking for money). The chum, however, often does not support the student in professional networks.

Collateral damage

When the supervisor is a high-powered researcher, the relationship can be based on minimal contact, because of frequent significant appearances around the world. The student may find themselves taking on teaching, marking and administrative functions for the supervisor at the cost of their own learning and research.

The practice of supervision becomes a method of intellectual torment, denigrating everything presented by the student. Each piece of research is interrogated rigorously, every meeting is an inquisition and every piece of writing is edited into oblivion. The student is given to believe that they are worthless and stupid.

Creepy crawlers

Some supervisors prefer to stalk their students, sometimes students stalk their supervisors, each with an unhealthy and unrequited sexual obsession with the other. Most Australian universities have moved actively to address this relationship, making it less common than in previous decades.

Captivate and con

Occasionally, supervisor and student enter into a sexual relationship. This can be for a number of reasons, ranging from a desire to please to a need for power over youth. These affairs can sometimes lead to permanent relationships. However, what remains from the supervisor-student relationship is the asymmetric set of power balances.

Almost all supervision relationships contain some aspect of the counsellor or mentor, but there is often little training or desire to develop the role and it is often dismissed as pastoral care. Although the life experiences of students become obvious, few supervisors are skilled in dealing with the emotional or affective issues.

Colleague in training

When a PhD candidate is treated as a colleague in training, the relationship is always on a professional basis, where the individual and their work is held in respect. The supervisor recognises that their role is to guide through the morass of regulation and requirements, offer suggestions and do some teaching around issues such as methodology, research practice and process, and be sensitive to the life-cycle of the PhD process. The experience for both the supervisor and student should be one of acknowledgement of each other, recognising the power differential but emphasising the support at this time. This is the best of supervision.

There are many university policies that move to address a lot of the issues in supervisor relationships , such as supervisor panels, and dedicated training in supervising and mentoring practices. However, these policies need to be accommodated into already overloaded workloads and should include regular review of supervisors.

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• What You Should Expect from Your PhD Supervisor
• Doing a PhD

A good supervisor will act as your mentor. They will not only help you progress through each stage of a PhD program  but can also act as a source of information or someone to bounce ideas off. To get the most from your supervisor, it’s essential to first understand what their role and responsibilities are in relation to you and your PhD. This won’t only help you understand the different ways they can support you, but also enables you to define clear boundaries which will go a long way to ensuring an enjoyable and respected relationship between the two of you.

1. Expertise in Your Subject Area

You should expect your supervisor to be an expert in the subject you are focusing your PhD on. This is crucial as your supervisor will act as your primary means of support during your PhD. Therefore, the effectiveness of his or her support directly corresponds to their knowledge of your chosen subject, which could be the difference to your PhD succeeding or not.

In addition to this, a supervisor who is an expert in your chosen field could save you from unnecessarily adding a year or more to the duration of your PhD. This is because, as an expert, they will already possess an in-depth understanding of what can and cannot be achieved in the field and have an appreciation as to what would and what wouldn’t help your research stand out. This trait will help them keep you on track, which helps ensure your time is being used most effectively.

Ideally, your supervisor should have experience in supervising PhD students. Although you could theoretically tackle your PhD alone, there are many areas applicable to all PhDs, such as literature reviews, methodologies, experiments, thesis, and dissertations, that an experienced supervisor can guide you on.

2. Regular Supervisory Meetings

As good as your supervisor may be, their ability to support you only comes into fruition if you interact with them. You will be expected to arrange regular meetings with your supervisor, and if necessary, other members of your PhD panel. This will allow you to report back on your latest progress, discuss any issue you’re facing, and review any plans to identify potential improvements, etc. Some supervisors will suggest meeting at regular intervals, i.e. every other week, some will suggest meeting on completing a milestone, i.e. completion of your first draft of the literature review, and others will suggest meeting specifically as and when you need their support. While none are notably better than the other, the key is to pick what works best for you and to ensure you’re meeting them frequently, even if that means having to combine two or all of the approaches.

It’s important to appreciate your supervisor is going to be busy. They are not only going to be supervising you, but they’ll likely be providing supervision to several other students, teach undergraduate classes and have their own research projects going on. However, if you can’t meet your supervisor as often as you would like because of this, your communication doesn’t need to suffer. Instead, make use of email . Not only will your supervisor appreciate this as it gives him time to respond on his own schedule, but you’ll likely get a more detailed response.

3. Feedback on Work in Progress

Another vital aspect to expect from your supervisor is to receive continuous feedback on your work. With your supervisor being an expert in their field, he should be able to review your work and identify any issues or areas for improvement. Gaining feedback on your work is critical through all stages of your PhD. Initially, feedback will be imperative to ensure you’re staying on track. Besides this, it gives your supervisor the opportunity to help set up aspects of your PhD in ways they’ve witnessed first-hand to be most effective, for example, by suggesting an alternative way to structure your literature review or record your research findings. During the ending stages of your PhD, your supervisor will play an essential role in supporting you in the production of your thesis or dissertation. The more you liaise with them during this process, the smoother the process will be.

4. Advice and Support

The advice and support that your supervisor can offer you throughout your degree will be invaluable. As an old saying goes, you can never be distracted if you get the right advice from the right person, which in this case will be your supervisor. As well as providing technical support, many supervisors will also look to provide emotional support through words of encouragement when the moment warrants it. Having once undertaken the journey themselves, they fully appreciate how challenging and stressful the journey can be.

It’s important to note that although your supervisor is there to provide support, they are not there to help with the minor details or every problem you may encounter. The role of the supervisor is to mentor, not to teach, or do it for you. It will be your responsibility to plan, execute and monitor your own work and to identify gaps in your own knowledge and address them. Your supervisor may help by recommending literature to read or suggesting external training courses, however, you should expect nothing more intrusive than this.

5. Mediation and Representation

All universities and departments will have their own rules and regulations. As a professional academic student, you will have to adhere to these rules. These rules are unlikely to be limited to behaviour only with several rules influencing your work as a PhD student. These rules may relate to how you are expected to submit documentation or to the experiments that require special permission before being conducted within their labs. If you have any queries about any rule or regulation, your first point of contact should be your supervisor.

