A harsh tone does not always start with harsh words

An extra task at the end of the day. A conference deadline approaching. An email sent in haste. A comment at a meeting that was intended as academic feedback but comes across more harshly than expected.

A PhD programme is both an education, an employment relationship and a research project. The PhD student is developing as a researcher, but is also dependent on their supervisor, their project and their research environment.

That is why the tone of communication in supervision matters so much.

“Last year, we could see that 95 per cent of PhD students experienced their supervisor as friendly and approachable, and that 93 per cent experienced mutual respect. These are high figures, but they also mean that one in 20 students does not experience their supervisor as approachable,” says Dennis Vinther, who is a medical doctor, PhD student and chair of the PhD Association at the faculty.

It is a smaller group, but according to Dennis Vinther, it is important to take it seriously.

When small irritations are allowed to grow

Even in well-functioning PhD programmes, pressure can build. Responses arrive from journals, conference deadlines approach, funding applications have to be submitted, and new tasks emerge that were not part of the original plan.

If the student needs feedback at the same time as the supervisor is under pressure, communication can quickly become more abrupt and sharper, says Dennis Vinther.

“A general problem between supervisor and student can be that we only seek each other out once problems arise,” he says.

Among other things, he highlights small urgent tasks that arrive at an inconvenient time and take up more space than the sender may realise.

“Most students have probably experienced their supervisor coming up with a good idea for figure two in an article late in the afternoon. It often ends up as an annoying task that the student curses about on the cycle home. If we do not talk about that kind of thing, it can create fertile ground for irritation which, over time, can affect the tone of communication in a negative direction,” he says.

For the supervisor, a PhD project may have been a long time in the making, involving planning, funding and the recruitment of the right candidate. As a result, there may also be major ambitions attached to the project.

“In the end, a PhD project is a research education for the candidate and not necessarily a life’s work. Clear alignment of expectations is extremely important if the parties are not to get off on the wrong foot along the way,” says Dennis Vinther.

People do not want to be difficult

One of the things that can make it difficult to set boundaries is the unequal relationship between supervisor and PhD student.

For many, a PhD position is their first real adult job after many years as a student at university. That can make the transition difficult, because they are still working in an environment where they were previously taught and examined, says Dennis Vinther.

“For many students, the PhD programme is their first real adult job. At university, we are used to professors teaching and examining us. We can easily bring that approach with us into our PhD employment,” he says.

For this reason, some may hold back if they experience a harsh tone.

“PhD students can sometimes feel that they are being difficult. We do not want to create problems, set all kinds of things in motion or make collaboration with the supervisor more difficult. We need to challenge that mentality, even though it can be hard,” he says.

It is often about aligning expectations

The research programme directors at the faculty have a special role in PhD programmes. They are researchers themselves, but act as contact persons in the PhD School if a student or supervisor needs advice, or if a programme is becoming deadlocked.

When they are involved, it is rarely just about one harsh remark. More often, it is expectations, roles and workload that have not been discussed clearly enough.

“It can be difficult to determine whether something is a project-related and scientific issue, or whether it is actually a poor relationship. The two things can shift together,” says Professor and Research Programme Director Thomas Vorup-Jensen.

To prevent misunderstandings, the PhD School at the faculty has introduced an expectations letter, which the supervisor and PhD student should ideally complete together at the beginning of the programme.

“We have introduced an expectations letter, which we encourage supervisors to complete together with the students. We would much rather prevent problems than have to repair a relationship where something has already gone wrong,” says Associate Professor and Research Programme Director Kamille Smidt Rasmussen.

Day-to-day communication plays a major role in the relationship. In busy research environments, emails can become brief and direct, and in such cases the tone can be difficult to read.

“Emails can be written a little too quickly and can both be intended harshly and interpreted harshly. As a supervisor, you need to be aware that what you write can be interpreted in many different ways. Sometimes it is better to deliver the message verbally,” says Associate Professor and Research Programme Director Dorte Rytter.

Reach out before it becomes too difficult

If a PhD student experiences a harsh tone or feels unsafe in the communication, both the research programme directors and Dennis Vinther say it is important that the person does not deal with the experience alone.

In some environments, peer groups can be a place where PhD students share experiences and receive advice. The PhD Association also has ongoing collaboration with the PhD School at the faculty, where wellbeing is a recurring theme.

“We only have the opportunity to discuss and change the problems we know about. That is why people are always welcome to reach out to the PhD Association, anonymously as well, and tell us about bad experiences. If a general picture emerges of a poor tone of communication, we will of course include that concern in our work,” says Dennis Vinther.

One of the aims of the faculty’s initiative focusing on a respectful tone is to give staff and managers a shared language for the situations in which the tone begins to slip.

In the next article in the series, we take a closer look at what you can specifically do if you experience or witness a tone of communication that becomes too harsh.

Contact

Head of Department and contact for the initiative Christian Lindholst
Aarhus University, Department of Forensic Medicine
Telephone: 20 93 92 23
Email: cl@forens.au.dk