Staff profile

Professor Stan Taylor was educated at the Universities of Oxford and Warwick. For many years he researched and taught in the social sciences at Warwick before moving into academic staff development. Subsequently he became Director of Quality Enhancement at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne and then Director of the Centre for Academic and Researcher Development at Durham University.　
He formally retired in 2013, but has continued with his long-standing work in doctoral education.
He has facilitated workshops with doctoral supervisors to enhance their practice in over 50 universities in the UK and many overseas in Western and Eastern Europe and the Far East.
He has been responsible for two major initiatives to support doctoral supervisors to gain external recognition. In 2016, he produced a guide to applying for Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy for doctoral supervisors, which was published by Advance HE. Also in 2016, he was co-opted to the Executive Committee of the UK Council for Graduate Education to oversee the creation of the Research Supervisors’ Network of which he is currently the chair. In 2018-2019, he authored the Good Supervisory Practice Framework on behalf of the UKCGE and led on the development of the Supervisor Recognition programme which was introduced in 2020. By January 2023, supervisors in over 50 universities in the UK and overseas had gained recognition.
He remains an active researcher in the field and has a number of publications including (with Margaret Kiley and Robin Humphrey) A Handbook for Doctoral Supervisors (Routledge, 2018) and (with Margaret Kiley and Karri. A. Holley (Eds.)) The Making of Doctoral Supervisors (Routledge 2021) and (with Vijay Kumar and Sharon Sharmini (Eds.) Doctoral Examination: #exploring Practice Across the Globe (Routledge, 2023)
He is currently working on editing a special issue of Innovations in Education and Teaching International on ‘The Changing Landscape of Doctoral Education’ and a third edition of ‘A Handbook for Doctoral Supervisors’.

• 2021: Honorary Member of the Association of Professionals in Doctoral Education, based at the University of Vienna:
• 2020: Honorary Life Member, UK Council for Graduate Education:
• 2020: Principal Fellow, Higher Education Academy:
• 2019: Chair, Research Supervisors' Network, UK Council for Graduate Education:
• 2016: Co-opted to Executive: UK Council for Graduate Education:
• 2015: Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts:
• 2014: Consultant: Higher Education Academy:
• 2012: Accreditor: Higher Education Academy:
• 2009: Faculty member: European Doctoral Association in Management and Business Studies Supervisor School:
• 2007: External Examiner: University of York:
• 2004: Member of the coordinating group on Quality in Doctoral Education, European Universities Association Doctoral Programmes Project:
• 2000: Auditor: Quality Assurance Agency:
• 2000: External Examiner: University of Nottingham:

Authored book

• Taylor, S, Kiley, M & Humphrey, R (2018). A Handbook for Doctoral Supervisors. Routledge.
• Taylor, S & Beasley, N (2005). A Handbook for Doctoral Supervisors. RoutledgeFalmer.

Chapter in book

• Kumar, V., Taylor, S. & Sharmini, S. (2023). United Kingdom. In Doctoral Examination: Exploring Practice Across the Globe. 165-176.
• Taylor, S. & Clegg, K. (2021). Towards a Framework for the Recognition of Good Supervisory Practice. In The Future of Doctoral Research Challenges and Opportunities. Lee, A. & Bongaardt, R. Taylor & Francis Group. 224-238.
• Taylor, S. (2021). The United Kingdom. In The Making of Doctoral Supervisions. Taylor, S., Kiley, M. & Holley, K.A. London: Routledge.
• Taylor, S. (2016). Managing your doctorate. In Research Methods for Postgraduates. Greenfield, T., & Greener, S. John Wiley.
• Taylor, S & Kiley, M (2014). Supervising research students. In A Handbook for Learning and Teaching. Fry, H, Ketteridge, S & Marshall, S Routledge.
• Taylor, S (2009). The Post-Humboldtian Doctorate: Implications for Supervisory Practice. In Academic Futures: Inquiries into Higher Education and Pedagogy. King, V, Deepwell, F, Clouder, L & Broughan, L and C Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
• Taylor, S. (2002). Managing Postgraduate Research Degrees. In The Effective Academic: Handbook of Enhanced. Fry, H., Ketteridge, S. & Marshall, S. London, Kogan Page.

Conference Paper

• Taylor, S. (2016), Benchmarking Supervisor Development, Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Developments in Doctoral Education and Training. University of Oxford. UK Council for Graduate Education.
• Taylor, S (2007), Towards a pedagogy of research supervision, Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference: IPed 2007: Researching Academic Futures. Coventry, Coventry University, Coventry.

Edited book

• Kumar, V., Taylor, S. & Sharmini, S. (2023). Doctoral Examination: Exploring Practice Across the Globe.
• Taylor, S., Kiley, M. & Holley. K.A. (2021). The Making of Doctoral Supervisors. London: Routledge.

Journal Article

• Taylor, S. & McCulloch, A. (2017). Mapping the landscape of awards for research supervision: A comparison of Australia and the UK. Innovations in Education and Teaching International 54(6): 601-614.
• Taylor, S. (2014). Towards a Framework for the Professional Development of Doctoral Supervisors. SDF Digest: A Practitioner Journal for HE Staff Development 2: 74-87.
• Taylor, S (2012). Changes in doctoral education: implications for supervisors in developing early career researchers. International Journal of Researcher Development 3(2): 1-22.
• Taylor, S. (2008). Thinking of Research Supervision as a Form of Teaching. Research Supervision: an online journal

Monograph

• Taylor,S. (2022). Developments in Doctoral Examination in the UK. UK Council for Graduate Education. UK Council for Graduate Education.
• Taylor,S. (2021). Managing Supervisory Loads by Centrally Limiting Student Numbers: an investigation into practice in institutions in the UK. UK Council for Graduate Education. UK Council for Graduate Education.
• Taylor, S. & Humphrey, R. (2021). A Guide for Research Supervisors in Organisations Outside Higher Education. UK Council for Graduate Education.
• Taylor, S. (2021). Towards Describing the Doctoral Education Landscape. UK Council for Graduate Education.
• Taylor, S. (2020). Supervision, wellbeing and the mental health of doctoral students. Postgraduate Research Catalyst Project, Durham University Counselling Service.
• Kumar,S., Kumar,V. & Taylor, S. (2020). A Guide to Online Supervision. UK Council for Graduate Education.
• Taylor,S. (2019). Good Supervisory Practice Framework. UK Council for Graduate Education.
• Taylor, S. (2018). Eligibility to Supervise: A Study of UK Institutions. UK Council for Graduate Education.
• Taylor, S. (2017). Enhancing Practice in Research Supervision. UK Council for Graduate Education.
• Taylor, S (2017). The Research Supervisor’s Bibliography. UK Council for Graduate Education.
• Taylor, S. (2016). UK Professional Standards Framework (UKPSF) Dimensions of the Framework for Doctoral Supervisors. Higher Education Academy.
• Taylor, S, Loughlin, E, Martin, E & McComb, T (2010). Induction for Postgraduate Research Students. Society for Research into Higher Education.