Foto: Havjin Jacob

The Faculty of Medicine (PhD Administration -MED) recently held a seminar for PhD supervisors at Eitri Medical Incubator.  Associate Professor of University Pedagogy (UPED) in the Department of Education, Robert Morris Gray Jr.was invited to give his professional insight on “How to give written feedback to PhD candidates”, a topic of great importance in the academic journey of a PhD student. A PhD candidate, MD Gard Johanson was also invited to share experiences and challenges in receiving feedback from a PhD candidate’s viewpoint.
The seminar was engaging and packed with research-based presentation about among other, principles of effective feedback, what PhD supervisors should avoid when giving feedback, and much more. One of the unique aspects of this seminar was the opportunity for PhD supervisors to bring along sample texts on which they had struggled to provide feedback. During the seminar, they could work on these text samples and receive constructive advice from their colleagues.
This topic was a request from the supervisors themselves, something they had mentioned in previous seminars we have held. Even experienced PhD supervisors found the seminar beneficial, which speaks volume about the quality and relevance of the content presented. Unfortunately, the turnout was lower than expected, with only 17 supervisors in attendance out of 31 registered. However, the feedback from those who attended was strongly positive, indicating that the seminar was indeed a success. We hope to see more supervisors at future seminar, benefiting from informative sessions.