Supervision
The Department of Politics and International Relations provides each student with a team of two supervisors, a first (or primary) supervisor and a second supervisor. In some cases students are given joint supervision and the main supervisory duties are shared equally. One of the joint supervisors remains nominated as a first supervisor for administrative purposes. Supervisors (but not the first supervisor) may sometimes be drawn from other Departments. The Department sets an upper limit of 6 Research students at any one time for each first supervisor.
It is not possible to stipulate precisely the nature and organisation of the supervisory relationship or the roles of different types of supervisor, but the following tries to clarify areas where there may be some confusion. The definitive statement of departmental or University policy on supervision, including the responsibilities of both students and supervisors, can be found in the Research, Partnerships and Innovation Code of Practice for Research Degree Programmes.
In the event that a supervisor leaves the Department to take up an appointment at another institution, the Director of Postgraduate Research Studies will take responsibility on behalf of the Department for replacing the supervisor, in consultation with the student concerned.
Formal meetings between students and their supervisor(s) should take place at least every four to six weeks for full-time students (pro-rata for part-time students).
If you are away from Sheffield, you are still expected to maintain this level of contact - meetings can be held remotely by Google Meet or telephone.
You should continue to have supervision meetings when you are writing up your thesis or completing corrections. Meetings should be recorded in the same way.
Meetings with your second supervisor should take place at least once each semester. In some instances it may be appropriate for particular supervisory sessions to involve both first and second supervisors. This is a matter of negotiation between the supervisors and the student.
It is compulsory for students to keep written records of formal student-supervisor meetings. The Personal and Academic Tutoring System (PATS) must be used to record all supervision meetings. PATS records can be completed by either the student or the supervisor and should be agreed at the start of study who is responsible. Records should be created within 3 working days of the supervision meeting. In either case, it is Faculty Policy for the other party to sign off to confirm it is an accurate record of the meeting or make amendments/additions if required.
How to record a meeting
Log into PATS via the “All services” menu on MUSE.
Click “Add a new meeting record” in the top right corner of the homepage. Enter the time, date and supervisor.
Select the meeting type “Research Supervision” then the form type “Record of Supervision.” Complete and save the form.
Supervisors must sign off the record for it to be completed.
Monitoring student engagement and attendance:
Student engagement and attendance is monitored by the university. The records you input into PATS form part of this so it is important that you update PATS regularly. PATS is checked to identify where this is not happening and will be followed up accordingly. The records help to identify problems at an early stage so that students can be offered appropriate support.
Generally, a student’s supervisor should be the first port of call for a student with questions about her/his research programme. If students have (or think they have) difficulties with their supervision (for example, if they feel they are not receiving enough attention, or if their topic involves more than one area of research and they feel they need additional help) they should take the matter up in the first instance with the Deputy Director of Postgraduate Research Studies, Dr Liam Stanley. If the Deputy Director is the supervisor concerned the student should approach the Director of Postgraduate Research Studies, Dr Lisa Stampnitzky. The importance of prompt identification and resolution of any problems cannot be over-emphasised, and it is the responsibility of the student in the first instance to ensure that any problems are raised at the appropriate level at the earliest opportunity. (see also Complaints Procedure)