Before starting a PhD, it’s reasonable to have many expectations in mind. However, of all expectations, the one of your supervisors is likely to be the most important. Your supervisor will act as the backbone of your research project and should provide you with continuous support throughout each stage of your degree. A great supervisor may not only be the difference between a smooth and turbulent process, but sometimes may also be the difference between a successful and unsuccessful PhD.

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Changes to the MPhil/PhD supervisor-researcher relationship

Occasionally, the relationship between you and your MPhil/PhD supervisor may change, so this page tells you everything you need to know about those potential changes. 

What to do if your supervisor is away 

• If your supervisor is on sabbatical leave, they will usually continue to supervise and regularly meet with you. 
• If your supervisor is on sabbatical leave away from Birkbeck, they will secure supervision cover from a suitable colleague. 
• If your supervisor is on parental, sick, compassionate or other leave, they will secure appropriate supervision cover from a suitable colleague. 
• Your second supervisor or a senior staff member in your school will usually cover your supervisions for the period that your principal supervisor is away.

What to do if your supervisor leaves Birkbeck 

• If your principal supervisor is moving to another institution, they will inform you as far in advance as possible. 
• You should speak to the MPhil/PhD Programme Director in your school for advice on the best steps to take in this situation. 
• Some possible scenarios include: 
• remain at Birkbeck and continue to be supervised by your principal supervisor, if they and their new institution are willing 
• follow your supervisor to their new institution (you will need to discuss this with the other institution) 
• find a new supervisor at Birkbeck, with the assistance of your school. In some cases, it may prove difficult to appoint a new supervisor if the requisite expertise is unavailable in the school and you may be advised to seek supervision elsewhere 
• remain at Birkbeck and be supervised by an academic at another institution within the University of London. 

Problems within the supervisory relationship

• Rarely, supervisory relationships do not function to the mutual satisfaction or benefit of the MPhil/PhD researchers and the principal (or sometimes second) supervisor. 
• You may feel that you are unable to establish an effective working relationship with your supervisor, or you may feel that your supervisor is failing to meet their responsibilities. 
• Every effort should be made to try to resolve concerns in other ways before considering a change of supervisor, but it is possible to change your principal and/or your second supervisor. 
• In the first instance, and if you feel able to, you should endeavour to discuss your concerns with your supervisor before seeking help elsewhere. 

Changing your supervisor 

• You should contact the MPhil/PhD Programme Director in your school and describe in writing the difficulties in your relationship with your supervisor. 
• You should then meet with the MPhil/PhD Programme Director to discuss the difficulties. 
• The MPhil/PhD Programme Director will then discuss these issues with the supervisor either alone or with you also present. If no resolution seems possible, the MPhil/PhD Programme Director will consider a potential new supervisor for you. 
• In some cases, it may prove difficult to appoint a new supervisor if the requisite expertise is unavailable in the school. In such instances, you may be advised to seek supervision elsewhere. 

Official policies and regulations 

• Birkbeck takes its responsibilities towards its students very seriously and has  formal guidelines, procedures and policies  in place that you are very welcome to read. 

Thinking about quitting your PhD? Maybe that’s the right decision

Sometimes not completing a PhD is the rational choice, and having open conversations around it helps stop people feeling isolated and uncertain, says Katherine Firth

Katherine Firth

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We know that 30 to 50 per cent of PhD candidates don’t complete globally. Countries such as the UK and Australia, where about a quarter of students don’t finish their PhD, actually congratulate themselves on their efficient completions. While my day job involves trying to help more people finish on time, I also know that choosing to stop can sometimes be the right decision.

People stop their PhD for a variety of reasons, including to pursue job opportunities, to focus on external life priorities or simply because they lose interest. Over the past two years, there have been even more disruptions than usual: researchers haven’t been able to travel or do fieldwork; they have had to give up in-person conferences and avoid busy labs and libraries; they got sick or the pandemic exacerbated existing health conditions; or their priorities changed.

Supervisors, candidates and universities need to be more open to having conversations about quitting. Why do candidates choose to quit, how many people do so and what happens to them afterwards? It’s almost impossible to get detailed, accurate data about completion rates. People who quit leave the university and, therefore, we often don’t see what they do next. If we don’t talk openly about stopping, people who are considering it feel isolated and uncertain. But it isn’t rare, and supervisors are in a privileged position to recognise the signs early – and then, as appropriate, support their candidates as they successfully navigate away from the PhD.    

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Academics don’t always like to acknowledge it, but your health, family, career and community are more important than any scholarly accolade. People generally think about quitting for reasons including family responsibilities, mental health or their financial situation. Or they choose to leave because other opportunities come up. These can be rational, practical choices with sensible long-term outcomes.

After all, graduating with a doctorate is not the only pathway towards contributing to knowledge, discovering new information or being recognised as an expert. That incomplete doctorate might be suitable for a patent or to spin out into an industry application. Perhaps it makes sense to publish your findings in an academic article – or a public-facing book. Similarly, the skills that candidates have already developed in pursuing their research might be an asset in their job beyond academia.

It’s important for candidates to know that not finishing a PhD doesn’t make you a failure, and it doesn’t mean you’ll never have the opportunity to do a research degree in the future. Sometimes, now is not the right time or you’re not in the right field. You wouldn’t be the first person to return to academia after a decade in industry, or when your circumstances changed, or when your research project was safe to pursue again. The past two years have been particularly challenging for researchers who had to totally change their planned research projects. When it is just not possible to pursue the PhD you signed up for, it can be a valid decision to do something else instead.

However, I wouldn’t want to suggest that the only two options are gritting your teeth or leaving. Universities increasingly have opportunities for flexibility or support, which candidates should explore. Some adjustments are quite common if you ask around. It’s often possible to press pause on your candidature, take a leave of absence or change to part-time study. Work with the equity team or researcher development team to improve accessibility or get support. It might also be helpful to negotiate changes in the supervision team – realigning it to better support your methods, specialisation or preferences.

There are more drastic options, too. It’s possible to convert your PhD to a master’s by research. Candidates might even explore taking their project to another faculty, another university or another country where it fits better. Leaving your current situation might mean losing out on your funding or burning bridges or hurting feelings. It tends to require a lot of extra time, effort and work. It’s an extreme option, but if you’re already thinking about leaving, you are already considering radical action.

