As part of the PGR Supervisors network, we host monthly seminars online during the academic year. These meetings are an opportunity to hear from and share with fellow PGR Supervisors, and discuss supervisory practice and challenges with colleagues from across the institution. Meetings are typically hosted 12:00 - 13:00 on a Wednesday and are hosted as a hy-flex event. We encourage colleagues to join us in person with the option to join via Zoom.

In advance of each session colleagues will typically be asked to:

Watch a brief video where a colleague introduces the theme for the session
Read a relevant paper (or other resource) on the topic to prompt discussion
Reflect on some questions to be discussed in the meeting.

You can book a place for any one of these sessions through the Academy's Learning Management System. We would like to make sure these sessions are relevant and useful for you, so please do get in touch if you have thoughts or ideas for future topics: saetnan@liverpool.ac.uk

Programme of events for 2024-25:

Table overview of seminar programme for 2024-25
*Online meeting date*	*Title*	*Further details*
Wednesday 25 September	PGR Journey and Supervisory Roles	In the seminar session, we will discuss your expectations or questions of your role as a PGR supervisor and how to get the PGR journey off to a good start. At the seminar, we will also have several challenging scenarios for you to discuss. Please do bring your own examples as well if you wish. This session is particularly aimed at new PGR supervisors, or anyone about to take on a new PGR student.
Wednesday 23 October	Developing PGRs a academic writers	November is known as Academic Writing Month (#AcWriMo). In preparation for this month long focus on academic writing our seminar will discuss PGRs as developing academic writers. We will discuss the challenges PGRs face with academic writing and our role as supervisors in developing the skills and practice for successful academic writing and successful thesis completion.
Wednesday 20 November	The PhD thesis - what does it actually look like?	November is Academic Writing Month, and many PGRs will be busy making progress on their thesis at this time. But what does a good thesis actually look like? In this session, we will discuss some of the different thesis format options available along with strategies for supporting PGR students to design their own PhD thesis.
Wednesday 19 February	Intercultural Supervision	In the seminar, we will discuss challenges with and strategies for successful intercultural communication. This will be an opportunity to reflect on where you and your own students are coming from, and how best to support them (and you) in their learning and development while at our own institution and beyond. At the seminar session, we will also have several challenging scenarios for you to discuss. Please do bring your own examples as well if you wish.
Wednesday 19 March	Supervising a part-time PhD	In this seminar, we will discuss some of the particular challenges with completing (and supervising) a part-time PhD. This will be an opportunity to explore some of the reasons why a part-time PhD might be a good strategy, what the barriers or challenges are, and strategies you might adopt as a supervisor to keep the student engaged and on track with their studies.
Wednesday 30 April	Preparing for PhD examination	In this seminar, we will discuss the PhD examination process and how we support our PGRs through the final stages of the PhD. This will be an opportunity to clarify what the expectations for a PhD are and to discuss the challenges PGR students (and supervisors) face in preparing for the final thesis submission and viva.