This year’s Supervisor of the Year, Ceren Altuntas Vural, emphasises individualised supervision and allowing doctoral students to find their own paths.
When Ceren Altuntas Vural saw the email with the subject line “Congratulations, Supervisor of the Year Award”, she first thought there had been a mistake – she did not even know that the prize existed. Only after checking the sender and the previous years’ recipients did she dare to believe the news, and that it was her own doctoral students who had jointly nominated her.
“For me, this is the most valuable prize you can receive in academia. It means more than a professorship or an article in a ‘dream journal’, because it comes from my doctoral students,” she says.
She describes the role of supervisor as her heaviest responsibility.
“If you ask what keeps me awake at night, it is almost always connected to one of my doctoral students,” she says.
At the same time, she believes it is precisely their development that makes the responsibility worthwhile:
“Seeing a doctoral student stand up at a conference and confidently defend their choices, or write something really good, is the finest reward I can receive for the great responsibility.”
Clear expectations and individual adaptation
The core of her supervision philosophy is clear expectations, individual adaptation and gradually increased independence.
Right from the start, she goes through what is required from the department, the funders, the supervisors and the doctoral student – and at the same time asks the student to formulate their own goals and way of working.
“You cannot assume that someone will read between the lines. Be extremely clear about what is expected – and just as clear about what support you will provide,” she says.
At the same time, she stresses, every doctoral journey is unique and requires its own adaptation.
Guiding with structure and a light touch
In everyday work she combines structure with a deliberately “light touch”.
She meets some doctoral students every week – sometimes to talk about research, sometimes mainly to check how they are doing and what is currently on their desks. Others get longer, uninterrupted writing periods where she instead works with the text “bit by bit” and gives detailed feedback on delimited sections.
Industrial doctoral students with major responsibilities in their own organisations have short but fixed digital check-ins, so that contact is not lost even if they are based far from the department.
She describes her role as “nudging” rather than steering.
“It is very much about leading with a light hand, nudging in the right direction rather than deciding for them. In the beginning I set the framework clearly, but after a while they take over the structure themselves,” she says.
She often describes the doctoral period as a tunnel where many doubt themselves and compare themselves with other researchers.
“My role is to be a recurring checkpoint: to confirm what is good, point out what needs to be clarified and at the same time remind them how much they have actually developed.”
Tips for supervisors and doctoral students
To new supervisors she sums up her advice in two words: clear expectations. Set the framework early, divide the work into manageable parts and ask the doctoral student to say openly what support is needed.
For doctoral students she recommends keeping a journal.
“Continuously write down what you are learning, which courses and seminars you have attended and which texts you have written. When you doubt yourself, you can see how far you have come. Development is more than the number of published articles,” she says.
She also urges doctoral students to make use of their time as students:
“When you are a student, all doors are open. Take advantage of that and knock,” she says.
Ceren Altuntas Vural receives her award at the Doctoral Degree Conferment Ceremony on 30 May.
Facts / The Doctoral Students Guild’s justification
Ceren Altuntas Vural is committed to build a working environment where doctoral students can do ambitious work without feeling alone, where expectations are clear without being rigid, and where challenges are treated as part of learning rather than as personal shortcomings.