How to prepare for a meeting with your PhD supervisor like a pro

Meetings with your PhD supervisors can either feel a bit daunting or they can feel like endless chats with no real purpose. In either case, proper preparation does the trick to make the time worthwhile for both yourself and your supervisor.

First, it’s important to clarify what the role of a PhD supervisor is. In some countries, they are called thesis advisors, which I think is a more accurate description. The supervisor is not meant to manage your day-to-day work, teach you particular skills, or check your work. Supervisors may do all of these things in some capacity, but you should not expect that. Your supervisor is meant to be someone with expertise and experience in your area who can advise you while you carry out your independent research project. No matter if you are working with a famous professor who spends most of their time on the road or a new faculty member you see all the time, preparation is key to get the most useful advice for yourself and your project. So, let’s jump in and see how you can prepare like a pro.

Write an agenda

I strongly recommend that you write a meeting agenda. Writing an agenda for a one-on-one meeting may sound like a bit of an overkill, but, in my experience, it is extremely useful. The agenda helps to bring everyone on the same page regarding the current state of the project. It’s also a great starting point to anchor the discussion and frame your questions. Further, the collection of agendas can serve as a progress log for your project. If you or your supervisor tend to get lost in thoughts, the agenda is also a useful tool to get through the most important points in the allocated time. Here is a recommended structure for the agenda:

1. Progress since the last meeting

Summarise what you have done since the last meeting here. Your supervisor is probably involved in a lot of different projects and may not be aware of the details of your project. Therefore, it’s best to provide some context. For instance, start with a heading that connects to a particular aspect of your project or highlight in a sentence how this work relates to the overall question that you want to address. If you discussed particular steps forward during the last meeting, you…