Supervision Professional Development Program

The Graduate Research School runs a Professional Development Program for staff supervising postgraduate research students. The program supports the UWA Supervisor Register.

1. Induction and Refresher Modules

In these modules, links are provided to a number of webpages. If you would like these links to open in a new window, you may need to change your Browser settings. In Google Chrome, if you hold down the CTRL button while clicking on the link, the link will open in a new window.

Supervisor Induction Module

This Module is designed for staff new to supervision of research students or more experienced supervisors new to supervision at UWA. Completion of an online form, confirming that you have read the Supervisor Induction Module, will satisfy the training and development requirements of the supervisor register for L1 supervisors.

Supervisor Refresher Module

This Module is designed for experienced supervisors of research students at UWA wanting to update their understanding of recent changes to rules and administrative processes. Completion of an online form, confirming that you have read the Supervisor Refresher Module, will satisfy the training and development requirements of the supervisor register for L2 and L3 supervisors. The form can be accessed from the final page of the module.

Supervising Doctoral Students Online Module


The Epigeum online course Supervising Doctoral Studies is available in the UWA Learning Management System (LMS). Supervising Doctoral Studies includes modules on selecting candidates, approaching supervision, managing progress, and preparing for examination. The course can be accessed through self-enrolment in the UWA LMS organisation, Supervisor Professional Development. Please contact Dr Jo Edmondston if you would like detailed instructions on how to access the unit. External supervisors without a Pheme account should also contact Jo for guest access to this unit.


UWA Supplementary Resources

To complement each of the Supervising Doctoral Studies modules are a series of resources booklets and videos. These supplementary resources refer to relevant UWA rules, policies, processes and resources. These booklets should be read in conjunction with each of the modules as they provide an overview of the Graduate Research School context.

Line of 9 UWA resource booklet covers 

Respectful Relationships

In 2018, Universities Australia, the National Tertiary Education Union, the Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations and the Australian Council of Graduate Research released a set of principles to underpin the relationship between postgraduate research students and their academic supervisors. The Principles for Respectful Supervisory Relationships are designed to protect and promote the safety and wellbeing of students and staff and form part of the university sector’s Respect.Now.Always. action plan.

The Australian Council of Graduate Research subsequently developed a series of instructional videos to support the Principles for Respectful Supervisory Relationships. These videos each present a scenario designed to stimulate discussion about the risks of certain behaviours or circumstances to the establishment and maintenance of a mutually respectful and safe research training environment. A manual that provides instructional advice for use of the videos and discussion points for students, supervisors, professional staff and research leaders (such as GRCs) is available here.

Examination at UWA

There is also a series of videos to provide additional advice about UWA Thesis examination and the viva voce. This series of three videos covers examination of HDR students at UWA, including the viva voce for PhD students, formatting a thesis a series of papers, and management of adverse examination.

The GRS have also developed a set of guidelines to support students and supervisors wanting to know how to format a thesis as a series of papers.