In the third and final part of our series, we focus on Professor Jelena Grbic, School of Mathematics, Mathematical Sciences, who has been shortlisted for Outstanding Research Supervisor.
Professor Grbic has developed an unrivalled reputation for excellence for her research supervision in the area of pure mathematics at Southampton.
Jelena was nominated by her students who cited her pioneering approach to supervision; her ability to challenge them intellectually, helping them make substantial contributions in their academic field; and her demonstrable enthusiasm and how she goes the extra mile to support them.
Over her 10-year career, Jelena has had six PhD students from the UK, Netherlands and China. Of the four who have graduated, one is now a researcher, bridging the gap between mathematics and biology; one is a software developer for National Rail and two have just graduated and are seeking postdoctoral employment.
With such a diverse group, Jelena has approached supervision with a focus on individuality. As one of her students said:
“She is acutely aware of how people think in different ways, have different strengths and different approaches, and she pays attention to this and makes an effort to support each one of us in our individual ways.”
Professor Grbic places great emphasis on developing training programmes which maximise opportunities for the students to interact with other researchers and other postgraduate students, to present their work and to enhance their career prospects.
Amongst the many recent activities Jelena has organised, to give greater scope to her students’ research, was a prestigious one-month international programme in Singapore which included a summer school for postgraduate students; British-Russian postgraduate workshops in Moscow; and she’s currently providing guidance to her postgraduate students who are part of a team organising next year’s Young Researchers in Mathematics conference.
She’s also given a lecture series in Beijing; co-organised a summer school for postgraduate students attending a major international conference in Dalian; led a team of four female researchers, two of whom were postgraduate students from the USA and Denmark, in producing a research paper as part of the Women in Topology network; and acted as a mentor at the EL:ECTRIC conference for early career researchers.
Jelena explains her approach to supervising students:
“Providing an intellectual challenge for my students is a great priority. We work together to find research problems which are suitably stretching for the individual student. Two of my recent students, who are especially talented, have been strongly encouraged and supported in an effort to produce additional research papers, beyond the expected standard, in order to better position them for future academic careers.”
“I have great fun working with my postgraduate students and gain great satisfaction as they grow from novice to independent mathematicians. Their energy and enthusiasm inspires my own research.”
This year’s Times Higher Education Awards will be announced on Thursday 30 November at a gala dinner in London.
You can read the first two posts in this series below:
