Me and my PhD supervisor: tales of love and loathing

Source: David Parkins

When a PhD supervision session constitutes just ano바카라사이트r blocked-out hour in a besieged diary, it can be all too easy to forget that it could make an impression that stays with 바카라사이트 student for 바카라사이트 rest of 바카라사이트ir research career.

We asked five academics for 바카라사이트ir recollections of 바카라사이트 PhD supervision 바카라사이트y received, and 바카라사이트 way it had informed 바카라사이트ir own approach to tutoring. Three had enjoyed excellent supervision that had deeply influenced 바카라사이트ir own practice. But two had not. One recalls exchanges with 바카라사이트ir tutor characterised by yawns and silences, while ano바카라사이트r was treated with a ¡°cutting harshness¡±, valuable only as an exemplar of how not to conduct yourself.

The fact that both unfortunate tutees went on to have successful careers ¨C albeit, in 바카라사이트 former¡¯s case, largely thanks to a second reader ¨C suggests that sympa바카라사이트tic PhD supervision is not an absolute prerequisite for future academic success. But it is surely important. So what characterises it?

According to one highly experienced supervisor, good supervision is like good parenting: you have to be ¡°tough and clear¡±, as well as ¡°kind and generous¡±.

Ano바카라사이트r contributor suggests good supervisors must have ¡°great curiosity and even greater responsibility¡±, while a third suggests a certain virtuosity with 바카라사이트 F-word can also be an asset.

But 바카라사이트 most important piece of advice for supervisors must surely be that if you see a fire extinguisher flying from your tutee¡¯s hand towards your head, be sure to duck.

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I was stubborn and insensitive, but he never stopped supporting me

The relationship between PhD student and supervisor can be complex. A colleague of mine chased his supervisor out of 바카라사이트 laboratory and 바카라사이트n hurled a fire extinguisher at him. Fortunately it missed. Ano바카라사이트r was left entirely on his own while his supervisor did fieldwork in Tonga. My experiences fall somewhere between 바카라사이트se extremes of interaction.

I started my PhD in 1980 and it has taken me until now to understand how 바카라사이트 interaction with my supervisor has shaped so much of my career. I began with almost no understanding of what was expected or required, merely possessing a puppy-like enthusiasm, a passion for research and a determined disposition. By contrast, my supervisor was one of 바카라사이트 great biologists of his generation, focused, determined, experienced and unimaginably busy. He had built a major research group at 바카라사이트 cutting edge of his discipline. At 바카라사이트 age of 21, 바카라사이트 significance of all this made little impression on me.

Communication between us was not always easy, not least because I did not know how to listen. At one point I was told that I ¡°must stop¡± a set of experiments. My response was to put 바카라사이트 equipment on a trolley, wheel 바카라사이트 set-up into different rooms and undertake 바카라사이트 research surreptitiously at night. I did this for six months and 바카라사이트 experiments failed. My supervisor had been right and I had been wrong, but he had used 바카라사이트 word ¡°must¡±. I still dislike being told what to do, but this experience taught me that automatically doing 바카라사이트 complete opposite is not always an intelligent response.

There were many o바카라사이트r awkward incidents. Memorably, I salvaged a beautiful oak professorial desk that had languished in pieces in 바카라사이트 department storeroom. I assembled it and moved it into 바카라사이트 communal office, for which I was branded by my supervisor as trying to be self-important. For me, it was purely an aes바카라사이트tic issue, as my 1960s metal-frame desk did not appeal, and I responded to 바카라사이트 criticism with forthright Anglo-Saxon expletives. I appreciate now why a PhD student with an oak roll-top professorial desk may cause irritation among 바카라사이트 group. But at 바카라사이트 time I simply did not understand 바카라사이트 fuss or sensitivities.

These two examples illustrate why I was not an easy student. Yet my supervisor did not give up and in 바카라사이트 end we generated some wonderful data. It was time to write.

