Cultural Management: PhD advisory committees
The Melbourne School of Graduate Research (MSGR) has introduced annual Advisory Committee meetings for PhD students. The School of Culture and Communication will be holding committee meetings for all students who have enrolled in 2007 and onwards. These meetings are intended to ensure PhD candidates receive ongoing support towards the successful completion of their thesis, including by having access to a wider range of academic staff for feedback and support. This committee will play an important role at several stages in your candidature, meeting with you to discuss your research progress reports at the key milestones identified in the table below.
Purpose of the PhD Advisory Committee:
- to improve PhD students’ experience by providing a wider range of academic staff committed to a candidate’s progress;
- to expand the feedback a candidate receives on the progress of their work;
- to increase the breadth of ideas and insight to which candidates are exposed;
- to ensure that the candidate has access to academic advice at all times, in particular in the absence of his/her main supervisor;
- to provide advice to the candidate about opportunities during or after the PhD (including conferences, exchange programs, tutoring, relevant workshops, grant opportunities and publishing);
- to improve completion patterns by providing students with structured planning of their research work.
PhD Advisory Committees must consist of at least three members of staff:
- Two Supervisors: your principal supervisor (who will be responsible for regular supervision), your associate supervisor (who will take over regular supervision when your principal supervisor is absent for more than two months, and also read a full, final draft of your thesis before it is sent to examiners);
- Disciplinary Research Coordinator or nominee (who will convene and chair the meetings).
It will be the responsibility of the Chair to schedule the meetings. Committee members will be required to have read the candidate’s report prior to the meeting and discuss the candidate’s work and issues flagged in the candidate’s submission. The Committee is also required to discuss with the candidate the following:
- Ethics (if applicable);
- any difficulties experienced by the candidate;
- timeline for completion;
- upcoming milestones or hurdle requirements;
- milestones set for the next period under review;
- supervision;
- publications, presentations, funding opportunities, tutoring and any relevant workshopsor short courses that may assist the candidate.
Advisory Committee members who are not supervisors are not expected to read entire drafts or provide supervision outside of the Committee meetings.
Gender and Advisory committees
It is expected that PhD Advisory Committees will try to reflect gender balance in an appropriate way. It is recommended that, wherever possible, these committees contain at least one female member of staff. Supervision arrangements—the appointment of an associate supervisor, for example—should be made with the question of gender balance in mind. If—for female PhD candidates—both supervisors are male, and the Research Coordinator is also male, then steps should be taken to ensure that a female member of staff is represented at the Confirmation Committee meeting as an observing fourth party.
Reporting requirements
The Advisory Committee’s comments and recommendations should be clearly documented, and the Chair should record what has been discussed and what milestones have been agreed upon. Copies of these notes should be filed for future reference, and a copy should be provided to the student. This is of particular importance for reviews where there is no formal MSGR report form.