Supervisor Case Study: Siôn Jones

Siôn Llewelyn Jones, Senior Lecturer in the School of Social Sciences has supervised students as part of our On-Campus Internships project and took part as a student himself. Here he talks about his experience.

What was your initial motivation for undergoing the placement, both as a student and supervisor?

As a student, I was within my third year studying sociology in Cardiff University, and I wasn’t too sure what I wanted to do after graduation. I was considering completing a PhD at the time and became aware of this funded project via email. I felt this project aligned with my interests and something different to do compared to research I conducted during my degree. I hadn’t completed anything around the medical field before.

My core motivation as a student was:

1) I wanted a career in research so I thought it would be good for my PhD application

2) I thought it would be an interesting project to do

3) I had family who lived in Cardiff; therefore, it was a great paid opportunity to stay with them.

As a supervisor, I thought it was a good experience to provide students and for them to develop their experiences further. It was also a good way to apply for extra funding to get someone to provide extra help.

Did you feel the CUROP (On-Campus Internship) helped you feel more equipped when approaching your PhD?

It helped me when it came to my application, especially for my interviews. It was just something I could discuss. My supervisors also really helped with my PhD application.

CUROP (OCI) helped me in terms of gaining insight into the sort of work PhD students do, which I would’ve not got in my undergraduate course.

I believe it aided me in 1) Getting the PhD and 2) The skills necessary for the PhD

I think doing the program cemented that aspiration of really wanting to do a PhD. After completion, it became apparent that this was something I could see myself doing.

As a supervisor, did you think the internship scheme influenced your own professional growth, as well as development within your career?

It definitely helped. I was maybe a bit naïve when I first started. I thought I could leave students to do things themselves. I realised consistent contact and meetings were necessary to ensure they could deal with the work, and that my instructions were clear.

I believe both my management and mentoring skills have changed and changed for the better.

Are there any specific skills you gained throughout the internship as a student and a supervisor?

As a student, CUROP further extended my qualitative and quantitative research skills, by providing me with the opportunity to use different software that I didn’t have access to in my course, such as “SPSS”.

The program also aided my time management skills as I had to deal with various responsibilities at once.

What sort of impact did your project have on your research? Could you have done this yourself?

I would’ve been able to do it myself, but it would’ve taken me a longer time to complete. For my second research project where I was able to gain funding from CUROP, I was able to employ two students. It was great to have both students who could bounce ideas off from each other and brought ideas that I hadn’t really thought about myself.  This did bring innovative and fresh ideas to the project.