ABSTRACT
It’s now some years since each of us completed our doctorates. Over the course of preparing this book we’ve had many a long conversation about what our theses were and whether our doctoral experiences had been enhanced by the supervision we had each received. A pivotal moment in the writing process came when one of us asked out loud, ‘What would you tell a new student that a doctorate was, and what makes it special?’ Despite the fact that we have each built successful careers partly around helping people to answer this question, it still caused us to hesitate and think. And yet, if supervisors and students don’t understand the ends of the doctoral process (as opposed to the direction of the research), then how is any action from either party truly effective?
