2. There are inevitable challenges for international doctoral students who experience
online supervision. Some issues arise from diļ¬erent cultural expectations leading to
confusion and misunderstandings (Wisker, 2008), inadequate English language proļ¬-
ciency resulting in miscommunication (Winchester-Seeto et al., 2014), and mismatched
expectations of what constitutes suitable feedback (Alebaikan et al., 2020). However,
much less is known about how international doctoral students experienced online super-
vision during the 2020 COVID-19 arrangements and how they constructed their identities
in cross-cultural contexts. In response to this gap in the literature, this article highlights
the story of Tia, an international doctoral student from Indonesia in Australia. She was
isolated from supervisors and peers and separated from her husband and child in
Indonesia during the pandemic. Her narrative points to the importance of supportive
relationships in doctoral supervision, particularly in times of crisis, and provides evidence
of the potential for online supervision to facilitate such relationships. To investigate this
important issue, we pose the following research questions:
(1) What is the possible impact of online doctoral supervision during the pandemic on
an individualās identity and positioning in relation to others, within institutional
structures of the university and peer engagement?
(2) How can practices and strategies of online doctoral supervision be successfully
applied in a time of crisis?
Online doctoral supervision in Australia
Online doctoral supervision has long been conducted through email correspondence
with electronic drafts reviewed asynchronously (Augustsson & Jaldemark, 2014). It is
argued that asynchronous communication provides inadequate interaction and sup-
port for eļ¬ective supervision, while synchronous communication through videocon-
ferencing is more eļ¬ective for discussion and support (Kƶnings et al., 2016). Online
supervision has adopted new digital communication modes, particularly videoconfer-
encing through Blackboard Collaborate, Skype, Microsoft Teams, and Zoom. These
platforms enable synchronous interaction, providing a more comprehensive super-
vision experience (Kƶnings et al., 2016). Since COVID-19, online synchronous super-
vision has quickly become the norm in Australia.
The doctoral programme in Australia is often entirely research-based (ACOLA, 2016). To
complete doctoral degrees, students in Australia generally only need to complete a thesis
to be examined by three external examiners, with no oral defence. In addition, the
Australian Council of Learned Academies or ACOLA (2016) expects doctoral students to
complete their studies within three years. These high expectations in the Australian
system make eļ¬ective supervision a necessity. Acknowledging such challenges and
recognising that one supervisor may not meet the needs of individual doctoral students
during candidature (Green & Bowden, 2012). The Tertiary Education Quality and
Standards Agency (TEQSA) stipulate a set of measures within the Higher Education
Standards Framework (Threshold Standards) 2015 which requires a doctoral supervision
panel with a minimum of two supervisors (TEQSA, 2015
2 C. AMELIA ET AL.
4. Methodology
Research design: Mixed-methods explanatory sequential
In this study, an explanatory sequential mixed-methods approach was employed through
an online survey questionnaire and follow-up in-depth interviews to explore the experi-
ences of Indonesian international doctoral students in Australia. Survey data provided a
general picture of key issues, while interview data provided in-depth responses.
Data in this paper is drawn from the ļ¬rst-named authorās doctoral research that
explores factors aļ¬ecting the doctoral completion of Indonesian students in Australia.
As an Indonesian doctoral student at an Australian university, she is an insider in this
research, enabling participants to speak frankly and openly during the interview. The
research design allowed participants to choose which language to use in in-depth semi-
structured online interviews. Data from interviews conducted in Indonesian tended to be
richer as participants shared detailed experiences and expressed speciļ¬c cultural nuances
that would have been more diļ¬cult to convey in English. These data provide valuable
insights into cross-cultural encounters between doctoral students and supervisors. This
article necessarily focuses on one participantās experiences to do justice to the nuanced
depth of cross-cultural encounters.
Data collection
Online survey
In the ļ¬rst phase of the study, quantitative and qualitative data were collected from the
participants using an online survey questionnaire. By applying homogeneous sampling,
participants were selected from a particular group who shared similar experiences: an
Indonesian student undertaking a doctoral degree with a scholarship at an Australian
university. The survey participants were recruited through social media of Indonesian
communities in Australia, as approved by the Faculty of Arts and Education Human Ethics
Advisory Group (Project ID: HAE-19-246). Online surveys were completed by 111 partici-
pants across Australia.
