The first Nordic conference for PhD supervisors has now been held at ý. With a large turnout from 13 countries and 42 universities, one might wonder how big the Nordic region is, or as expressed by one of the participants, “The Nordic countries have grown in numbers”.
– It has been an intense but very rewarding few days, says Roger Renström, docent in computer science and organiser of the conference. With a total of 140 delegates from 13 countries and 42 universities as well as 70 conference papers, it was a big success. This was the first conference of its kind in Europe and we chose to hold the conference in English to enable participation of delegates from non-Nordic countries as well. It turned out there is a great need for this type of conference and that the issues are the same everywhere.
CoPhs, Nordic Conference on PhD Supervision
The purpose of the conference was to offer an arena for participants to be inspired, exchange experiences and thoughts regarding the supervision of PhD students. The goal was to highlight and share experiences about current developments and to present and discuss new research on PhD supervision. The keynote speakers were experienced Nordic researchers in PhD supervision, Gitte Wichmann-Hansen from Aarhus University, Erika Löfström from University of Helsinki and Martin Stigmar from Malmö University.
– The three keynote speakers complemented each other very well and Gitte Wichmann-Hansen held a brilliant opening speech, says Roger Renström. It was a somewhat larger conference than we had expected, but that is only positive. As the person in charge, I have worked with the preparations for two years in collaboration with the University of Gothenburg and SLU. We received very positive feedback and now Uppsala University and SLU Uppsala have taken it upon themselves to organise the next conference, which will be held in 2026.
– The conference was very well received and the interest in these issues turned out to be bigger than we anticipated, says Stefan Lindskog, dean of the Faculty of Health, Science and Technology. The fact that the conference will continue is very positive and will contribute to the quality development of our PhD supervision.