I recently wrote a book with Liam Connell and Peta Freestone, Your PhD Survival Guide , based on Thesis Boot Camp , our award-winning programme for helping get people over the thesis finish line. In our experience working with thousands of doctoral candidates around the world, having non-judgemental conversations about quitting frees people from having to pretend that everything is fine.

Supervisors, peers and mentors can also help identify what changes are possible to make or support candidates to weigh up their options and make a considered decision about whether to carry on or put down the doctorate, for now or for good, and pursue other priorities. PhD researchers are smart, resilient, persistent problem-solvers, and they contribute in so many ways to our world, whether or not they gain the title “doctor”.

Katherine Firth is lecturer in research education and development at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia, and a founding member of the Thesis Boot Camp team. Her most recent book on doctoral success is Your PhD Survival Guide: Planning, Writing and Succeeding in your Final Year with Liam Connell and Peta Freestone.

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Knowing when to quit PhD: Signs to look for and what to do next

Not many know of the harsh realities of the PhD program when they first start out and many struggle to be fully convinced that PhD is indeed the right career choice for them.

So, somewhere along the journey they start feeling stuck with no real progress being made and start questioning whether or not to continue . It is at this time, they need to make the tough call and often they lack the know how to be able to decide how to proceed thereon.

In this article, we will look into the signs that indicate it’s time to quit your PhD program, what to do after quitting, and alternative career paths to consider. We’ll also discuss managing finances and prioritizing mental health during this difficult time, as well as the importance of a healthy relationship with your PhD supervisor.

Finally, we’ll explore how a change in personal goals can affect your decision to leave the program and provide resources for those considering leaving their PhD program. Contrary to the other blogs that touch base on this topic, we will also look into how you can resume your PhD journey after a brief hiatus if you decide so instead of quitting.

Table of Contents

Signs it’s time to quit PhD

Making the decision to quit PhD

Next steps after quitting phd, alternative career routes after quitting phd, resume your phd journey, key takeaways, signs it's time to quit phd.

There are some tell tale signs that you can look out for to know if it’s time to quit your PhD.

Lack of Passion

Your passion for your research should be what drives you to continue your PhD. If you find yourself lacking excitement or interest in your work, it may be time to re-evaluate your goals and consider quitting.

Emotional and mental health issues

The stress of a PhD program can take a toll on your mental health. If you find yourself constantly anxious, overwhelmed, or depressed, it may be a sign that the program is not worth sacrificing your health.

Financial Hardship

PhD programs can be expensive and do not always offer enough funding or job opportunities to support your lifestyle. If you are struggling financially and cannot see a way out, it may be time to consider other options.

Lack of Support

A strong support system is crucial during a PhD program. If you feel isolated or unsupported by your colleagues or mentor, it can make the program even more challenging.

If you recognize any of these signs, it may be time to take a step back and evaluate your options. It’s important to remember that quitting your PhD program does not mean you have failed. Here are some steps to take next:

Speak with a trusted mentor or advisor to discuss your options.

Consider taking some time off to re-evaluate your goals and explore other interests.

Look into alternative career paths or programs that align with your interests and values.

Connect with a therapist or mental health professional for support during this transition.

Poor relationship with supervisor or lab members

If you’re experiencing conflicts with your supervisor or lab members, it can create a toxic work environment that affects your ability to perform. This can be especially challenging in a PhD program that is often heavily reliant on the relationship with your supervisor. If attempts to resolve conflicts have been unsuccessful, it may be time to consider moving on to a different program or workplace. Remember that your well-being should be a priority and it’s okay to make changes that support that.

Change in personal goals or circumstances

As we grow and change, our goals and circumstances can shift. If you find yourself no longer interested in pursuing a career in academia or if personal circumstances make continuing the program difficult, it’s important to consider whether the PhD is still the best path for you. Keep in mind that it’s never too late to make a change and pursue a different career path that aligns better with your current goals and needs. Remember to seek support and guidance from trusted advisors and professionals as you make these decisions.

The decision to quit your PhD is a difficult one, but it’s important to be honest with yourself about your needs and goals. Remember that quitting does not mean failure, and it’s never too late to make a change. Here are some steps to help you make this decision

Weighing the pros and cons

When making the decision to quit your PhD program, it’s important to weigh the pros and cons. Some pros of continuing may include a strong passion for your research, a supportive advisor, and opportunities for career advancement. However, some cons may include financial strain, mental and emotional exhaustion, and a lack of interest in your work.

Reflecting on your goals and values

Reflect on your goals and values and how they align with your current situation. Are you still passionate about your research? Is the PhD program aligning with your personal values and goals? Reflecting on these questions can help provide clarity when making the decision to continue or quit the program.

Seeking advice and support

Speak with trusted mentors, advisors, and professionals to discuss your options and gather information. It’s important to seek advice and support from people who understand the demands of a PhD program and can help you make an informed decision.

Trusting your intuition

Ultimately, the decision to quit your PhD should come from a place of intuition and self-awareness. Trust your instincts and listen to your body and mind. If you feel that continuing the program will have a negative impact on your well-being and happiness, it may be time to consider other options.

Remember that quitting your PhD program does not mean you have failed. It takes courage to acknowledge when something is not working and make a change. Trust yourself and do what is best for you and your future.

If you have decided to quit your PhD program, it’s important to have a plan for what comes next. Here are some steps to consider:

Take time for self-care

Leaving a PhD program can be a major life change that can have an emotional impact. It’s important to take time to reflect, process your feelings, and engage in self-care activities that help you feel grounded and supported.

Re-evaluate your career goals

Reflect on your interests and career goals and explore alternative career paths that align with your passions and values. Consider taking courses or workshops to develop new skills and broaden your options.

Network and build new connections

Connect with professionals in your field of interest and attend industry events to expand your network and gain insight into new career opportunities. Building new connections can help you find new opportunities and grow your professional circle.

Seek support and guidance

It’s important to connect with a mentor, advisor, or therapist who can offer support and guidance as you navigate this transition. They can help you overcome any obstacles or self-doubt you may have and provide valuable insights and resources.

