Democratic Approaches to Supervision
On December 11th 2025, we welcomed Professor Karen Mpamhanga and Dr Suzanne Culshaw (University of Hertfordshire), who presented on recent work around democratic approaches to supervision which they have undertaken as part of a major international project.
The event was chaired by Dr Nicola Palmer and Professor Craig Martin (Co-Chairs of the UKCGE’s Supervision Network). Dr Palmer began by welcoming delegates before handing over to Professor Mpamhanga, who briefly provided some contextual information about the Horizon Europe / UKRI-funded project.
AECED – Transforming Education for Democracy through Aesthetic and Embodied Learning for Democracy is a three-year project which began in April 2023. Its aims include designing an innovative, evidence-based aesthetic and embodied pedagogical framework to impact on the practice of education for democracy, and to test the framework through participatory action research. Six partners have carried out 19 trials covering all phases of education, and both Professor Mpamhanga and Dr Culshaw have been involved in one of the UK’s case research trials – focused on doctoral supervisor development.
“Within the trial we sought to engage in a range of arts-based and embodied methods,” Professor Mpamhanga explained. These involved activities including: collage, gesture-response, found images and model-making. Each method was paired with different areas of focus including imbalance of power in supervision, care for doctoral students, supervisor identity and engagement with the aims of the AECED project. Overall, Professor Mpamhanga and Dr Culshaw found these approaches to be invaluable in opening-up discussion around democracy and doctoral supervision.
Professor Mpamhanga then handed over to Dr Culshaw to give delegates a taste of one of the activities – a collage exercise. “I’m inviting you to have a go,” she said, “It’s an opportunity to think a little bit more visually, to free yourself up from the strictures of grammar and language.” She added that the exercise could be revealing and urged participants to be gentle with themselves; she also revealed the prompt (“How does democracy feature in your practice of doctoral supervision?”)
After a ten-minute pause to respond to this question, participants went into breakout rooms for a 15-minute discussion about what their collages had revealed. Dr Culshaw then welcomed people back, saying: “I invite you to take another look at your collage and to take a moment to see what it’s telling you.” She asked people to think about certain areas which were pulling their attention, before directing participants to a Padlet where they could share final reflections.
Professor Mpamhanga then rounded up with a final slide, giving insights from the UK case research. She suggested that participants might take a range of steps after the workshop – that the aesthetic and embodied learning approach could be used to foster reflection as a prelude to the UKCGE’s Research Supervision Recognition Programme, for example, or that people might simply decide to stay in touch with them and the project.