A 'beehive' approach to the research supervision journey

Beehives hum with energy from workers intent on making honey. Withoutprejudicing the nature of what the researcher and research supervisor do in the lifetime ofcandidature analogies with energy, consistent hard work and 'sweet' outcomes are apt.The best honey in the beehive comes from bees working collaboratively. Whilst theirhierarchical colony arrangements may be anathema to research groups the idea ofindividuals with different strengths contributing to the quality of the outcomes seems farfrom common practice in Australian universities. So it is that the solitary life of a PhDstudent can be enriched with membership of a learning group based upon enquiry; actionlearning, and pushing the boundaries of intellectual reasoning into higher levels ofthinking, knowledge and ultimately wisdom. In this context the supervisor of all thegroup members is the facilitator and an equal member with no special privileges. This isthe value added experience which runs in juxtaposition with the more traditional one onone supervision meetings and feedback to students. Regular fortnightly meetings basedon negotiated themes with alternating discussion 'provocateurs' help maintain high levelsof interest in research thinking. From a pragmatic perspective they provide efficiencies inthe management of ever increasing supervisor/student ratios. As this chapter reveals inthe feedback contributions from members of the group the outcomes are full ofexpectation and optimism at a personal level with spin-offs for their academic, social andintellectual well being. The experience provides affirming evidence of what works inresearch supervision embedded in mobility, diversity and fluidity of experience.