Consider further education or training

If you are interested in pursuing a different academic path, consider further education or training in a new field. This can open up new opportunities and help you gain new skills and knowledge.

Embrace the change and stay positive

Leaving a PhD program can be challenging, but it’s important to embrace the change and stay positive. Remember that this decision is an opportunity for growth and new experiences. Focus on the positives of your decision and stay open to new opportunities that come your way. With time and persistence, you can forge a new path that aligns with your passions and goals.

If you decide to leave your PhD program, there are many alternative career routes to consider. Here are a few options to explore:

Consider exploring career opportunities in industry that relate to your research interests. Industry jobs can offer more stability and a faster career trajectory than academia.

If you enjoy teaching, consider pursuing a career as a high school or community college teacher. You can also consider teaching positions in non-academic settings, such as museums or community centers.

Entrepreneurship

Starting your own business or consulting firm can be a rewarding career path that allows you to apply your research skills in new ways. Be prepared to invest time and energy into building your business.

Non-profit work

Non-profit organizations offer a variety of career opportunities that align with your values and interests. Consider working for a non-profit in a role that utilizes your research skills or knowledge.

Government work

Working for the government can provide stable employment and opportunities to make a difference in your field of interest. Consider working in a government agency related to your research area or in science policy.

Freelancing

Freelancing or consulting can offer flexibility and the opportunity to work on a range of projects related to your research or interests. Be prepared for the challenges of self-employment and building a client base.

Remember that there are many alternative career paths to consider after leaving your PhD program. Take time to explore your interests and goals, and seek advice and support from trusted professionals as you navigate this transition.

Consider your options carefully and make a decision that aligns with your values and goals. Remember that it’s okay to change your mind and pursue a different path. Take time for self-care, re-evaluate your career goals, network and build connections, seek support and guidance, consider further education, and stay positive.

As opposed to quitting, if you give it a second thought and decide to resume with your PhD, here are some steps to help you through it and your approach from the past. Don’t worry if you’re feeling unsure; this is a normal phase for many.

Reconnect with your advisor and lab members

It’s important to reconnect with your advisor and lab members after a hiatus. Schedule a meeting with your advisor to discuss your plans moving forward and any necessary steps to re-integrate into the program.

Review and update your research plan

Take time to review and update your research plan to ensure that it aligns with your current goals and interests. Consider any changes that may have occurred during your hiatus and discuss any necessary adjustments with your advisor.

Re-establish your routine

Returning to a PhD program may require adjusting your routine to ensure that you have enough time and energy to dedicate to your research and coursework. Make a schedule that works for you and stick to it. Create a plan for managing your time, including scheduling regular breaks and self-care activities.

Connect with your peers

Connecting with your peers can help you stay motivated and engaged in your program. Attend department events, join a study group, or participate in student clubs to meet new people and build relationships.

Seek additional support and resources

If you are struggling to get back into the swing of things, consider seeking additional support and resources. This may include working with a tutor, attending office hours, or accessing mental health services.

Keep your long-term goals in mind

Remember your long-term goals and why you started your PhD in the first place. Keeping your goals in mind can help you stay motivated and focused as you resume your PhD journey. Celebrate your successes and milestones along the way and don’t be afraid to ask for help when needed.

Whether you decide to quit your PhD program or continue on, the most important thing is to be true to yourself and your values. Take the time to reflect and seek advice and support from trusted mentors, advisors, and professionals. Remember that there are always options and opportunities to pursue your passions and goals. Whatever you choose – to quit or to resume your PhD after a brief hiatus , trust yourself and take pride in the journey ahead.

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What makes a good PhD supervisor? Top tips for managing the student-supervisor relationship.

Jan 8, 2020

When I started my PhD, the entire cohort of incoming students had an induction session in the university’s great hall. There were around 500 of us, from every department and every imaginable discipline. 

The induction itself was tedious, but there was one comment in particular that stood out immediately and stuck with me throughout my entire PhD journey. When a professor was asked in a Q&A what advice he would give incoming PhD students, he said to remember that, after your mother, your supervisor will be the most important person in your life.

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Now I’m at the other end of the PhD and I’ve graduated, I’ve got some advice of my own to add to his. You see, the professor overlooked something really important, and that is that, by the time we were sitting in the induction, we had already chosen our supervisors (or had them assigned, as in my case).  

Why should that matter? Primarily because whether or not your supervisor becomes the most important person in your life depends how good that supervisor actually is, how well they are executing their duties, and how well you are managing the student-supervisor relationship. 

In this guide, I want to dig in a little more into what makes a good supervisor, before discussing what they should and shouldn’t be doing, why you need to please them (and how you can go about doing so), and how to make the 

How to choose a PhD supervisor 

The most important piece of advice for someone about to embark on a PhD and looking for a potential supervisor is to actually make an effort to talk to them about your research proposal.

Now, for many, your potential supervisor may be someone you already know, such as a lecturer, Master’s dissertation supervisor or tutor. Or, it may be someone from your department who you don’t know so well, but whose work fits your research interests. 

In either case, chances are you’ve interacted with them in a teacher-student kind of relationship, where they lecture and you take notes. Well, when thinking about your PhD and their role as a potential supervisor, it’s time to put on a different hat and approach them as a peer. Email them or call them and schedule a phone call or face-to-face meeting to talk about your proposal and solicit their advice. Be explicit about wanting them to supervise you and tell them why. They won’t bite. In all likelihood, they’ll be flattered. 

Now, the same applies even if it’s someone you don’t know or have never interacted with (perhaps if it’s someone from a different university or country). Approach them, explain what you intend to do and tell them exactly why you think they should supervise you.  

As you ask these questions, you’ll get a pretty good idea of what to look for in a potential supervisor. For one, their research interests need to align with yours. The closer they align the better. But, more than that, you need to consider whether they have published in your field (and whether they’re continuing to do so).

Often, though, the more high-profile academics will already be supervising a number of students. Try, if you can, to get an idea of how many PhD students they are currently supervising. This will give you a good idea of whether they’ll have the time required to nurture your project over the years it will take you to complete it, or whether they’ll be stretched too thin. Also, look at how many students they have supervised in the past and how many of them completed successfully. This will give you a good insight into their experience and competence.  

