Professional Ph.D. Supervision - Beyond Master and Apprentice?

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Kai-Olaf Maiwald
• Subject Area: Empirical Social Research
• Term: from 2012 to 2016
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 227762479

The organization of doctoral (Ph.D.) studies at German universities is in a state of transition. The traditional paradigm of “master and apprentice” is being substituted by the paradigm of structured programs (e.g. graduate schools and research training groups). The transformation is meant to provide for a professionalization of mentoring in doctoral studies. With reference to this policy our research attempts, first, to examine whether mentoring is actually an activity that calls for professionalization (in the sense of the sociological theory of professionalization). Building on that, second, it will be analyzed, if and how both paradigms can yield professional mentoring services, and, third, to what extent structured programs do in fact lead to a professionalization of mentoring in a discerning sense. Previous research approached the relationship between supervisor and supervised in an indirect way, via interviews and questionnaires. Focusing on interaction processes, our research attempts at coming closer to the actual dynamics of the relationship and the patterns of mentoring.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants