Future of Fisheries: Perspectives for Emerging Professionals

Cultivating a Positive and Productive Postgraduate Research Experience: Tools for Students and Supervisors

Alistair J. Hobday and Lucy Robinson

doi: https://doi.org/10.47886/9781934874387.ch6

Starting a postgraduate research project (master’s degree or Ph.D.) in fisheries science is a challenging undertaking and should not be a choice of convenience. Recent years have seen fisheries research careers trend towards specialization with a concomitant need for greater technical proficiency on one hand and interdisciplinarity on the other. How then can both student and supervisor best prepare for the postgraduate research journey, enjoy the experience, and see a student emerge with the in-depth technical abilities and holistic thinking that are critical skills in a modern fisheries science career? Here, we present a number of planning tools that can help you navigate both the challenging and rewarding times as a fisheries research student or supervisor, and suggest some strategies to reduce stress and to manage student–supervisor expectations during a project.