Remember back to that advice I got on my first day: the person you’re choosing to supervise your study will become the most important person in your life, so you need to consider the personal dimension too. Do you actually get on with them? You’ll be spending a lot of time together, and some of it will be when you’re at your most vulnerable (such as when you’re stressed, under incredible pressure or breaking down as the PhD blues get the better of you). Do you think this person is someone with whom you can have a good, friendly relationship? Can you talk openly to them? Will they be there for you when you need them and, more importantly, will you be able to ask them to be?

Once you’ve considered all this, don’t be afraid to approach them at a conference, swing by their office, drop them an email or phone them and run your project by them. The worst they can do is say no, and if they do they’ll likely give you great feedback and advice that you can take to another potential supervisor. But they may just turn around and say yes, and if you’ve done your homework properly, you’ll have a great foundation from which to start your PhD-journey. They’ll also likely work with you to craft your draft proposal into something that is more likely to be accepted. 

Your PhD Thesis. On one page.

Use our free PhD Structure Template to quickly visualise every element of your thesis.

What is the role of a supervisor?

Think of your supervisor like a lawyer. They are there to advise you on the best course of action as you navigate your PhD journey, but ultimately, the decisions you make are yours and you’re accountable for the form and direction your PhD takes.

In other words: they advise, you decide. 

I appreciate that is vague, though. What do they advise on?

Primarily, their job is:

8. To a certain extent, they often provide emotional and pastoral support

How many of these jobs they actually do will vary from supervisor to supervisor. You have to remember that academics, particularly those that are well known in their field, are often extremely busy and in many cases overworked and underpaid. They may simply not have the time to do all the things they are supposed to. Or, it may be the case that they simply don’t need to because you already have a good handle on things. 

What does a supervisor not do?

Your supervisor is not there to design your research for you, or to plan, structure or write your thesis. Remember, they advise and you decide. It’s you that’s coming up with the ideas, the plans, the outlines and the chapters. It’s their job to feedback on them. Not the other way around.

Unlike at undergraduate or masters level, their job isn’t to teach you in the traditional sense, and you aren’t a student in the traditional sense either. The onus is on you to do the work and take the lead on your project. That means that if something isn’t clear, or you need help with, say, a chapter outline, it is up to you to solicit that advice from your supervisor or elsewhere. They won’t hold your hand and guide you unless you ask them to.

Having said that, their job isn’t to nanny you. At PhD level it is expected that you can work independently and can self-motivate. It is not your supervisor’s job to chase you for chapter drafts or to motivate you to work. If you don’t do the work when you’re supposed to then it’s your problem, not theirs.

It’s also not their job to proofread or edit your work. In fact, if you’re handing in drafts that contain substantial fluency or language issues (say, if you’re a non-native English speaker), it’s likely to annoy them, particularly if you’re doing so at the later stages of the PhD, because they’ll have to spend as much time focusing on how you’re writing as they do on what you’re writing.

More troubling would be if you explicitly ask them to correct or edit the language. They won’t do this and will take a dim view of being asked. Instead, hire a proofreader or ask a friend with good writing skills to take a read through and correct any obvious language errors (check the rules laid out by your university to see what a proofreader can and cannot do though. As with everything in your PhD, the onus is on you to do things properly).

What you need to do to please your supervisor

The lines between what your supervisor will and will not do for you are blurred, and come down in large part to how much they like you. That means you should pay attention to pleasing them, or at least not actively irritating them.

There are a few simple things you can do that will make their life easier and, with that, boost their opinion of you and their willingness to go beyond their prescribed role.

First, and by this stage you shouldn’t need to be told this, meet deadlines, submit work to them when you said you would, and turn up to your supervision meetings on time. If you meet the deadlines you’ve set, they’re more likely to return work quicker and spend more time reading it prior to doing so.

Wrapping up

Managed well, you too can ensure that your supervisor is the most important person in your life. And you want them to be. Those who succeed in their PhDs and in their early academic careers are those who had effective supervision and approached their supervisor as a mentor.

Things don’t always go according to plan, though, and sometimes even with the best will in the world, supervisors under-perform, create problems or, in more extreme cases, sabotage PhD projects. This can be for a variety of reasons, but it leaves students in a difficult position; in the student-supervisor relationship, the student is relatively powerless, particularly if the supervisor is well known and highly esteemed. If this is the case, when things don’t go well, raising concerns with relevant channels may prove ineffective, and may even create more problems. In these extreme cases, you’ll have to draw on levels of diplomacy and patience you may never have known you had.  

Hello, Doctor…

Sounds good, doesn’t it?  Be able to call yourself Doctor sooner with our five-star rated How to Write A PhD email-course. Learn everything your supervisor should have taught you about planning and completing a PhD.

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10 comments.

I am very grateful for your interesting and valuable advice here. Thank you very much!

Thanks for the kind words.

Though my PhD journey is still in an infancy stage, i can’t thank you enough for the wisdom, motivation and upliftment shared….thank you, i earnestly appreciate it.

You’re very kind. It’s my aim to help others and make their lives easier than mine was when I was doing my PhD. To hear that it’s working fills me with a lot of joy.

I am grateful for this e-mail. I really appreciate and I have learnt a lot about how to build a fruitful relationship with my supervisor.

Thank you again for your notable contribution to our PhD journey.

You’re very welcome. Thanks for reading.

I’m looking to doing a PhD research and believe your service and material would be very useful. It am in the process of applying for a place at SOAS and hope to be offered the opportunity. I anticipation of this I’m currently investigating and making notes to all the support I’ll need. The challenge for me is I’ll be 69 years old in November and into my 70s in three years time, and would need all the support and encouragement available.

So wish me luck.

Thanks for the comment. What you bring with you is experience and expertise. That will serve you well as you go through the PhD journey. Good luck!

Thank you so much for the valuable advice. I really appreciate your motivation and guidance regarding the PhD journey. Iam a second year PhD student with the University of South Africa and l think your words of wisdom will help me to maintain a friendly relationship with my supervisor until graduation. I thank you

You’re very welcome. I’m glad you’re finding what we do here useful. Keep up the good work.

