“PhD is a personal individual struggle … but you don’t have to struggle alone”: supervisors’ perspectives of international scholars’ wellbeing

Increasingly, attention has been paid globally to the wellbeing of doctoral scholars in general, and to a much lesser extent, the international cohort. Recognising supervisors as the first port of call for the international cohort, this study examines the supervisors’ lens on the discourse about these scholars’ wellbeing. Interviews utilising a creative journey mapping tool were conducted with 15 highly-experienced UK-based supervisors. Drawing upon Urie Bronfenbrenner’s bio-ecological model of human development, this study highlights the connection among doctoral spatial contexts in understanding wellbeing. By re-aligning doctoral spaces, i.e. Personal space, Supervisor space and Institutional space with Bronfenbrenner’s nested systems, we elucidated how intertwined spatial elements can vitally preserve and nurture wellbeing. Our study advocates a deeper appreciation of these three doctoral spaces. We specifically contend forging stronger connections among these spatial elements as a non-clinical intervention for fostering wellbeing for all doctoral scholars - local and international alike.