Supporting non-academic career paths as a supervisor

Abstract

PhD students should be supported in planning for their future careers, indepen- dent of whether they aim for continuing in academia or a different career path. This support can for example consist of teaching of ‘transferable skills’ through stand- alone courses or through the research itself, having an encouraging supervisor as a sounding board, or being introduced to the supervisor’s contact network. However, which of these are available to individual PhD students can vary depending on insti- tution, department or even supervisor. We explore career planning support at the Faculty of Engineering, Lund University. We specifically focus on how perceptions and expectations differ between PhD students and supervisors, and what can be done to make them more aligned.