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Illustration: Antonio Rodriguez

Nature’s 2025 PhD survey

This article is the fifth in a series discussing the results of Nature’s 2025 PhD survey. The fourth one looked at why PhD students study abroad. The survey, created in partnership with Thinks Insight & Strategy, a research consultancy in London, launched in May and was advertised on nature.com, in Springer Nature digital products and through e-mail campaigns. It had 3,785 self-selecting respondents across 107 countries, with 44% describing themselves as female, 25% as belonging to a minority ethnic group in their country of study and 33% as studying outside their country of origin. The full survey data sets are available at go.nature.com/4ncsuo1.

When someone talks about doing a PhD, the stories that surface are usually about what went wrong: the overbearing adviser, the chaotic laboratory experiments, the loneliness and the stress. But the experience is rarely only that. Amid challenges such as funding uncertainty, competition for positions, pressure to publish and disruptions caused by global conflicts and crises, many supervisors quietly do things that change a student’s trajectory for the better.

In its 2025 PhD survey, Nature asked more than 3,700 doctoral candidates around the world a simple question: what is the best thing your supervisor has done for you during your studies? Their answers offer a counter-narrative to some of the more alarming stories that people sometimes tell about their PhD experiences. Some respondents describe life-changing acts of support. Others recall smaller but no less meaningful moments of trust, generosity, flexibility and protection.

Here, in the students’ own words, and with a few of the supervisors sharing their approaches in response, we highlight several moments when good supervision made all the difference.

Treated me as a colleague

“The best thing my supervisor has done for me is consistently trust me and treat me as a colleague. From early on, I was encouraged to take ownership of my project, make decisions and contribute intellectually beyond the bench. This autonomy was always balanced with support and thoughtful guidance, which helped me grow in confidence and independence. That trust made a real difference — especially in a challenging research and funding environment like Argentina’s, where resilience and creativity are essential.” — Tomas Peters, a PhD candidate studying cell and molecular biology at the University of Buenos Aires

Peters’s supervisor Graciela Boccaccio says: “As a supervisor, my role is to identify and foster new talents. Each member of my team is unique, and I work to create the conditions that allow them to develop their individual scientific skills. I have always considered them young colleagues — perhaps with less experience, but nevertheless creative and wise in many ways.”

Are these the happiest PhD students in the world?

14 things our PhD supervisors got right and why it mattered