Insights from practice: A handbook for supervisors of modern doctorate candidates

Doctoral degrees are no longer simply a training ground for the next generation of academics. Different forms have evolved to encompass multi-and trans-disciplinary study by practitioners within their work context (Lester, 2004). The designation has also changed to include terms such as professional, industrial or practice-based PhDs or Doctorates (Fillery-Travis, 2012). For the rest of this handbook we will identify these doctorate types as the modern doctorates. These developments in doctoral education are driven by the contribution to knowledge exchange that these degrees can make and how they are perceived as facilitating innovation and growth within diverse sectors. But supervision of modern doctorates is not fully codified although it requires a number of capabilities (academic and professional) that are recognised as being beyond those needed for conventional PhD supervision such as advising and facilitation (Boud & Costley, 2007).