How to approach a PhD supervisor

So, you’ve found your ideal PhD supervisor – the mentor you’d like to be your primary adviser throughout your upcoming research. Now for the scary part: asking them.

Contacting potential PhD supervisors comes with all the anxiety and excitement of a first date. Will they be interested? Are they even available? Will they find your research proposal enticing enough?

To help you overcome those nerves, we approached several UQ supervisors from a variety of study areas to ask them how they like to be approached. The good news? They were all very approachable.

With their advice, we’ve put together a comprehensive guide on how to approach a supervisor for your PhD, with tips covering:

• initial contact (how to reach out to a potential PhD supervisor)
• your first email (with subject line examples and a sample email)
• your first meeting with a potential PhD supervisor (including a template and questions to ask).

How to contact a potential PhD supervisor

When it comes to first contact, email is typically the gold standard.

“Email is the most appropriate and widely accepted method,” says Frederik von Briel, an Associate Professor at the UQ School of Business.

“It's efficient, allows both parties to review information at their own pace, and is standard practice in academia.”

Associate Professor Venero Armanno from the UQ School of Communication and Arts agrees. He suggests avoiding phone calls, as academics are usually quite busy when they’re at their desks. He also points out that timing is vital when contacting potential PhD supervisors.

“A good rule of thumb is to contact potential advisers at least 8-12 weeks before application deadlines to allow adequate time for feedback and scheduling meetings.”

When you already know the academic

If you’re taking a class taught by someone you’d like to supervise your PhD, you won’t need to send a cold email. Professor Tamara Davis from the UQ School of Mathematics and Physics would encourage you to approach them in person before sending an email – but only after you’ve proven yourself.

“Do well in the class that they teach, and mention you’re interested in doing a PhD at the end of the semester,” she says.

“Once they know you, then email works.”

How to email a potential PhD supervisor

So, email it is. But what exactly do you say in an email to a potential PhD supervisor?

Here are the essentials, according to our supervisors:

• Address the supervisor by name.
• Include your CV or resumé, which may also cover some of the points below.
• Outline your academic background, qualifications and achievements.
• Describe any relevant research and professional experience you already have.
• Provide a brief outline of what you want to research and your motivations (i.e. why are you interested in this study area?).
• Explain why you want to do your PhD with them (e.g. how does their existing research portfolio align with your own interests?).
• Suggest your ideal starting date.

Keep your email concise

It might seem likes there's a lot of information you need to include, but it’s vital to wrap it all neatly into a short email.

“Academics are time-poor and receive many emails, so keep your message concise and purposeful,” says Frederik.

This means keeping the email itself clear and sharp but also avoiding too many attachments. Aim to cover as many of the points listed above as possible in a 1-page CV.

Make the email personal

Your initial email should be personalised to both you and your potential PhD supervisor.

Dr Nicolas Pontes, a Senior Lecturer at the UQ School of Business, suggests that addressing them by name and formally is the basic way to do this, but you can take it one step further to stand out.

“Also do some research on the key current areas of research the adviser is working on, and state how your interests align with theirs,” he says.

Venero agrees with this approach.

“Demonstrate genuine engagement with the adviser’s work by explaining how your interests align,” he says.

“This shows you’re serious about the partnership, not just casting a wide net. The goal is to establish credibility and gauge mutual interest before deeper conversations.”

Best email subjects for PhD supervisors

Now that you’ve put all this effort into writing a clear, concise and meaningful first email for your potential supervisor, the last thing you want is for them to not even open your email. So, we asked our advisers what kind of subject lines they’d recommend.

Firstly, they mostly agreed that your subject line isn’t going to be a deciding factor for most supervisors.

“As long as it meaningfully conveys the intent of the email, it should work,” says Frederik.

But it’s still worth putting some time into getting your subject line just right. As with the email itself, you want it to be simple and specific.

Here are a couple of examples provided by our supervisors:

• Prospective PhD student interested in [research area]
• Seeking PhD supervision in [research area]
• PhD student seeking adviser
• Application for a PhD program
• Interested in exploring the possibility of doing a PhD.

Any variations of the above should do the trick. Avoid vague lines such as “Hello”, “Enquiry” or “Can you help?”.

Example email for contacting potential PhD supervisors

Here’s a first email to a potential PhD supervisor example to contextualise all the advice from our supervisors.

Remember: personalising your email is crucial, and this initial contact should offer a first glimpse into your unique personality, so only use this email sample as a rough guide.

Meeting with a potential PhD supervisor for the first time

Your first meeting with a potential PhD adviser should be a two-way conversation. This is your chance to learn about their approach to supervising, but it’s also their chance to assess your fit.

Things that will make a good impression during your first meeting include:

• Show genuine enthusiasm and curiosity about the research.
• Speak to your relevant skills and research experience.
• Discuss the broader impact you hope to achieve with your research.
• Demonstrate that you’re open to feedback and collaboration.

Keep in mind that you and your supervisor are much more than just your study area – you’re complete human beings with passions and hobbies beyond academia. Tamara emphasises that she wants to see enthusiasm for the research from her potential candidates, but she also wants some evidence that they do stuff other than studying.

And while your supervisor will have plenty of questions for you, it’s equally important that you ask valuable questions of them in return. Here are some of the details you should unpack during your discussion:

• How often will you meet and in what ways?
• What is their supervisory style? A PhD is a long-term collaboration (usually 3-4 years), so it’s essential that your supervisor’s approach suits you well.
• What kind of professional development (e.g. teaching, conferences, placements) will be available during the program?
• Do they have enough time to adequately supervise you? (Tamara suggests that a junior supervisor with plenty of time for you will ultimately be better than a ‘superstar’ supervisor who is too busy to properly support your research.)
• What are the application timelines and scholarship opportunities?
• Can they share some success stories from their previous candidates?

PhD supervisor meeting template

If you’d find it helpful to go into this first meeting with your PhD supervisor with a clear structure, here’s an example you could follow:

Once you begin and get to know the supervisor, you’ll likely find the process becomes less rigid and formal. But having this template up your sleeve for the first meeting could still be handy for fighting through any initial nerves or overcoming awkward silences.

Final advice from our supervisors

When asked for tips for candidates who might be nervous or unsure about reaching out to a supervisor, our advisers were united on their respond: go for it. And don’t take it to heart if they can’t take you on – they likely get lots of applications and can only accept a few (and that’s if their workload isn’t full already).

However, most advisers are always willing to help students when they’re available to do so, and they also enjoy talking about their research with people who are genuinely interested. So, there’s really no harm in taking that leap. Even if you don’t end up with a supervisor immediately, you could still gain a valuable connection.

“Remember that supervisors want to help you succeed – we’re not gatekeepers trying to exclude people,” says Venero.

“The best outcomes happen when advisers and students are genuinely excited about working together.”