About the UK Council for Graduate Education

We champion and enhance postgraduate education and research by enabling collective leadership on the development of postgraduate affairs across UK HEIs, research agencies and funding bodies. 

We do this by providing learning and professional development events, commissioning research, sharing best-practice developments, and by gathering information and evidence to support policies which promote a strong and sustainable postgraduate sector.

The aims of the Research Supervision Recognition Programme are to:

1. Develop and publish a Good Supervisory Practice Framework that sets benchmarks for supervision and articulates the increasingly complex roles performed by research supervisors.
2. Offer guidance for those who wish to develop their pedagogical practices through structured self-reflection on their supervisory experiences
3. Offer opportunities for good supervisory practice to be recognised through peer-review and a national award
4. Create a comprehensive, scholarly resource library which makes the extensive body of research into doctoral supervision accessible to all those involved in research supervision

In 2018 the UK Council for Graduate Education agreed an initiative to develop and trial a scheme to recognise good practice in doctoral supervision, and this was undertaken in 2019.

To better understand the appropriateness of this approach, and the demand for such a programme, the Council undertook a pilot and a community consultation.

Following the recommendations from the pilot programme, the Executive Committee of the UKCGE formally approved the launch of the Research Supervision Recognition Programme on the 17th September 2019.

Following the success of the Research Supervision Recognition Programme, the UKCGE were approached by Dr Elizabeth Adams and Dr Kay Guccione to adapt the programme to support early career research supervisors, and those involved in research supervision ​‘informally’.

The introduction of the award of Recognised Associate Supervisor reflects the fact that staff who are not part of a formal supervision team — notably Research Staff (including postdoctoral researchers) and Technical Staff — often play an important role in supporting research students through their doctoral journey. Such staff may not be formally recognised for this work through an official role or title and may not be involved in all aspects of the supervision process. In particular, institutional regulations may mean they are not able to be part of the recruitment or the examination processes. 

Additionally, the short-term nature of many research contracts might mean that these staff will be unlikely to see out the entire journey (from recruitment to completion, and beyond into employment) of a Doctoral researcher on a student-by-student basis but may instead provide crucial input to multiple research students, across a variety of points on their journeys. This may be as a formal point of contact with a defined role, or as an informal ​‘supporting player’ offering day-to-day guidance and support.

Following a small-scale pilot in 2021–2022, the Recognised Associate Supervisor Award was launched in March 2023.

The UKCGE would like to thank Professor Stan Taylor who authored the Good Supervisory Practice Framework and who initiated the Research Supervision Recognition Programme

We also thank Dr Elizabeth Adams and Dr Kay Guccione who originated the Recognised Associate Supervisor programme and guided us in how we could adapt the Good Supervisory Practice Framework to support a wider range of people involved in research supervision.