The Role of Research Seminars in Ph.D. Supervision at LTH

Abstract

Research seminars are a common activity in doctoral education and diverse in terms of structure, organization, purpose, influences, and how seminars are perceived by supervisors and Ph.D. students. In this multiple-case study, we investigate the role of seminars in supporting Ph.D. supervision and development through semi-structured interviews of one supervisor and one Ph.D. student, who belonged to three different seminar environments. The chosen seminars vary in terms of the width of the topic, in focus, the number of attendees, purpose, and the research environment in which the seminar is positioned. We investigated four main topics, namely: i) how seminars are organised and structured, ii) their relationship to supervision, iii) how seminars support enculturation, and iv) the development of skills and competences. All our interviewees perceive that research seminars play an important role in student enculturation and in “creating a sense of community/group”. Moreover, seminars were described to develop broader scientific skills, e.g. in presenting and discussing research, rather than specific skills within the research field in focus. Interestingly, supervisors and doctoral students disagree on how or if the research seminars and doctoral supervision are connected. As literature shows, the supervisor's support in the three stages of the seminar (preparation, implementation, and subsequent work) seems to be an important factor for the success of seminars in the learning process.