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When should you quit your PhD? Advice for students

Deciding whether you should finish your PhD or leave academia altogether is a very tough decision to make. It shouldn’t be taken lightly, and many PhD students want to quit their PhD at many points throughout the process. I know that I wanted to quit my PhD in the second year but I’m pleased that I stuck it out.

Quitting your PhD may make sense if you have a complete breakdown of your supervisor relationship, you are working with a poorly designed project, mental health issues are getting in the way, or you simply do not want to continue in academia after your first year.

The constant presence of failure and criticism throughout a PhD can make PhD candidates feel like they will never be smart enough and can cause feelings of being an imposter.

This article will go through everything you need to know about when you should quit your PhD and help you make one of the toughest decisions that any PhD can make.

It is important to note that people who quit are not failures.

There is a narrative in academia that can cause people to feel really anxious about quitting. However, failing to quit when it is the best decision for you is much more of a failing.

I talk about this more in my YouTube video below.

Read more to find out the insider secrets to quitting your PhD.

When should a PhD student quit?

There is no one size fits all answer to when a PhD student should quit.

However, there are some general guidelines that may be helpful in deciding whether or not to quit a PhD program.

If you are facing significant personal or health problems that are impacting your ability to complete your studies, it may be time to consider quitting.

Additionally, if a student feels they are not making progress and are not enjoying the program, it may be time to reassess their goals and consider whether or not continuing with the PhD is the right decision.

Ultimately, the decision of whether or not to quit a PhD program should be made after careful consideration of all factors involved.

But you are not alone in this decision!

Here are some other people who have quit their PhD and are talking about on YouTube that you may find interesting to watch:

Here are some important aspects that you can consider if you are considering giving up your PhD.

After your first year

Before you decide to quit your PhD, you should at least see if it isn’t poor for you. Spend at least six months in your doctorate before asking yourself whether academia is the right career choice for you.

Having tried a PhD and realising that it is not for you is certainly not a failure.

The first year will show you pretty much all of the important aspects of having a career in academia. Therefore, you can base your decision on how much you have really enjoyed your first year and whether or not it is something that you want to continue for another two – five years.

Breakdown of the supervisor relationship

Your PhD will be heavily dictated by your academic supervisor.

It’s important that you maintain a healthy supervisor relationship. However, sometimes that is easier said than done.

If your PhD supervisor relationship has completely broken down and is toxic, I would recommend looking for an alternative supervisor or leaving the project altogether and looking for other opportunities in academia and outside of academia elsewhere.

I highly recommend that you have a co-supervisor during your PhD so that if one of the supervisor relationships breaks down you always have a backup.

The project is poorly designed

Sometimes the best plans can go badly.

It is worth quitting your PhD if you have got nowhere with your research after two years. Sometimes research does not reward you for hard work and it can be a very frustrating time.

Look at the progress of your research and focus on stuff that is working. Ultimately, at the end of your PhD you are expected to write up a dissertation or a number of peer-reviewed papers to show that you have contributed enough novel work to be admitted into your doctorate.

If you are unable to satisfy this, you will simply fail to obtain your PhD.

A good project is one that is relatively flexible and can pivot to other areas if one section of the plan is not working.

Mental health issues

Mental health issues are also another reason why you should consider quitting your PhD or, at least putting it on hold.

Your PhD is only as good as your mental health. You will be the one responsible for pushing the project forward when things are going badly and this takes a fair amount of resilience and persistence.

Resilience and persistence are at their best when your mental health is too.

Financial issues

Many people want to quit their PhD due to financial stress.

Earning a student stipend for multiple years can be a very stressful and miserable time for those who have got expenses and debts. Some people get a job alongside their PhD but this is not realistic for most.

Quitting your PhD in saving up money in a job may help you return to academia with a financial safety net that can make your PhD much less stressful.

The best way to quit your PhD

There is no one best way to quit your PhD as every situation is unique, and you will need to find an approach that works best for you.

However, there are some general tips that may be helpful.

First, it is important to have a clear plan and reason for leaving your PhD program. This will make it easier to stay focused and motivated as you go through the process of quitting.

Second, try to give yourself plenty of time to make the transition. This includes both mentally and emotionally preparing for the change, as well as taking care of any practical details like finding a new place to live or transferring your health insurance and all of the boring admin stuff that may occur.

Finally, be sure to reach out for support from family and friends during this time. Quitting a PhD can be a difficult and stressful experience but having a strong support network can make it much easier.

Here are some steps you can take to ease the transition.

Take some time off – Pause your studies

Sometimes, the best thing you can do is to take a break.

Step away from your research and give yourself some time to relax. You may be able to give yourself up to a year off from your research. I have spoken with PhD students have done this and they are able to re-enter their PhD with much more focus and motivation.

Try to come back to your research with fresh eyes and a clear mind.

Leave your PhD amicably

If you decide to leave your PhD program, it is important to do so amicably.

This means that you should try to maintain a good relationship with your advisor and committee members. You should also let them know about your decision as soon as possible. A committee member may be able to help you find a new advisor.

Finally, it is also a good idea to write a letter of resignation. This will help you to state your intentions in a professional manner and it will also give your supervisor time to adjust or find a replacement PhD student for the project.

A letter of resignation can be an extremely difficult thing to write. However, it is important that you take the time to write one so that your supervisor and the University know that you are leaving.

What are your next career plans?

Before leaving your PhD you need to ask yourself what is next for your career.

What excites you? What job would you be excited to turn up to every day?

Most people will need to find work as soon as they leave their PhD in order to live comfortably. Think about what you’d like to do and your plans for after you quit.

This will help you consider whether or not quitting is the right decision for you and help ease the transition as you will be excited for your next adventure.

Wrapping up

If you decide to quit a PhD it can be a very daunting experience and many people wonder if they will regret it.

There are many people that quit a PhD for a variety of reasons. Ensuring that you are comfortable with your decision and that you’re excited about the next stage in your life will help ease the transition.

You can also take eight couple of months off to settle on your decision without the pressures of academia muddying your thoughts.

For many people a PhD is not the right choice and quitting is the best decision they can make. Good luck with your decision!

