This is part one of a double bill on supervision and diversity, by Dr Jessica Gagnon (@Jess_Gagnon) an educational sociologist, focused on inequalities in higher education. She has worked in higher education in the US and UK for more than 20 years. Jessica is a first-generation student from an American working-class, single mother family. She currently serves as co-chair for the Gender and Education Association, an international, intersectional feminist academic charity founded in 1997, focused on achieving gender equality within and through education. The second part to this post shares a wealth of ideas for supervisor practice.

Content note: This blog post discusses and references systemic inequalities, bullying, harassment, gender-based violence.

Our universities are very good at talking about diversity, but good intentions are not good enough when systemic inequalities still persist. What does that mean for those of us who serve as supervisors for doctoral students?