3.2. Social Safety in PhD Supervision

The skills and competences needed to create a socially safe and inclusive supervision environment do not happen automatically. Cultivating and maintaining such an environment takes intention on the part of the supervisor and starts with clear communication and mutual understandings.

During this workshop supervisors will:

• examine the concepts of social and psychological safety and how those constructs have a direct impact on the supervision process

• identify their own perceptions, assumptions, and beliefs about what it means to feel socially safe and what that means in the context of PhD supervision

• participate in small group exercises designed to challenge and expand their thinking and approaches around social safety

• explore established social safety best practices in workplace and academic settings and further define practices relevant to specific PhD supervision situations

• learn how to create social safety agreements that can be tailored to specific PhD supervision settings

The workshop comprises a three-hour session during which supervisors will meet in large and small groups. In the first hour a trainer leads an interactive large group discussion centred around the theory and literature on social safety. The first hour also involves short “pair and share” exercises. During the second hour participants are divided into small groups, each of which analyse a case study and together, share insights and answer questions. In the third hour the large group reassembles to exchange case study experiences. The third hour is also dedicated to integrating and applying lessons and experiences from the workshop for the creation of social safety agreements between the supervisor and PhD candidate.

After this workshop, supervisors will be able to:

• identify the characteristics of a socially safe supervision setting and the circumstances that can jeopardise such safety
• implement best practices and other tools to ensure a safe and inclusive supervisory experience
• facilitate effective conversations about social safety
• draft social safety agreements between the supervisor and PhD candidate