Dr Sovan Sarkar
University of Birmingham

Who is your scientific inspiration and why?

Prof. Rudolf Jaenisch, my postdoc mentor at Whitehead Institute in MIT, who is instrumental advancing the human stem cell field. He is a visionary and an outstanding leader. He has trained and supported several of his lab members to become world experts in various research areas.

In three words or phrases how would you describe your supervision style?

Detail-oriented, student-centred, collaborative.

In one or two sentences please describe your strategies regarding the following.

Provision of training:

Your training will be initially supervised predominantly by my experienced post docs/PhD students and myself; thereafter you will gain more independence.

Progression monitoring and management:

Primarily, I like to be kept up to date on a daily basis, and will expect to see evidence of work progress/data generation on a weekly basis. After you gain work independence, I will also set out project goals and my expectations of your progression, and discuss action plans on a weekly basis.

Communication:

I am approachable and known to email my team at all hours of the day and night, however I will not expect you to do the same; and also my team has a WhatsApp group chat with which we regularly communicate during the week and weekends. I am happy to discuss any issues that are impacting your ability to fulfil your potential or my/our expectations.

In year 1 of PhD study, how often do your PhD students have a scheduled >30 minute 1:1 meeting with you?

At least once per week

In year 2 of PhD study, how often do your PhD students have a scheduled >30 minute 1:1 meeting with you?

At least once per week

In year 3 of PhD study, how often do your PhD students have a scheduled >30 minute 1:1 meeting with you?

At least once per week

What form do your 1:1 meetings with PhD students take?

A mixture of face to face or via video chat or telephone.

Open door policy?

Yes, I am usually contactable for an instant response (if required) on every working day.

My expectation of PhD student working patterns?

Certain tasks in my lab need to occur at set times, and students need to be able to commit to a rota/timetable shared with other members of the team.

Notice for feedback (e.g. on reports, manuscript drafts, thesis chapters)?

I need at least 1 week’s notice to provide feedback on written work of up to 5000 words.