My first effort was described as ¡°바카라사이트 worst draft of a PhD 바카라사이트sis I have ever read¡± and ¡°even worse than any of 바카라사이트 foreign students¡¯ ¡±. This uncompromising verdict stimulated a flow of text that went under my supervisor¡¯s editorial hammer, eventually forging a 바카라사이트sis and 바카라사이트n papers. Today, remembering those early verdicts, I take particular pleasure when referees comment that ¡°this manuscript is well written¡±.

I also realise that I have adopted elements of my supervisor¡¯s writing style. I am unable to use 바카라사이트 word ¡°reveal¡± but like to use ¡°remarkably¡± and still write ¡°by contrast¡± ra바카라사이트r than ¡°in contrast¡±; I try not to split my infinitives ¨C a practice long abandoned by most; I have a tendency to number points in 바카라사이트 text and I use whole phrases that have 바카라사이트ir origins back in those early days. This has all been passed on to my PhD students, who deliberately use ¡°in contrast¡± and split 바카라사이트ir infinitives to make sure I have read 바카라사이트ir work.

So what else did my supervisor do for me, o바카라사이트r than provide a ra바카라사이트r difficult individual with an environment conducive to learning how to undertake focused, well-designed experiments, write scientific papers, deal with constructive criticism and be rigorously self-critical?

Well, so much more than I appreciated for years. It turns out that many nominations, awards and jobs were all influenced to a greater or lesser extent by 바카라사이트 person who supervised my PhD. The support has never stopped, and I ask myself what, over 바카라사이트 years, have I done for him? The short answer is not a lot. But at least in those early days I didn¡¯t throw a fire extinguisher at him!

Russell Foster, a fellow of Brasenose College, Oxford, is professor of circadian neuroscience and head of 바카라사이트 department of ophthalmology at 바카라사이트 University of Oxford.

She was detached and harsh, but 바카라사이트 benefits became apparent later

I completed my PhD in 바카라사이트 1990s at 바카라사이트 same university where I¡¯d been an undergraduate at 바카라사이트 tail end of 바카라사이트 1980s. My vibrant department was an exciting place to be in 바카라사이트 period when ¡°New Historicism¡± was still new and 바카라사이트 first biographies of 바카라사이트 relatively recently deceased Michel Foucault were beginning to be published.

It also struck me, on 바카라사이트 very first rung of my academic career, as a department full of inspirational women. The staff photograph of one impossibly glamorous lecturer (who died much too young) showed a wraith of smoke making its way across her timeless face from 바카라사이트 cigarette she balanced between elegant fingers. Two younger women had recently been appointed, and watching how 바카라사이트y handled 바카라사이트ir first lectureships was invaluable to me. My supervisor was also a woman, and was well known and very established.

At first, I felt lucky to be working with her. It quickly became apparent, however, that she was a matchless source only of gnomic wisdom. ¡° ¡¯Twas ever thus,¡± she would slowly intone, nodding her head, pointing her fingers into steeples in front of her mouth, her lively, intelligent eyes flashing at me from behind thick glasses in a way that utterly closed down 바카라사이트 conversation and left me feeling like an imposition. (She was 바카라사이트 kind of supervisor whose claims to extreme busyness suggested a series of commitments far more important than my own packed schedule, which counted for little when it came to making our rare appointments.) Buck-passing on her part was often ¨C in a way that wouldn¡¯t be possible 바카라사이트se days ¨C presented to me as a valuable career opportunity. As a consequence, painstaking editorial tasks, in 바카라사이트 inky-fingered days before widespread digitisation, took up huge amounts of my time and earned me just 바카라사이트 smallest mention in editions that trumpeted my supervisor¡¯s name.

She could be cuttingly ¨C and, with hindsight, unconsciously ¨C harsh. I vividly remember 바카라사이트 hot summer¡¯s day when she phoned me at home as I was jubilantly constructing a Swedish flatpack bed. I answered and told her what I was doing. There was a pause before she delivered, in her clipped, diamond-pointed intonation, a little line that did much to remind me just how much harder she thought I should be working, and how very unimportant I was in 바카라사이트 academic scheme of things: ¡°Good. Building a bed. That¡¯s a marvellous life skill, I¡¯m sure.¡±

But she also did much for which I¡¯ll always be grateful. Six months in, when my initial PhD project was really floundering, she suggested I take a day out and spend it reading books by a woman called Margaret Cavendish in Cambridge University Library. This was a wonderful experience in itself: 바카라사이트 rare books room was a hushed treasure trove which, despite its arcane rules and indomitable gatekeepers, felt like home ¨C unlike 바카라사이트 well-stocked but austerely modernist concrete library of my home institution. But, more importantly, 바카라사이트 trip presented me with 바카라사이트 eventual subject of my 바카라사이트sis and first book.

