How to apply

We offer two levels of recognition, depending on your level of experience:

• Recognised Supervisor (full award) — for those who have seen doctoral candidates through final examination and completion
• Recognised Associate Supervisor - for those who have, formally or informally, supervised doctoral candidates for at least one year but not to completion and examination.

To apply for recognition, you must submit a reflective account of your supervisory practice against the Good Supervisory Practice Framework, using the appropriate UKCGE template for your level of award.

This should have an overall length of approximately 5,000 words (Full) or 2,500 (Associate).

To authenticate your reflective account, you are required to provide supporting documentation. 

For the full award you will need:

• A reference from a former doctoral candidate
• A reference from a colleague who knows about your supervisory practice (for example, co-supervisor)

For the Associate award you will need:

• A reference from a colleague who knows about your supervisory practice (for example, a co-supervisor).
• A Supervision Observation report

If you are submitting an individual application, please use our online application portal

There is a one-off application fee charged on a per-application basis. We request payment of this fee during the online submission and is payable by card.

• £100 for full recognition
• £50 for Associate recognition

If you are an institutional representative who is coordinating multiple applications in bulk, please contact us directly. If your institution has prepaid for applications and requests you to send your application directly, please email your completed application to ukcge@ukcge.ac.uk

Your application will be peer-reviewed by a two-person review panel familiar with both research supervision and the Good Supervisory Practice Framework.

To undertake the review, each panellist independently evaluates your application against the same guidance given to applicants. For each of the ten criteria, they consider whether your application provides appropriate evidence of each criterion in your supervisory practice.

Reviews can take up to 8 weeks from the close of the application window.

Reviews have three potential outcomes:

• Criteria Met— If both reviewers decide your application does provide appropriate evidence, an outcome of Criteria Met is given. In this instance, you will become a UKCGE Recognised Research Supervisor / Associate Supervisor.
• Referred— If only one of the reviewers decides your application provides appropriate evidence, it will be sent to an Arbiter to make a final decision on the application.
• Not Met— If both reviewers decide that your application does not provide appropriate evidence, an outcome of Not Met is given. In this instance, the application will be returned to you with feedback on the amendments/​additions required to provide appropriate evidence. If you would like to address the feedback and re-submit, you can do so at no extra charge within 12 months of the initial application.

All applications, regardless of the outcome, will receive comprehensive constructive feedback from the reviewers. Where appropriate, this will include recommendations for development opportunities.