Compulsory PGR Supervisor Development

All PGR supervisors need to engage with ongoing professional development as a compulsory requirement of their roles, forming part of a licence to supervise.

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Requirement

The University recognises the crucial role that supervisors play in the experience of PGR students and provides them with opportunities to develop their practice at regular intervals. Based on a set of Senate agreed principles, supervisors must undertake a prescribed programme of professional development based on their individual level of experience:

  • New supervisors need to complete a programme of activities consisting of interactive webinars and asynchronous online learning. This equates to eleven hours of development in total. All activities in the programme can be accessed via the Compulsory Development for New PGR Supervisors curriculum.
  • Experienced supervisors who are new to Sheffield are required to engage in the two-hour SuperVisionaries webinar, 'PGR Supervision at Sheffield'.
  • Experienced colleagues who are not new to Sheffield will participate in two hours of prescribed development activity once in every two-year cycle.

Further information can be found on the Compulsory PGR Supervisor Development staff webpage.

Consequences of non-completion

Experienced supervisors & incoming supervisors: If a supervisor fails to complete their compulsory development activity by the required deadline, the issue will be referred to their line manager (usually their Head of School) for discussion. Supervisors who fail to engage with the their compulsory development activities after this reminder will be unable to supervise any new PGR students until it is complete.

New supervisors: This activity should be completed within one year of the start of supervision and before the end of their probationary period. This is a requirement for passing probation for all staff on research-only contracts and teaching & research contracts on probation from 2021 onwards.