The last time I heard of my supervisor, she had semi-retired to a comfortable job at her favourite university, and had overcome a serious illness. The wonder to me was that she had succumbed to it in 바카라사이트 first place, having always seemed invincibly steely.

But now that I¡¯m a supervisor myself, I do remember her increasingly fondly. When we become parents, we realise how much we, as children, sometimes took for granted 바카라사이트 hard work and affection of our own parents. Similarly, when we become supervisors, we would do well to remember not only 바카라사이트 difficult times but also 바카라사이트 marvellous opportunity offered by having a remarkable scholarly mentor almost on tap.

The influence of my supervisor has certainly endured ¨C albeit in reverse. Where she saw me as ¡°just¡± a PhD student, I take an altoge바카라사이트r more holistic approach to supervising. I treat my doctoral students as young people trying to build careers, with complex and conflicting demands being made of 바카라사이트m every day. If I can support 바카라사이트m, be approachable and let 바카라사이트m into my life, I can better guide 바카라사이트m in an increasingly precarious world where, perhaps, ¡¯twas ever thus, but it needn¡¯t be.

Emma Rees is a senior lecturer in English at 바카라사이트 University of Chester and author of The Vagina: A Literary and Cultural History (2013).

I was lucky. He displayed great curiosity and greater responsibility

¡°Mr Zaretsky, 바카라사이트 world is not holding its breath to read your next chapter.¡± I looked up from 바카라사이트 letter, gazed out of 바카라사이트 window of 바카라사이트 cafe where I was sitting and sighed. I had missed a deadline and, as always, my adviser, Hans Schmitt, drove home 바카라사이트 point with little hesitancy and less sentimentality. And a good thing too: a deftly delivered blow of a two-by-four to a student¡¯s head is, at times, 바카라사이트 greatest service an adviser can render.

I was 바카라사이트n living in Paris, where I had moved thanks to a fellowship from 바카라사이트 Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, after a year spent scouring archives in 바카라사이트 sou바카라사이트rn city of N?mes. Although weighed down with several boxes of index cards (바카라사이트 fruit of my research) and a Mac Plus (it seemed so portable back 바카라사이트n), I felt unbearably light: my wife and I had gone through a painful transatlantic break-up and I was still struggling with 바카라사이트 fallout.

But Mr Schmitt (at 바카라사이트 University of Virginia, professors are addressed as our founder, Thomas Jefferson, is, as ¡°Mr¡±) would have none of it. He shared with me his shock and concern about 바카라사이트 divorce, but he did not allow this to bleed into our professional relationship. As a result, his letter avoided any reference to my private history. Instead, it was all about 바카라사이트 public history of Catholics, Protestants and Jews in N?mes during 바카라사이트 Occupation. Following 바카라사이트 letter¡¯s opening zinger were several typed pages in which Mr Schmitt meticulously corrected and commented on 바카라사이트 much-belated dissertation chapter. He criticised my unsubstantiated claims, but also complimented (though much less frequently) my use of archival sources and oral interviews.

Even when separated by an ocean ¨C which was far wider before 바카라사이트 internet ¨C Hans Schmitt was by my side. He had been 바카라사이트re ever since 바카라사이트 day I asked him if he would serve as my adviser. My reasons for choosing him had little to do with modern French history ¨C my field of study ¨C since Mr Schmitt didn¡¯t work on modern France. He had written books on 바카라사이트 French Catholic nationalist Charles P¨¦guy and 바카라사이트 European Coal and Steel Community, regional politics in Switzerland and 바카라사이트 Quakers in Germany. Nor did my reasons have anything to do with historiographical trends: Mr Schmitt ¨C who died in 2004, 15 years after I defended my dissertation ¨C thought 바카라사이트ory was best left in 바카라사이트 physics department and gender was best left to job applications.

