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Developing skills to supervise doctoral students
29/05 – 31/05
At Tallinn University and online
The seminar is in English
Academic hours: the entire course is 24 academic hours (including 12 hours of independent work), possible to participate on individual days
Are you supervising doctoral students—or preparing to take on this important role? Join internationally renowned scholar Prof. Diana DiNitto for an interactive three-day seminar designed to strengthen your supervisory skills, increase confidence, and support both your students’ success and your own professional satisfaction.
Through lectures, group discussions, and reflective exercises, participants will:
- Explore effective supervision styles and mentoring relationships
- Identify common challenges in doctoral supervision and strategies to address them
- Learn about institutional practices that support supervisors
- Develop a personalized self-care and supervision approach
Participants are expected to complete short reflective writing tasks before and between sessions based on selected readings.
Please see the reading list and tasks below.
Schedule
Assessment is based on active participation and completion of independent work.
The course is open to all doctoral supervisors – no limit on group size.
Please register for the course here by May 27!
For content-related inquiries, contact Prof. Merike Sisask: mersi@tlu.ee
For registration or logistics, contact Eva Valdna: eva.valdna@tlu.ee | +372 6199 941
Required pre-seminar readings
- BlackDeer, A. A., Gillani, B., Cohen, F., & Vogel, M. T. (2024). A tale of two mentees: Conceptualizing academic mentorship through critical systems thinking. Journal of Social Work Education, 60(4), 576-590.
- Liechty, J. M., Liao, M., & Schull, C. P. (2009). Facilitating dissertation completion and success among doctoral students in social work. Journal of Social Work Education, 45(3), 481-497.
- Rackham Graduate School. (2024). How to mentor graduate students: A guide for faculty. Ann Arbor, MI: The Regents of the University of Michigan.
Optional pre-seminar reading
- Debray, R., Dewald-Wang, E. A., & Ennis, K. K. (2024). Mentoring practices that predict doctoral student outcomes in a biological sciences cohort. PLoS ONE, 19(6). e0305367. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0305367
After doing the pre-seminar readings, do the following:
Write 250 to 500 words on each of the following topics:
- A positive supervision experience(s) you had as a doctoral student
- A positive experience(s) you have had in supervising a doctoral student
- Any experience(s) you had as a doctoral student in which you felt supervision could have been more effective
- A challenging experience(s) you have had in supervising a doctoral student
- Your supervision style/approach
Between sessions there will be reflection on what participants have written, e.g., on ways to make supervision experiences more effective for supervisees and more satisfying for supervisors.
The seminar is organised by the Estonian Doctoral School for Social Sciences partner Tallinn University.