Online interview
The second, qualitative phase, was conducted through in-depth semi-structured online
interviews. Nested sampling was applied in recruiting participants for online interviews.
Thus, the interview participants were recruited and selected from the online survey
participants as the ļ¬rst phase and voluntarily consented to participate in an interview.
As is common in qualitative research, this study uses a small sample size to collect in-
depth responses about a speciļ¬c issue. It is the depth of qualitative data, not the breadth
of the sample size, that helps address the research question (Patton, 2002). In qualitative
research, the purposeful selection of the sample is the best strategy to obtain āinforma-
tion-richā data that can provide in-depth insight into the topic of study (Freeman et al.,
2007). From 65 survey participants who agreed to be interviewed, 22 participants were
selected to represent a demographic balance of Indonesian doctoral students in Australia.
Selection ensured a balance of gender, ļ¬eld of study, year of study, and scholarship
provider.
4 C. AMELIA ET AL.
5. Interviews were conducted from July until October 2020 via Zoom due to COVID-19
restrictions. An inherent limitation of this study is that data collected during this speciļ¬c
historical moment (COVID-19 pandemic) is likely to yield diļ¬erent ļ¬ndings from any future
studies on a similar topic. Yet, this ālimitationā also speaks to the signiļ¬cance of this study ā
being undertaken in unprecedented circumstances in a time of crisis.
During extended interviews, participants described their experiences as interna-
tional doctoral students in a narrative form. Given the interdisciplinary nature of this
study, the narrative is applied to understand the multidimensional meanings of
society, culture, and an individualās life experiences (Elliott, 2005) in reļ¬ecting on
their doctoral supervision. As such, this paper presents the interview data in a
narrative format.
Data analysis
To protect the anonymity of participants, pseudonym names are used, and all
reasonable care is taken to avoid identiļ¬able details. Data from recorded interviews
were transcribed and coded by QSR NVivo, a software program, for the thematic
analysis of qualitative data (Braun & Clarke, 2006). First, we conducted an inductive
ābottom-upā approach by searching for emergent themes in the transcripts by using
the query tool and coding the text. After that, we generated the themes by applying
the auto coded tool in NVivo. To ensure the credibility and validity of the ļ¬ndings,
we combined this phase with manual coding by using Microsoft Excel to sort and
organise excerpts into the relevant themes.
Since narrative insights can contextualise a āparticular interpretation of lived experi-
encesā (Lim et al., 2019, p. 12), we examined the participantsā narratives of their experi-
ences of doctoral supervision in transitioning to online supervision. Although data were
considered from in-depth interviews with 22 doctoral students, we highlight one parti-
cular narrative to capture intimate details about how this participant reļ¬ected on the
meaning of her experiences.
We undertake an in-depth analysis of one particular participant, Tia, whose narrative of
her experiences inform a rich analysis of online supervision at this historical moment of
crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic. Analysing narratives provides chronological order to
correlate perceptions of past and present events and considers how such interactions
reļ¬ect participantsā understandings of their future, including their sense of wellbeing
(Mahmoud & Tehseen, 2021). Focusing on one narrative provides an in-depth chronolo-
gical portrayal of how the participant reļ¬ected on her experience and revealed detailed
insights as the story unfolds.
Findings and discussion
To explore online supervision experiences in greater detail, an in-depth analysis of one
participantās narrative becomes the articleās main focus . Through a lens of positioning
theory, our analysis uncovers speciļ¬c supervisory practices that support academic pro-
gress during a crisis.
INNOVATIONS IN EDUCATION AND TEACHING INTERNATIONAL 5
8. Associate supervisorās strategies and practices
Due to her principal supervisorās clear expectations to be āleadingā the supervision ā as
stated clearly at the beginning of Tiaās candidature ā her associate supervisor tended to
have little involvement in supervision. However, since signiļ¬cant changes to academic
activities resulting from COVID-19, her associate supervisor started to oļ¬er emotional
support via online contact using a combination of communication modes. For example,
when Tia felt depressed and had sleeping problems because she was worried about her
family in Indonesia, her associate supervisorās support came as a āreliefā. As a result, Tia
started to develop what she described as a child-parent kind of dynamic in interaction
with her associate supervisor, as she described:
Well, this pandemic was a time that revealed my associate supervisor to be a woman with a
gentle demeanour, a counter-balance to my principal supervisor, who is an āexplosiveā
(meledak-ledak) person, who is very open and so on. Well, this āwomanā (ibu) supervisor was
like a mother ļ¬gure to me. So, very motherly. More supportive of me psychologically.
