A PhD supervisor serves as your mentor, guiding your research, offering feedback, and ensuring timely progression while adhering to university policies. Learn how to select the ideal mentor for your research and approach them effectively.
Choosing a Supervisor
If you’re applying for an advertised PhD or MRes position, then your supervisor’s name will be on the advertisement. They will be on the panel if you’re invited for interview. Take some time to look at their areas of research and read what they’ve published. This background reading will help you understand how to pitch your proposal.
If you’re applying for a position based on your own research ideas, or for a Professional Doctorate, then try and identify a potential supervisor at Edinburgh Napier who has expertise in that area. One way to do this is by entering a relevant search term on this page: Research explorer tool / People tab. You can search for potential supervisors by selecting the relevant research area from the repository's Research Areas menu and then opening the People tab. This will display the profiles of researchers associated with that research area, allowing you to identify suitable supervisors based on their expertise and interests.
Alternatively, you can search on Researchgate or Academia.edu