PhD Away Days: A component of PhD supervision

Aim: This paper describes a peer-to-peer and supervisor support and mentoring process that was implemented in one PhD programme in nursing in the Republic of Ireland.Background: PhD Away Days are held once per year and attended by all enrolled PhD students and their academic supervisors. Positive evaluations were obtained both from students and supervisors as collective learning occurred and group cohesiveness developed. All participants expressed interest in continuing the PhD Away Days as they learned from others' experiences. In addition, the range of topics provided learning on topics of concern across content areas, e.g. conceptual and theoretical developments, research design, challenges in data collection, and analysis and publication plans. