As supervisors, do we ask prospective students this question? This is a useful question to help students move beyond a concern with finding someone prepared to take them on, to thinking more strategically about their future careers right from the very beginning. Can they imagine their names on a conference paper with their supervisor? Can they imagine writing a journal article with the person they sign on with? How will they be using their supervisors work to inform their own? How will they be challenging or moving beyond their supervisor’s work? What are the kinds of dialogues in journal articles that the supervisor is participating in? How does the student see their own voice contributing to the conversation, based on their Masters level research, or work experience? Is the supervisor already asking these questions up front? Is the joint publication plan already an exciting part of initial conversations, even if in only the vaguest, broadest way?
Becoming a PhD supervisor 