Outstanding Supervisor Award - Medical Sciences - 2017

The experience as a graduate student in Oxford is determined by a huge number of things., however having a supportive supervisor can be key. To win this award, the supervisor should:

• Be willing to spend time and effort working with the supervisee

• Give helpful, prompt, fluent and thoughtful comments

• Be a resource in terms of general knowledge about the discipline, research methods and current developments

• Critically engage with their own and their students’ subject matter, both in personal discussions and the wider scientific community

• Create a stimulating and consistently challenging research environment, encouraging the student to consider new or alternative perspectives and to push boundaries

• Be supportive of students’ professional development, by encouraging and supporting conference participation, teaching, submission of papers, and other relevant activities

• Be responsive to student concerns and difficulties and aid the supervisee in overcoming challenges themselves

• Develop the supervisee’s independence while always remaining approachable when necessary

• Critically engage with their own and their students’ subject matter, both in personal discussions and the wider academic community

• Enable the student to progress and build their own network by providing initial contact with others within/outside the research group and pointers to relevant conferences/seminars