Countless shades of supervision

Metaphorically speaking

While research can be a lonely journey, there is always a base camp somewhere. That’s where you will find your peer. Peers are people and have different types of personality, goals, ways of thinking and operating. The more open and attentive you manage to be when selecting and collaborating with your peer, the more productive this relationship can be.

Consequently, try to distance yourself from the perspective that potential research peers are mainly to be differentiated by their fields of interest. Instead, consider that every peer has their individual set of goals, methodologies, convictions, and processes. A peer experienced in a field that seems interesting to you might be less fitting in supervision style to your personality than another in a field that seems less interesting. But who is to say if a great collaboration in a less interesting field is better than a miserable collaboration in a very interesting field? That is for you to decide.

Research, to a degree, also means interaction among people. This interaction can be inspiring and fruitful, and it can be demotivating and painful. The quality, however, does not depend only on the researcher or their peer, but also on the collaboration they manage to create. A fit in styles can go a long way.

(This is a preview section. The full chapter on this topic continues with the sections “Rough coordinates”, “Train of thought”, “In essence”, “To reflect”, “Two travellers’ tales”, “Devil’s advocate”, and “How to tackle”.)