If you're supervising a PhD student, it's helpful to begin by reflecting on what is a PhD? When I ask this question in live workshops, I get a number of answers, including it is a qualification, it is a training programme and in many ways, a PhD programme is like an apprenticeship.

People often say that we are training someone to become an independent researcher, to be able to do research on their own to professional standards but we know that people with PhDs do many other things, so the PhD is the door to their future career.

We also know that getting a PhD requires both the process and the product...