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Course

PhD Supervision That Works: Trust, Clarity, and Productive Dialogue

Date
Thursday 9 July 2026
Time
Address
De Tuin van de Smid
Polderpad 8
2322 LB Leiden

PhD supervision can be deeply rewarding — but also complex, demanding, and at times challenging. Conversations about progress, expectations, and feedback do not always go as planned. In a context of 
high pressure and multiple responsibilities, you may find yourself navigating how to respond in ways that are both supportive and effective.

Programme

In this interactive session, you and fellow supervisors from different faculties are invited to step out of the day-to-day pressures and focus on strengthening collaboration with your PhD candidates. 

  • How do you create space for openness while maintaining clear expectations? 
  • How do you respond when tensions arise?
  • How do your own assumptions, pressures, and triggers affect your supervision — and how can you use this awareness to improve it?
  • How do you respond to wellbeing challenges in PhD candidates, while maintaining clear boundaries in your supervisory role?

Content

Drawing on Amy Edmondson’s work on psychological safety, this session translates key insights into the day-to-day reality of PhD supervision. Rather than focusing on theory alone, the emphasis is on practical application: small shifts in communication and behaviour that can make a significant difference in how your PhD candidates learn, engage, and develop. This helps you feel more confident in challenging moments, reduce friction in the supervision process, and create a more open and productive working relationship.

In addition to focusing on the needs of PhD candidates, this session also creates space to reflect on your own experience. You will explore how your expectations, stress responses, and challenges influence your interactions — and how increased awareness can lead to more constructive and productive dialogue. Through key insights on leadership theories and psychological safety, reflection exercises, and exchanges with peers from across faculties, you will gain practical insights, language, and tools that you can immediately apply in your own supervision practice.

Lecturers

Dr. Kate Kirk is Program Lead for Diversity and Inclusion and Public Leadership at the Centre for Professional Learning (CPL) at Leiden University. She holds a PhD and specialises in anthropological  education and migration research. With extensive experience in research, teaching, and policy development, she focuses on strengthening compassion, connection, communication, and critical reflection in leadership. Drawing on her broad academic and practical experience, she connects research and practice in an accessible and inspiring way.

Prof. Dr. Marieke van den Brink is Professor of Gender & Diversity at Radboud University in Nijmegen. Her overarching research line focuses on the role and functioning of gender and diversity in organisations, as well as on the opportunities and barriers to preventing indirect and unconscious exclusion of specific groups in the labor market. She serves on several national and international.

Interested?

Supervisors and PhD candidates from all faculties are warmly invited to join.

Registration
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