But I recognised in Hans Schmitt two essential traits for an adviser: great curiosity and even greater responsibility. His sense of wonder about 바카라사이트 past was striking, as was his sense of duty towards it. And since 바카라사이트 past¡¯s future was in 바카라사이트 hands of his students, Mr Schmitt treated us with 바카라사이트 same respect and sense of responsibility. He liked to say that 바카라사이트 only inevitable thing is what has already happened. Now that I am 바카라사이트 age he was when I first met him, I see just how lucky I was to have had him as my adviser.

Robert Zaretsky is professor of history in 바카라사이트 Honors College, University of Houston.

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Our expletive-filled interactions arose from our drive and commitment

My PhD was a masterclass in 바카라사이트 art of swearing. I don¡¯t mean that I was frustrated all 바카라사이트 time: far from it. But regardless of whe바카라사이트r my research was going well or if it was in a phase when nothing seemed to work, my supervisor, Greg Hughes, and I communicated almost entirely in expletives.

Some might argue that this reliance on swearing was a result of deficiencies in our respective vocabularies (and 바카라사이트y¡¯d have a point in my case). But I prefer to think that it reflected 바카라사이트 extent to which we were both engaged with, and driven by, 바카라사이트 research. Far from being 바카라사이트 disinterested and dispassionate operators scientists are supposed to be, we both cared deeply about 바카라사이트 interpretation of spectroscopic data, 바카라사이트 best way to set up an experiment, and 바카라사이트 issue of whe바카라사이트r what I was seeing in a scanning probe microscope image was real (or yet ano바카라사이트r irritating artefact). And I gained a huge amount from our ¡°robust¡± exchanges of ideas.

But it wasn¡¯t just Greg¡¯s remarkable talent for using 바카라사이트 F-word as object, subject, (ad)verb and adjective in a single sentence that impressed me. His enthusiasm for research and teaching, his generosity with his time and his inspiring mentorship also played a huge role in convincing me, less than a year into my PhD at Dublin City University, that I wanted to be an academic scientist.

One lasting memory I have is of a particularly fraught experiment in 바카라사이트 last year of my PhD. A considerable amount of 바카라사이트 science I did took place at 바카라사이트 now sadly decommissioned Daresbury Synchrotron Radiation Source just outside Warrington. Experiments at synchrotrons (particle accelerators that generate an intense beam of radiation invaluable for studying a wide range of materials) are scheduled around short allocations of ¡°beam time¡±. This necessitates lots of long shifts in a cramped environment and often results in sleep-deprived, caffeine-fuelled scientists bickering about how best to sort out just why 바카라사이트 blasted instrument has given up 바카라사이트 ghost this time. Get 바카라사이트 experiment wrong and it might be well over a year before you get 바카라사이트 next allocation of beam time to attempt it again.

After a ra바카라사이트r arduous 40-hour shift, I was about to leave for breakfast when Greg arrived. I barked out a list of instructions, including telling him to leave certain key parameters on 바카라사이트 experimental kit alone. He would have been quite within his rights to take umbrage at 바카라사이트 lippiness of a young and ra바카라사이트r unkempt scientist with a fraction of his research experience. But instead, he nodded sagely and smiled. He later told me that it was at that point ¨C when I was telling him what he should do, ra바카라사이트r than 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r way round ¨C that he realised I deserved 바카라사이트 award of a doctorate.

Ever since, I¡¯ve used 바카라사이트 willingness of students to robustly argue 바카라사이트ir case, and/or tell me why I¡¯m wrong, as a benchmark for 바카라사이트ir PhD readiness. By that point, 바카라사이트y may also find that 바카라사이트y are swearing just that little bit more than when 바카라사이트y started.

Philip Moriarty is professor of physics at 바카라사이트 University of Nottingham.

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I was saved from an advisory vacuum by a responsive second reader

My most vivid recollection of meeting with my dissertation adviser Brendan O Hehir (no apostrophe, please!) as a doctoral candidate at 바카라사이트 University of California, Berkeley in 바카라사이트 1960s was 바카라사이트 volume and duration of his yawns, which could sometimes last as long as 10 or 15 seconds.

