Supervisors

Choosing a supervisor: numbers

A member of staff may supervise up to a maximum of 6 PhD student units. For larger groups, an exception may be made provided a supervisory panel comprising experienced members of staff (eg Fellows, Senior RA's are available to support the student). If in doubt, please contact Tania Monteiro.

First and second supervision count as one and a half unit, respectively.

Approval of supervisors

Since 2009, UCL has required all PhD supervisors to be 'pre-approved' by the Faculty.  If your name is not on the list held by the Faculty then you will not be permitted to supervise students.  This approval has been obtained for all existing members of staff who have supervising experience. However, for new members of staff and fixed contract Research Fellows the following rules will apply:
You will need to provide the Director of Postgarduate Studies (Tania Monteiro) with:

1. A short CV which must specify your area(s) of research activity
2. Details of the period of your contract (for Research Fellows only) 

Assuming that Faculty approval is granted then you will need to:

1. Attend a (mandatory) briefing session
2. Be paired up with an 'active' second supervisor who has had experience of at least two successful supervisions.

Note that all new members of staff - whether experienced or not - are obliged to attend an appropriate UCL supervisors' workshop.

Change of supervisor

In the event that a student's supervisor(s) needs to be changed then, once suitable replacement(s) have been found:

• Supervisor: check with the DPS (Tania Monteiro) that the choice is suitable, then ask Nadia Waller to change the departmental records, and to contact the Registry to ask them to change theirs.
• Student: change the supervisor(s) in your e-log.

As an interim measure please be aware of UCL's code of practice: 'the second supervisor...provide(s) for continuity of supervision in the event of absence or departure of the Principal Supervisor'.