{"id":219,"date":"2025-09-20T09:51:40","date_gmt":"2025-09-20T08:51:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/genai\/?p=219"},"modified":"2026-01-28T08:11:25","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T08:11:25","slug":"doctoral-supervisors-how-to-talk-about-genai-with-your-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/genai\/2025\/09\/20\/doctoral-supervisors-how-to-talk-about-genai-with-your-students\/","title":{"rendered":"Doctoral supervisors: how to talk about GenAI with your students"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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It can seem like GenAI is a ubiquitous feature of teaching and learning for taught students. However, as a doctoral supervisor, have you had conversations with your doctoral students about their use of GenAI during their research? Do you feel unsure about how to start these conversations, or worried that you may not have sufficient knowledge of GenAI to provide support and guidance? As disclosures about use of GenAI tools become commonplace across the academic sector – from institutional submission declarations to disclosures when submitting work for academic publication – there is no ignoring the fact that doctoral researchers will likely be acquainted with such tools and may already be using them to aid with their projects. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As academic developers working with doctoral researchers, we have heard anecdotally from several individuals about how they have used, or planned to use, GenAI in their research, and it is clear that some do not know how to broach the subject of appropriate GenAI use with their supervisors.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Research has shown<\/a> that doctoral candidates are using GenAI to support literature searching, coding and programming, and academic writing. In fact, some respondents even noted using GenAI to answer questions they may have ordinarily asked their supervisors but decided not to. Some will be confident users, aware of the benefits, shortcomings, and boundaries of acceptable use of GenAI. Others may be less confident about the various tools available, and uncertain as to how they should be used appropriately during their doctorate.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is imperative that transparent conversations take place about how to appropriately use GenAI during doctoral research. However, it is understandable that if you as the supervisor do not currently use GenAI yourself, or are not sure how some of the tools work, this can seem like an overwhelming prospect. Nevertheless, take some time to upskill<\/a> in preparation for ongoing dialogue with your doctoral students about their use of GenAI.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Bite-sized task <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The below activity scaffolds a reflective approach to GenAI that can then be taken into supervisory sessions with some additional prompts outlined in Step 2. Using a blank word document (or a notebook!) have a think about the following questions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step 1 \u2013 reflect (part 1) <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Current understanding of GenAI tools<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n