HDR Supervisor of the Month

The ANU Higher Degree Research (HDR) Supervisor of the Month Award recognises good practice in ANU HDR supervision.

All HDR supervisors, conveners, administrators, and anyone else who works to support HDR candidates, are eligible to be nominated.

The awardee will receive ANU-wide recognition.

Nominations are welcome from all members of the ANU community. Nomination involves completion of the simple HDR Supervisor of the Month – Nomination Form.

Current HDR Supervisor of the Month awardee

May 2024

Dr Jie (Sophie) Zhao
Research Fellow, Department of Quantum Science and Technology, Research School of Physics
ANU College of Science
Program Manager, ARC Centre of Excellence for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology.

Jie's supervisory approach:
"Supervising HDR students is both a true privilege and a challenge, especially for early career researchers like myself. It is an invaluable experience interacting with students, listening to their achievements and concerns, and trying my best to help them overcome the difficulties as they navigate through their academic life.

Just like the students exploring HDR studies, I am also exploring the best supervisory strategies. In the end, there are no universal rules applicable to all circumstances; what matters most is our caring, patience, and encouragement. Feedback is crucial . As a supervisor, I find it necessary to stay updated with my students’ progress, provide timely feedback, encourage their advancement, and be open to both positive and negative feedback from them. Equality is also important . I consider my students friends of mine, granting them the freedom to explore things they found interesting, and my role is to advise on what could be more interesting or useful with respect, and when they encounter problems, I provide as much support as I can.

I always reflect on my own HDR experience, considering how I was trained and how things could have been improved. I encourage students to explore opportunities that could be profoundly beneficial to them in the long term. Choosing one opportunity against another can be hard, for students and for supervisors, but our years’ long experience in the system could allow us to offer insightful suggestions. It is important to let the students be aware that: the PhD is more of a beautiful journey in their life, rather than the destination . More importantly, they need to figure out what they truly love and would like to pursue as a lifelong career. Once identified, they need to plan ahead and gather all possible resources to be prepared."

Find out more about Jie’s work by visiting Jie's profile webpage on the Researchers website or Jie's LinkedIn profile .