Dr Andrew Stapleton has a Masters and PhD in Chemistry from the UK and Australia. He has many years of research experience and has worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow and Associate at a number of Universities. Although having secured funding for his own research, he left academia to help others with his YouTube channel all about the inner workings of academia and how to make it work for you.

Thank you for visiting Academia Insider.

We are here to help you navigate Academia as painlessly as possible. We are supported by our readers and by visiting you are helping us earn a small amount through ads and affiliate revenue - Thank you!

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4 Signs Your PhD Advisor Is Mistreating You and What to Do About It

PhD students rely on their supervisors for support, help and mentorship. But what happens when your supervisor treats you unfairly? In this article, we will tell about the top 4 signs your PhD advisor is mistreating you.

Why Do PhD Supervisors Turn on Students?

A PhD supervisor can make or break your post-graduate experience. An academic staff has a huge impact on how students feel about their experience. So, it’s hard when your supervisor starts treating you unfairly. Some students end up being micromanaged, bullied, and even abandoned by their advisors.

A conflict in working styles is one of the most common reasons why supervisor relationships turn sour. Many PhD advisors expect their students to be perfectly in sync with their work style. They don’t take it kindly when students can’t keep up.

Other times, it happens because of poor communication. Simply clarifying your expectations early can help you set things straight with your supervisor. Sometimes, even relationships that begin well, go on to become intolerable later. It’s all part of the ups and downs of the post-graduate experience.

With that said, there are times when students have advisors who are mistreating them without a clear reason. Let’s see how you can identify a PhD supervisor who mistreats you.

They Manipulate You through Praise

Mistreatment takes many forms. But you least expect it from someone who excessively praises you. Funnily enough, that is how some PhD advisors mistreat students. This type of behavior is called love bombing.

First, they will shower potential candidates with praises, telling them they are unlike other students they’ve worked with. They will lure you with promises of publications and prestigious institutions. However, it all ends after you join their research group.

As soon as you face problems like failed experiments, the same person could behave very differently. Instead of helping you modify your approach and reevaluate methods, they may belittle you.

The best way to pick up on such habits is to ask senior students in the program about their experience. Likewise, you can also ask the advisors how they relate to other students and how students relate to them.

In other words, if you sense your advisor is overpraising you or making fantastic claims about your acumen and credentials, pay attention to how they talk about other graduate students. Therefore, if an advisor tells you (a new graduate student) not to listen to senior graduate students because you are better than them, it’s likely they will discuss you similarly down the road.

They Want to Control Your Actions

Going to conferences and networking with people is crucial for the graduate journey. While it isn’t necessary to attend every meeting, you should definitely visit the ones relevant to your field and research topic.

A good supervisor will help you learn new skills and accelerate your professional and academic goals. Even if they disagree, they will let you decide what’s best for you. However, abusive advisors will stop you from attending conferences unless you have their permission. They will belittle you for going against their will and their position of power against you.

They Try to Isolate You

Abusers thrive in an environment where victims are isolated and can’t share their experiences. Unfortunately, graduate school is pretty isolating. Students must leave their established support circle, become financially dependent on an institution, and do their best to keep the advisor’s favor.

In such circumstances, it’s easier for abusive supervisors to force students into isolation. They may refuse to include other faculty as a part of your committee, so they have complete control over you.

There have been cases where abusive advisors refuse anyone on the committee who isn’t a part of their cult of personality. In such instances, a student’s success depends heavily on keeping their advisor happy. And since the rest of the committee is filled with people close to the supervisor, voicing your concerns can result in a group backlash or gaslighting.

This is why students need to maintain a strong support network. People around you can help you figure out different ways to avoid these situations.

They Want to Become Gatekeepers for Everything

Abusive supervisors have no qualms about telling you to do things and then get mad if you don’t follow through, even if it’s not directly related to the project. They will force you to ask them for permission for the simplest of things.

Impolite advisors may make it mandatory for students to ask for permission before approaching or talking to anyone at a conference. Other times, they might stop you from publishing your article in a journal until they have approved it.

Regardless, it’s likely that they won’t permit you and eventually force you to act on your own, only to then lash out at you for not listening.

In summary, the main purpose of mistreating supervisors is to misuse their power over you and exert their control over you. If you think your PhD advisor is mistreating you or stopping you from publishing an article, don’t worry; we have you covered.

Send your article to us. Experts at Edit911 offer you premium scientific editing services to help you publish your work in a journal. To learn more about our services, feel free to visit our website .

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What can your PhD supervisor do for you?

4 ways to a more productive relationship.

Gemma Conroy

Credit: Thomas Barwick/Getty

31 March 2020

Thomas Barwick/Getty

An Australian survey of PhD students and supervisors has revealed an alarming mismatch between their expectations.

While the 114 PhD students surveyed thought publishing at least four papers and winning grants or awards was the most important outcome of their candidature, the 52 supervisors said critical thinking skills, written communication, and discipline knowledge were the greatest indicators of their students’ success.

More than 20% of the students said they received little or no guidance overall, but only 3% of supervisors said they left students to their own devices. The findings were posted on bioRxiv.

Problems in the relationship between supervisor and students can cost dearly, both for individual students and for the wider research system. In North America, it is estimated that up to 50% of PhD students drop out of their candidature due to feelings of incompetence and a lack of support from supervisors and other faculty members.

A 2019 survey of 311 European universities reported that 34% of PhD students fail to complete their doctoral studies within six years, with many students likely quitting altogether.

Adam Cardilini, a teaching scholar at Deakin University where the Australian survey was conducted, says that discussing expectations and goals early on can lead to a better PhD experience for both students and their supervisors.

“We need to do our best to support candidates and improve research outcomes,” says Cardilini, who led the study.

Below are his four recommendations to help students and supervisors maintain a productive working relationship.

1. Be clear about expectations from the start

Discussing expectations at the beginning is one of the simplest ways to ensure PhD students and supervisors remain on the same page throughout the candidature, says Cardilini.

While building critical thinking skills from the outset can lead to better quality research down the line, Cardilini points out that there also needs to be more focus on “identifying where those critical thinking skills are best displayed.”

