How to supervise

Nobody understands the complexity of supervisory duties and the added value of good supervisors better than a doctoral researcher. While supervising is a lifelong skill, this course provides an initial opportunity to reflect on yourselves as supervisors, your styles of communication and providing feedback, and the relevance of holding an intercultural lens on the process.

When it comes to supervising, there is no "one size fits all." While some research-based practices may lead to better outputs, it is important to acknowledge our strengths and limitations in addressing this responsibility. In this course, you will also have opportunities to share your very real problems among peers and seek better ways of dealing with challenging situations.

While it is a challenge to adapt to every discipline, we also aim to incorporate scientific, mathematical, and engineering flavour into the course.

Prerequisites and ECTS

Attendance of the workshops is mandatory. You can only miss one workshop (in that case, you have to complete an alternative assignment) in order to be able to receive the certificate of completion.

You can only take this course if you have concrete supervision plans. We apply all theory to your own situation as a supervisor. If you don’t have supervision duties coming up, you can follow the introduction to teaching course instead. This will give you a broad introduction into teaching and supervising at the university level.

• Employed PhD candidates who are supervising as part of their job get 1 ECTS credits for completing this course.
• Scholarship PhD candidates do not supervise as part of their job. When taking this course, you can combine it with voluntary supervision (contact your supervisor for more information). Completion of the course combined with the voluntary supervision is rewarded with 1+3 ECTS.

Course dates:

The February 2026 course (from 1pm to 3:30pm)

• Workshop 1 - February 5
• Workshop 2 - February 12
• Workshop 3 - February 19
• Workshop 4 - March 5
• Workshop 5 - March 19
• Workshop 6 - March 26

The April 2026 course (from 1pm to 3:30pm)

• Workshop 1 - April 14
• Workshop 2 - April 21
• Workshop 3 - April 28
• Workshop 4 - May 7
• Workshop 5 - May 19
• Workshop 6 - May 28

Learning goals

After this course, you will be able to…

• support BSc/MSc students to develop their skills as a researcher
• align mutual expectations between the BSc/MSc student and themselves
• adapt their supervision style to the level and personality of the student(s) and to the stage of the research project.
• formulate constructive feedback to increase the quality of learning.
• use assessment rubrics to grade student work reliably and transparently.
• find solutions for the challenges facing them using their resources, evidence and peer collaboration.

Eventually, you will be able to act as a (daily) supervisor for BSc/MSc students in an effective way.