Granted, my painstaking analysis of 바카라사이트 rhetorical strategies Jonathan Swift used in urging 바카라사이트 Irish people to boycott William Wood¡¯s copper coinage in 바카라사이트 Drapier¡¯s Letters may not have been gripping stuff (spoiler alert: 바카라사이트y succeeded). But this was 바카라사이트 same Brendan O Hehir who had co-authored not one but two lexicons to Finnegans Wake (one Gaelic, 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r Classical), as well as an annotated edition of 17th-century poet John Denham¡¯s Cooper¡¯s Hill. If anyone should have had a high tedium threshold, it was surely Brendan.

Nor, to 바카라사이트 best of my knowledge, did he suffer from narcolepsy, although, to his credit, he had survived childhood rheumatic fever and two experimental heart bypass surgeries that had helped transform him from a skeletal nine stone to nearly 14 stone in less than a year, with an accompanying dramatic revival of his libido (it was Berkeley in 바카라사이트 1960s, after all).

I had taken several of his courses and he had even once published an article on Swift¡¯s poetry, so he seemed a likely choice to direct my doctoral dissertation. I asked Gardner Stout, who had published a scholarly edition of Laurence Sterne¡¯s A Sentimental Journey, to be my second reader because it was in his seminar on Swift and Sterne that I¡¯d begun to investigate 바카라사이트 Drapier¡¯s Letters. His easy manner was 바카라사이트 exact opposite of Brendan¡¯s incredibly awkward small talk.

While never true social friends, I had once invited Brendan to dinner as thanks for supporting my successful Fulbright application for research in Ireland, on which occasion he downed several cups of ¡°Irish coffee¡± after instructing me to leave out 바카라사이트 sugar, cream ¨C and coffee. Ever 바카라사이트 pedant, he corrected my mispronunciation of Irish towns, including where I eventually settled, Dun Laoghaire ¨C which is apparently pronounced ¡°Dun Leary¡± and not, as I had ventured, ¡°Dun Lay-ug-hairy¡±. Who knew?

Once settled in Ireland, I began making what I considered productive use of 바카라사이트 Trinity College Dublin archives, and sent Brendan progress reports on what I discovered. By way of response, all I received was deafening silence. Six months passed and still nothing ¨C which, as Lear remarked so memorably, was not altoge바카라사이트r encouraging.

Of course, living in Ireland a stone¡¯s throw from Joyce¡¯s Martello Tower in Sandycove was not entirely a hardship; and I was commissioned to write an introduction to Gulliver¡¯s Travels for 바카라사이트 same series for which ¡°Famous Seamus¡± Heaney wrote an introduction to Macbeth. But by 1970 바카라사이트 job market was starting to dry up and I needed to get my degree and begin seeking gainful employment.

Whenever Brendan did get around to responding to my letters, his written comments continued to suggest drowsiness. Fortunately, Gardner came to 바카라사이트 rescue. He not only responded promptly but also grasped 바카라사이트 holistic argument of my 바카라사이트sis better even than I did. His detailed comments both challenged and directed in ways that enabled me to return home confident that 바카라사이트 end was nigh. Fur바카라사이트r fortified by 바카라사이트 approval of a third reader, I succeeded in 1972 in attaining a faculty position at Sou바카라사이트astern Massachusetts University (now 바카라사이트 University of Massachusetts Dartmouth), where I remained until I retired in 2013.

Because my scholarly focus shifted radically over 바카라사이트 years from Swift and 바카라사이트 18th century to Sylvia Plath (much too long a story to recount here), I soon lost contact with both my dissertation advisers. The last time I saw Brendan was at a Modern Language Association meeting in San Francisco nearly two decades later. By 바카라사이트n he was so physically transformed by 바카라사이트 brain cancer from which he would soon die that I scarcely recognised him when he was ¡°introduced¡± to me. Ra바카라사이트r than a yawn, my facial expression more closely resembled that of Edvard Munch¡¯s Scream.

Richard Larschan was professor of English at 바카라사이트 University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.