She described her principal supervisor as being āexplosiveā or meledak-ledak. In
contrast, Tia regarded her associate supervisor as very motherly, warm and caring. Tia
applied this gendered cultural construct to her associate supervisor, noting it as
important emotional support. Tia suggested that the associate supervisor could feel
empathy for her situation as a mother and a wife. She suggested that Tia return to
Indonesia to reunite with her family. Although Tia did not previously see the
ādominantā and āexplosiveā character of her principal supervisor as problematic, she
beneļ¬ted from her associate supervisorās more supportive nature during a challen-
ging time.
This narrative showed how Tia had ādeliberately positionedā her associate super-
visor as someone who could understand her situation. In essence, her associate
supervisor redeļ¬ned her position into being a supervisor who provided emotional
support and changed her supervisory practices by building an empathetic relation-
ship based on a similar āgenderedā role as a mother and wife. She took up a much-
needed more signiļ¬cant role (than previously) that the principal supervisor could not
fulļ¬l at a time of crisis. By redeļ¬ning her position vis-a-vis the student and the
principal supervisor, the associate supervisor changed the dynamic in the established
relationships to enable Tia to continue her doctoral candidature and ļ¬nd solutions to
problems encountered.
Peer support strategies and practices
Tia also beneļ¬ted from a diļ¬erent strategy established by the principal supervisor of peer
support through online group supervision meetings with all of his doctoral students by
using Microsoft Teams. She valued her new group online supervision experience as a
āblessing in disguiseā or hikma ā an Arabic term (Khalifa, 2000) commonly used and
borrowed in Indonesian as hikmah to mean receiving wisdom (through interaction with
others), prosperity or a gift (new friends) and thus being blessed. She described her
experience.
.
8 C. AMELIA ET AL.
10. To conclude, this study reveals a unique and situated experience of an international
doctoral student in a time of crisis. Importantly, its ļ¬ndings have enduring relevance for
enhancing the quality of doctoral education post-COVID-19. By exploring an individualās
online doctoral supervision experience, this study oļ¬ers valuable insights into pedagogi-
cal approaches for eļ¬ective supervision practices in a time of crisis. Building on this study,
a fruitful direction for further research would be to look beyond the cross-cultural
dynamics of ļ¬xed positionalities in doctoral student-supervisor relations and consider
the transformative potential of intercultural relations in this context, examining the
possibility for increased responsiveness and ļ¬exibility in more dynamic intercultural
positioning.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank the editors and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful
suggestions to improve the article. The authors also would like to thank Eileen Hanrahan
(Language Learning Adviser at Deakin University) for the feedback and all the research participants
who volunteered to share their insights for this project.
Disclosure statement
No potential conļ¬ict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Funding
This work was supported by Lembaga Pengelola Dana Pendidikan (LPDP) for Citra Amelia's doctoral
scholarship and the Faculty of Arts and Education, Deakin University for the ļ¬eldwork assistance.
Notes on contributors
Citra Amelia is a doctoral candidate in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Deakin
University in Australia. Her doctoral research is focused on the factors aļ¬ecting PhD completion
progress.
Alistair Welsh is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Deakin
University in Australia. His interdisciplinary interests relate to socio-linguistic research into identity,
culture and discourse.
Monika Winarnita is a Lecturer in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Deakin University in
Australia. Her research interest includes understanding the experiences of Indonesians in Australia,
particularly through an ethnographic approach.
RamĆ³n LĆ³pez Castellano is a Lecturer in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Deakin
University in Australia. His research interests include a wide range of topics related to cultures,
society and identity.
ORCID
Citra Amelia http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1571-3367
Alistair Welsh http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4238-1636
Monika Winarnita http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5481-063X
10 C. AMELIA ET AL.