FindAUniversity Postgrad Awards 2022: UCLan lecturer named PhD Supervisor of the Year at national awards

Senior Lecturer Dr Clive Palmer has been named PhD Supervisor of the Year at the annual FindAUniversity Postgrad Awards 2022, after beating off competition from a final shortlist of eight.

The competition receives hundreds of nominations and is open to all students who are undertaking Masters or PhD study, academics who supervise postgraduate students and institutions currently working with them.

Judges chose Clive as the winner of the PhD Supervisor Award because of his “proven commitment to sharing best practice in PhD supervision and his lockdown ‘Learning Shack’ [which] kept over 50 PhD students on track during the pandemic.”

His Learning Shack was set up during the pandemic as a hub, meeting place and resource centre for students and staff, and Clive also created a ‘PhD by Portfolio’ pathway, which demonstrates his commitment to postgraduate learning at an institutional level and for widening participation across the higher education sector.

Clive, who has worked at UCLan since 2008, supervises research across a range of subjects within socio-cultural sport, PE, coaching and outdoor education.

He was also shortlisted for Outstanding Research Supervisor of the Year in the Times Higher Education Awards 2021.

Clive said: “I am honoured to receive this recognition which comes with the privilege of supervising some very talented people on their PhDs. ‘Clive’s Learning Shack’ was my way of combatting the isolation of doctoral study during the pandemic. I would like to extend a thank you to my nominee, and especially to colleagues at FindAUniversity.com for this prestigious award.”