Hello all,

My supervisor has suggested that we get a second supervisor on board in a few months time, but I am not so sure, can any with experinece of one and two supervisors shed some pros and cons of this? and what I should watch out for? Thanks.

I was under the impression that most universities require you to have two supervisors, at least nominally. I have a primary and a secondary and they've only clashed once! The secondary only really reads drafts and stuff but we have all met up together and it can be very useful to have another opinion.

Hi PhDMechEng! I have two supervisors although until recently was only dealing with my principle one, however I found I needed another perspective on my project and my second supervisor was able to contribute really useful information. It also helps if you have any queries regarding your work - two opinions is very useful! The only problem that might potentially appear are if they have conflicting ideas regarding your project but overall I'd suggest having a second supervisor is well worth it! Good luck in the PhD!

======= Date Modified 14 Jan 2010 16:11:26 =======
Hey! I officially have two supervisors but I see one much more than the other. I have regular meetings with my primary supervisor, whose work is very close in nature to my own, and she guides me, reads my work etc. My other supervisor is incredibly busy and I only tend to see him informally, i.e. in passing or if I'm the teaching assistant for a class he's doing, and at my review meetings each year. In my case the second supervisor is only really there in case my first is unavailable for a long period of time, i.e. on study leave, or in case she should leave altogether. On the few matters I have spoken to my second sup about, his thoughts and opinions tend to clash with those of my primary sup, and I usually take the advice of my primary sup. I guess the second supervisor might be useful in some cases if your topic is situated between two different fields of research and you have a sup in both, or is inter-disciplinary, but for me I could manage fine with just the one! I guess you should just check out your primary sup's reasons for wanting someone else on board- if it's just down to better expertise etc then I would go for it. One thing I do like about my situation is that my primary sup deals with everything- I have friends with two supervisors who are constantly being batted back and forth, with supervisors not really working together, but asking them to do different tasks, nominating the other to read your work etc, and I think sometimes there are politics going on too, so probably best to have a 'primary' and a 'secondary' sup, so you know who is really in charge, rather than having two who are supposed to be equally responsible for you! KB

Brill advice, thank you so much.. and in response to keenbean, I have questioned my supervisor about his motive to have a second sup and its purely from a subject knowledge and data availability perspective.