Suppose you want to learn how to bake bread. You look for someone to teach you and find Charles, a wiry, enthusiastic master baker with traditional checkered baker’s trousers who is eager to get started with you. He has won various awards, been featured in professional magazines, and presents at…
‘You have to take the rough with the smooth.’ In short, that’s how PhD students explain to me what they think about how they are supervised. Some are happy with how they are supported by their supervisor and (daily) tutor(s), others get really upset, insecure, frustrated and even unhappy. What…
When I was a child, I sometimes fell while playing, and ripped a hole in my jeans. As soon as I got home, I took off those ripped jeans and threw them in the laundry basket. I hoped my mother wouldn’t find out, or find out so much later…
Quite a while ago I gave a course to prospective mediators. One of the most important concepts I covered was the difference between a circumstance and the meaning we give it. Why is that difference so important? Because it is the source of so many conflicts! The more clear we…
Writing can become easier if you use a different approach. Once you know what your readers – in this case, your supervisors – pay attention to, you know where to focus on in your text. Logical and effective don’t you think? How do supervisors perceive your text? Your supervisor…
You probably recognise this. A meeting with your supervisor is coming up, you prepared every detail, you know what you want but when the meeting is over, you leave the room disgruntled. Or you feel insignificant the moment you step through his/her door? You have the feeling like you are…
