Supervisors, Advisors and College Tutors
Supervisor
The supervision system is a hallmark of teaching at Cambridge.
As a new PhD student, you will have a supervisor, who is responsible for guiding you in your research. The frequency with which you meet with your supervisor will vary depending on your area of research, and according to who your supervisor is: each has their preference, with students in the sciences typically meeting with their supervisor more often than those in the humanities. Although you have a supervisor, you are expected to have the capacity and enthusiasm to organise your own research and to work on your own initiative.
As an MPhil student, you will no doubt take part in one-to-one supervisions with academics (usually when working towards an essay or thesis). However, you will not typically have an ‘assigned’ supervisor in the same way as a PhD student.
If you have any issues at all with supervision, you can speak with either the Head of your Department or Faculty, the Postgraduate Teaching and Examination Officer (PTEO) in your Department or Faculty, your Advisor, or your College tutor.
Advisor
Usually, by the middle-point of your first year as a PhD student your supervisor will have appointed your ‘advisor’. This is a secondary supervisor, in whose selection you should be actively engaged. Your advisor usually provides more general research and career-related advice throughout your PhD. In some cases, your advisor may meet with you to give supervision tailored to suit a particular aspect of your research (if, say, your PhD deals in part with a topic with which your main supervisor is not particularly well acquainted).
You are encouraged to submit written work to your advisor at any time. You should meet your advisor at least once a year.
College tutor
At the beginning of your time at Robinson, you will be assigned a College Tutor. Their remit is entirely pastoral: should you experience any problems of any kind throughout your course of study, feel free to reach out directly to your College Tutor, who will be more than happy to give you advice and support.
