Supporting the wellbeing of doctoral researchers who study at a distance

Both pre- and post-COVID-19, doctoral students have undertaken their studies at a distance.

Some students may live and work far away from their campuses; others may be physically nearby but work remotely for a portion or all of their candidature, whether by preference, by force (e.g. due to COVID lockdowns and isolation), or to accommodate caring or professional responsibilities that matter to them. These “distance” doctoral researchers may have different experiences compared to their on-campus colleagues, and different approaches may be required to support their wellbeing and student experience.

This post considers the needs of this often-ignored cohort and suggests ways supervisors, institutions, and distance students themselves can support greater wellbeing in the distance doctoral journey.

Starting points

When we think of the word ‘distance’ what comes to mind?

For some of us, the word may conjure an idea of remoteness and isolation, perhaps the coldness that can come from being detached and far away. Others of us might have more neutral associations, perhaps seeing distance as a mere description of the geographical space that exists between me here and someone/something else over there. And others of us might link ‘distance’ with some positive associations like space or boundaries.

Wherever we are, it seems important to be aware of our own starting points with the idea of ‘distance’. With this in mind, we’d like to clarify our position on two key points surrounding distance study.

First, we resist the common, sometimes implicit, framing that distance study is a) inevitably inferior to on-campus provision, or b) that it is some kind of anomaly within HE institutions. Distance study can be wonderful; it can be a deliberate choice; it can be the only choice that enables access to doctoral study. While it has been difficult to locate good figures on the number of students pursuing off-campus study (often these numbers are not disaggregated by institutions) – we know that distance routes into doctoral education are certainly not new.

Second, we begin from the position which sees that the wellbeing of doctoral students is an important area of focus for higher education institutions. From health and safety as well as moral and ethical standpoints, supervisors and other members of the institution have responsibilities for students’ wellbeing. This does not mean supervisors should see themselves as amateur counsellors or psychologists, nor should doctoral programmes be less robust as students push at the boundaries of knowledge.

Instead, it means that as citizens within institutions we should all be open to reflecting on and extending our practice to ensure it serves our students (including, in this case, distance doctoral students) well.

We strongly believe that creating care-full conditions for doctoral students is important institutional work that sits alongside wider whole-of-university efforts to promote student wellbeing and research excellence.

Five principles for doctoral researcher wellbeing

In 2021 Patricia Jackman (@Trish_Jackman) and her team identified five principles to support new PhD researchers’ mental health and wellbeing (see also here): connections with peers, supervisor relationships, student services advice and support, training and development, and information and resources.

While these principles weren’t originally developed only with distance cohorts in mind, we have found them to be excellent tools to think with as we have begun our own research on distance doctoral students.

In the sections below we share some suggestions as to how we might enact these principles in support of distance doctoral researchers’ wellbeing. Many of the suggestions require supervisory or institutional action, but individual doctoral students can also use our suggestions as prompts to proactively seek out or advocate for useful supports.

Connections with peers

Students who are not on campus regularly still need opportunities to meet fellow doctoral students and participate in the intellectual climate of an institution. This can be facilitated through accessible online events (e.g. orientation and induction sessions, drop-in sessions, seminars, doctoral conferences/symposia, social/networking events) as well as, where possible, pathways/funding for distance students to participate in some signature on-campus events (e.g. writing retreats, researcher intensives).

Explicitly talking with distance doctoral students about the benefits of connecting with other students can also prompt engagement here, as can supervisory ‘brokering’ (e.g. offering to connect students with others who may have something in common or with mentors who are further along in their doctoral journey). There are plenty of examples of excellent practice out there both from the perspective of supervisors and students.

For an example of how peers can connect, look at this blogpost from the PhD Pod – a multidisciplinary group of Australian doctoral students who collected together during the middle of the pandemic following various workshops and events.

Supervisor relationships

Within doctoral supervision, there has been increasing acknowledgement of the importance of the interpersonal relationships, over and above academic expertise and supervisory practices. Building strong supervision relationships across distance requires intentionality along with a repertoire of supervision pedagogies suitable for online or hybrid ways of working (see this recent IETI special issue on online doctoral supervison for a wealth of useful examples). Supervisor professional development could address working effectively with distance students (and we know some fantastic institutions are already working well in this space), and supervisors themselves can be creative in thinking about the best ways to nurture the relationships they have with this cohort and how to generate connections between supervisees who may be studying on campus and at a distance.

Small examples here include ensuring that you schedule group events (e.g. where you bring all of your doctoral students together for group supervision) at agreed upon timeslots and ensure that online participation is an option.

Student services advice and support; information and resources

Here, we are combining two of Jackman et al.’s principles, as our suggestions for both overlap. It’s important that those working in student support, Graduate Research Schools, communications, recruitment, and other central institutional roles are aware of, and equipped to support, distance doctoral students. Services, information, and resources that specifically serve off-campus students ought to to exist. And staff—both general/support staff and supervisory staff—need to be aware of existing resources so that they can point students to them.

The challenges that need to be avoided here are when stakeholders in institutions create boxes that distance students cannot fit into (e.g. ‘please drop by and pick up X form’, ‘drop by my office to XYZ’ etc.)

Training and development

Finally, distance doctoral students require access to the training and researcher development opportunities on-campus students would receive, as well as perhaps targeted training and development on being successful as a distance doctoral student. Accessibility means keeping distance students in mind when considering the cost/funding, timings, digital access, synchronicity, and expectations associated with training and development events. This may prompt some creative thinking for researcher developers around how informal learning environments (which thrive in convivial spaces) can be made available for distance students.

There is some excellent work out there particularly on how social channels can create these opportunities for connection (see here)

Final thoughts

Across all the suggestions above, there is perhaps a common theme of being ready to welcome and support distance doctoral students. When these students seek support or information, institutional responses should not make them feel “othered”, unexpected, or problematic. Rather, their wellbeing is supported when institutions and supervisors respond with: Yes, we have a pathway for you. Yes, we were expecting you. Yes, there are others like you. Yes, we can support you well. Here’s how.

Connect with Wellbeing Whisperer’s guest bloggers:

Dr Katrina McChesney (@krmcchesney) is a Senior Lecturer in education at the University of Waikato in New Zealand. Her research centres on people’s experiences in educational spaces, places, and activities and currently includes co-leadership (with Jamie Burford, below) of a research study and book project focusing on experiences of doing doctoral research by distance. Katrina completed her own PhD by distance in 2017 and now supervises a number of postgraduate students by distance. She is a National Council member for the New Zealand Association for Research in Education and founded and co-edits Ipu Kererū, the NZARE blog.

Dr James Burford (jiaburford) is an Assistant Professor at the University of Warwick where he is course leader for the MA-Global Education and International Development. James is currently leading a Research England-funded project examining pre-admissions doctoral communications and their potential gatekeeping effect on diversity in the academic profession (see more on this using #PADC_project on Twitter). Alongside Emily Henderson, James co-edits the Conference Inference blog. James completed his PhD at Auckland University by distance in 2017 and has previously shared reflections on this experience here.