Supervision of doctoral researchers plays an important role for finishing a PhD. According
to the current state of research, regular meetings, the expertise and the sympathy
for the supervisor are important determinants. In this working paper, results of
an online survey of doctoral researchers at Bielefeld University in 2020 with the focus
on supervision are presented. The respondents were partially to rather satisfied with
their supervisor. About 25% already had a conflict with the supervisor which was from
their point of view provoked mainly by the supervisor himself. One in ten respondents
already changed the supervisor. Differences between the faculties and especially the
sexes were found: Women appeared to feel more disadvantaged. Besides, needs of
PhD researchers could be identified: Doctoral researchers would like to receive more
support concerning networking with other professors, scientists or field access. Moreover,
about one third of the respondents wish to get more help with publications and
advice on methods or theories. By means of this working paper, need for action of
supervisors and the university could be detected in order to improve the conditions of
PhD researchers.