For instance, if a supervisor prizes critical thinking skills over publishing papers or winning grants, they should help candidates develop these skills from the start, such as by requiring students to spend six months reviewing papers.

“It’s about helping a candidate know how to read peer reviewed research and be critical of it instead of taking it as gospel,” says Cardilini. “I don’t think we explicitly teach this.”

2. Agree on achievable goals

Setting clear goals ensures that PhD students and supervisors work towards the same outcome, says Cardilini. These could include developing a particular skillset, publishing a certain number of papers, or winning grants.

Cardilini says that learning how to set achievable goals also teaches students how to effectively manage themselves, an essential skill for a productive research career.

“Often these skills are assumed or left up to the student to think about,” says Cardilini. “But it really takes some time for people to learn how to set a goal. I think that’s probably true for some supervisors as well.”

3. Help students be independent and collaborative

Guiding students to think for themselves and team up with other researchers can help candidates stay motivated throughout their PhD. It can also help them become more productive and collaborative down the track, notes Cardilini.

One way to facilitate this development is by creating an open, supportive culture where students can thrive and grow, says Cardilini. For instance, if a student wants to learn a certain type of analysis that the supervisor isn’t well-versed in, they can encourage the candidate to reach out to another research group that can teach them.

“If candidates are open about what they need and supervisors are open about what they can provide, they can talk about where the student needs to be independent, or collaborative,” says Cardilini.

4. Keep communication open

While everyone has different styles of communicating, it’s imperative that PhD students and supervisors agree on a style that suits both their needs, notes Cardilini.

By maintaining open dialogue throughout candidature, students and supervisors can address any issues before they turn into bigger problems. This can lead to a more productive working relationship and can prevent students from dropping out of their program, says Cardilini.

“If you can confront issues and be open to discussing them, you can move forward and have a more productive relationship,” says Cardilini. “But if the candidate dreads going to work or is afraid about how their supervisor will react to their manuscript, it slows everything down.”

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District 7 candidates talk road safety after West Portal fatal crash

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On March 16, a family of four was killed when a woman drove an SUV into a bus stop in West Portal. 

The family, Matilde Ramos Pinto, Diego Cardoso de Oliveira and their two young children were standing at the bus stop at Ulloa Street and Lenox Way. It was the day of their wedding anniversary and they were waiting for the bus to go to the zoo. 

The driver, Mary Fong Lau, 78, was driving the wrong way down Ulloa Street. She was arrested the following day and police are still investigating the incident. She has not been charged and is cooperating with investigators. 

It is a devastating incident and one that prompts our question for this week’s candidates: How can San Francisco prevent this kind of accident from happening again? 

For Boschetto, City Hall and Vision Zero — the city’s 2014 plan to eliminate all traffic deaths within a decade — have been ineffective in addressing public safety. He promised that as supervisor, he would work with the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency to identify all danger zones in District 7 and “take precautions to make sure we avoid tragedies like this,” though, in 100 words, he did not specify exactly how. 

The city has failed in its Vision Zero goal: Fatal collisions have increased since 2014 , and 2022 had the most traffic deaths in San Francisco since 2007 .

For Martin-Pinto, it is “important to let the facts come out in this case” before proposing solutions — though he did suggest changing the configuration of bus stops and enforcing traffic regulations. Likewise, the two other candidates noted that lack of traffic enforcement is an issue. 

Traffic enforcement has collapsed across San Francisco since 2014 , particularly in the aftermath of the pandemic. Police officers are issuing a small fraction of the citations they did 10 years ago, leading supervisors to hold pointed inquiries into the problem last year. 

And lastly, Melgar pointed to both enforcement and slowing down cars, alongside physical protective infrastructure like bollards. She also went further by suggesting that certain areas around public transportation hubs should be fully pedestrianized and closed to cars altogether. 

Their answers are below, but I also wanted to let you know that I will be in your district on Monday, March 25 at 1 p.m. at Ballast Coffee (329 West Portal Ave). I’ll be around for an hour and then in the district talking to residents and businesses. Check back here to see where I will be next.

S tephen Martin-Pinto

Firefighter/Major, US Marine Corps Reserves

As long as we have humans living in cities, there will always unfortunately be accidents. Furthermore, it’s important to let the facts come out in this case before we can declare ourselves experts in preventing this kind of accident from happening again. However, here are some ideas:

• Eliminate bulb-out bus stops that more closely expose passengers to traffic. Replace with pocket bus stops.

Use a combination of engineering and enforcement. Vision Zero has failed precisely because we’ve chosen haphazard engineering with zero enforcement – we decided enforcement was discriminatory, so we stopped doing it. Now people are paying the price with their lives.

Myrna Melgar

Incumbent District 7 Supervisor

We have seen a plummeting of enforcement of moving violations during the pandemic, due to low staffing at the SFPD. We need enforcement, and we need to slow the cars down. Additionally, we absolutely must invest in physical infrastructure to reduce deaths and injuries from traffic violence: bulb-outs, bollards (concrete and metal) at bus stops and corner crosswalks in high injury corridors, concrete dividers, and pedestrianizing high traffic areas where pedestrians are at risk and we want to prioritize public transit and other modes of transportation.

Matt Boschetto

Small business owner

The tragedy last weekend is beyond words and raises serious questions about our approach to pedestrian safety. With traffic fatalities remaining relatively unchanged since 2014 and with a high of 39 in 2022, City Hall and Vision Zero have been ineffective addressing the issue and public safety, in general. As Supervisor, I promise to work with the SFMTA to identify all dangerous zones in our district and take precautions to make sure we avoid tragedies like this, as much as possible. Furthermore, I will work with SFPD to reestablish traffic enforcement, especially in problematic areas.

The order of candidates alternates each week. Answers may be lightly edited for formatting, spelling, and grammar. Got a question for the candidates? Email me: [email protected] .

Read the rest of the series  here . Illustrations for the series by Neil Ballard.

You can register to vote via the sf.gov website .

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Kelly Waldron

Kelly is Irish and French and grew up in Dublin and Luxembourg. She studied Geography at McGill University and worked at a remote sensing company in Montreal, making maps and analyzing methane data, before turning to journalism. She recently graduated from the Data Journalism program at Columbia Journalism School.

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