Edited by Christopher Douce, Wednesday 5 November 2025 at 17:19
On the morning of 5 November 25, I attended a CPD session about a third party monitor (TPM) for doctoral students. What follows are some points that I came away with. These points are shared from the perspective of a monitor rather than a student.
Role of a TPM
A third party monitor is someone who is outside of a supervision team who is able to provide independent pastoral support to a doctoral student. A TPM and a student meet at least once a year, with the first meeting taking place no later than 5th month after registration. Students be given the name of their TPM within the first month of registration.
The TPM meetings are confidential. Nothing is shared with the supervision team unless specific agreements have been made to do so (or the student faces immediate physical risks that must be attended to). TPMs can offer independent comments on matters of procedure, and can help with the identification and resolution of problems, such as potential areas of conflict within the supervision team. Meetings can take place at any point within the academic year.
The TPM meetings can be characterised as a mentoring relationship. They are, of course, should be collegial. Sometimes, these relationships do not work out. Like other mentoring relationships, students can change their TPM, without judgement, if the student and the third-party monitor doesn’t ‘click’ with each other.
Tips for the first meeting
Here are some tips I noted down:
What is the student carrying out research into?
Who is in the supervision team?
Set expectations of the meetings and share contact details.
Share something about yourself and what you can bring to the discussions.
Fix a date of the next meeting.
Tips for all meetings
During the session, I made a note of the following points:
Be friendly.
Be always ready to listen, and repeat what has been said.
Be directed by the student.
Be prepared to share your own experiences.
Be clear about boundaries.
Offer clear and direct encouragement.
I hold the view that it is important not to offer solutions to problems, but instead to offer useful directions towards information (or sharing of experiences) that might be helpful.
Resources
We were directed to the third party monitoring guidelines document, available from the graduate school. It contains a TPM person specification. Another resource was the Research Career Development (RCD) website. We were also directed to the Graduate School advice by stage summary.
Other sources of advice include the OU page of the National Support Network. There is also the university’s student welfare team, which can offer help and advice. If a student is struggling, a referral can be made to the university’s Mental Health Casework Team (MHCAT). If a student discloses a disability, they may also be directed to the disabled student services team.
If third party monitors needed assistance, they should contact the graduate school.
Reflections
The TPM role was also described as being a bit like a mentor, and some STEM mentoring resources were also highlighted by the facilitators. In a post about mentoring I shared some definitions that I found helpful:
Mentoring is all about the sharing of experience, and may involve signposting of resources.
Coaching is all about supporting someone to find a way forward with something that is known, or you know what the ‘answer’ is going to be.
My understanding is that coaching relates to helping someone to carry out a specific task or activity. A TPM isn’t there to solve a bit problem (the doctorate), but might be useful in the solving of smaller problems. I hold the view that there is a ‘mentoring and support’ continuum (as well as a ‘mentoring and coaching’ continuum). My reason for suggesting this is that mentoring is more explicitly about the sharing of experience, whereas monitoring (as the title suggests) is more to do with support.
A thought provoking session.
Acknowledgements
The event was facilitated by Liz FitzGerald (IET) and Jane Wilson (Graduate School)
Third party monitoring
On the morning of 5 November 25, I attended a CPD session about a third party monitor (TPM) for doctoral students. What follows are some points that I came away with. These points are shared from the perspective of a monitor rather than a student.
Role of a TPM
A third party monitor is someone who is outside of a supervision team who is able to provide independent pastoral support to a doctoral student. A TPM and a student meet at least once a year, with the first meeting taking place no later than 5th month after registration. Students be given the name of their TPM within the first month of registration.
The TPM meetings are confidential. Nothing is shared with the supervision team unless specific agreements have been made to do so (or the student faces immediate physical risks that must be attended to). TPMs can offer independent comments on matters of procedure, and can help with the identification and resolution of problems, such as potential areas of conflict within the supervision team. Meetings can take place at any point within the academic year.
The TPM meetings can be characterised as a mentoring relationship. They are, of course, should be collegial. Sometimes, these relationships do not work out. Like other mentoring relationships, students can change their TPM, without judgement, if the student and the third-party monitor doesn’t ‘click’ with each other.
Tips for the first meeting
Here are some tips I noted down:
Tips for all meetings
During the session, I made a note of the following points:
I hold the view that it is important not to offer solutions to problems, but instead to offer useful directions towards information (or sharing of experiences) that might be helpful.
Resources
We were directed to the third party monitoring guidelines document, available from the graduate school. It contains a TPM person specification. Another resource was the Research Career Development (RCD) website. We were also directed to the Graduate School advice by stage summary.
Other sources of advice include the OU page of the National Support Network. There is also the university’s student welfare team, which can offer help and advice. If a student is struggling, a referral can be made to the university’s Mental Health Casework Team (MHCAT). If a student discloses a disability, they may also be directed to the disabled student services team.
If third party monitors needed assistance, they should contact the graduate school.
Reflections
The TPM role was also described as being a bit like a mentor, and some STEM mentoring resources were also highlighted by the facilitators. In a post about mentoring I shared some definitions that I found helpful:
Mentoring is all about the sharing of experience, and may involve signposting of resources.
Coaching is all about supporting someone to find a way forward with something that is known, or you know what the ‘answer’ is going to be.
My understanding is that coaching relates to helping someone to carry out a specific task or activity. A TPM isn’t there to solve a bit problem (the doctorate), but might be useful in the solving of smaller problems. I hold the view that there is a ‘mentoring and support’ continuum (as well as a ‘mentoring and coaching’ continuum). My reason for suggesting this is that mentoring is more explicitly about the sharing of experience, whereas monitoring (as the title suggests) is more to do with support.
A thought provoking session.
Acknowledgements
The event was facilitated by Liz FitzGerald (IET) and Jane Wilson (Graduate School)