Navigating the Role of Replacement Lead Supervisor: An Autoethnographic perspective

In this paper we build on Wisker and Robinson’s (2012) work on supervisors and doctoral 'orphans' to reflect on our autoethnographic experiences of what has been referred to as 'picking up the pieces'. We believe that it is especially timely to re-explore losses and gains involved in changes in supervisory arrangements against a backdrop of reports of academics leaving the profession (voluntarily or through compulsory redundancy schemes), associated supervisory capacity challenges, and disputes over academic pay, work-loading and the significance of particular academic activities. By adopting an autoethnographic approach, we acknowledge and value the relationships that research supervisors have with others and look beyond discourses that underplay our positionality as academics, administrators, leaders and managers, and colleagues. A reflexive approach enables us to explicate the practice of ‘taking on’ additional supervisees mid-registration or ‘stepping in’ to ameliorate risks of non-completion that threaten doctoral candidate success (and institutional metrics and reputation).