Hi All,
I started a PhD as an international student in November and have now come to the point of solidifying my supervisor panel. I'm not quite sure what I'm doing, but my primary supervisor has only just mentioned to me that the post-doc I am working with is going to be a supervisor as well. I have my primary supervisor at my university, one from another uni that's got the main funding as part of a larger project and another that is part of a conservation organisation that we will be working closely with. So far I've have been bounced around a lot and not really managed to get decent answers on what exactly they are imagining my project consisting of in the grand scheme of the larger project. As a result I'm a bit reluctant to have too many people on my panel as it's been bad enough just trying to work with 3 and not getting anywhere. 3 is the minimum but I wondered if anyone currently doing a PhD could give me any advice on the pros and cons of the number of supervisors they have. Unfortunately my supervisors don't have the best of relationships so this is also a concern.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

hmmmm... i have one main supervisor which i like because then you stay on the same page, 3 supervisors is a bit of a handful when it comes down to making decisions. In my dept its normal to have two or three on the panel but the 2nd and 3rd would only read drafts or if you need a second opinion they are there too. My advice/opinion would be to either have a primary supervisor who is your go-to-guy, or if they must all have an input insist meetings involve everyone and only happen when everyone can attend, and things must be debated altogether otherwise you will end up going around in circles saying 'he said this, but you said this, and the other one said something else'.... potential for too much confusion there, especially if they are not all on the best of terms you could get caught up in the messy-ness of that, and believe me I know all about that from past experience.
Good luck with it... and what ever way it turns out remember its your PhD not theirs!!!

I have three sups who all have different contributions to my thesis.  I have my uni sup who has no expertise in my specific field but can direct me through the uni requirements. He can also be impartial for technical decisions.  I have a very hands on sup who is an expert in one part of the field I am working in. He is extremely good for timely responses and comments and has some knowledge of the uni requirements.  My third sup is by far the least proactive but has a good grasp of a different angle on my thesis. He has instigated my use of the lab facilities etc. I have met up with each individually and all together.  I have used their individual contributions based on their relevance. i.e. if they suggest different structures to the thesis then the uni sup would have the louder voice.  I wouldn't want more than three but having this many can be advantageous ie a thesis peer reviewed by three different people. You do not have to agree with them all of the time so long as you can justify your way then that is also acceptable!

I think for a start you need to try and have a meeting with all to address the topic/area of your PhD.  If their relationship is tense just be mindful when communicating with them individually.

I had three for my PhD and it can be quite tricky at times managing the expectations of each. The strategy I adopted is was to work out who you want to be the "leader" - that may not be your actual main supervisor! But the person whose opinion you trust most. Don't just treat them equally, it will lead to conflict. Value each of theirs contribution, of course, but make sure you have an idea of whose view is the priority.

My uni requires that I have at least two supervisors from the uni. When I started my PhD I had 2 lovely sups, but then sup 2 retired. She remained my external sup. and a third sup took her place as my second internal (cofused????).
I only meet with sup 1 and 2. They are good friends and they really help me, especially sup 2 who is great with grammar and language 9as a foreign student I have some(sic) problems). Sup 3 (the second internal) is a "silent" sup. I guess she doesn;t even know what my reserach is about, but it doesn;t matter, as she never participates in meetings and I don't have to send her my work....

Hi Guys,

Thank you so much for all your advice - it's all a bit interesting as my primary supervisor who I was taking as the lead person seems to have been given me some dodgy advice, I think I'm just going to have to adjust my views of the team a bit to figure out who to rely on for what area of my PhD for advice.

Thank you all for your advice, I will definitely bear that all in mind for dealing with my panel and making decisions.

All the best :-)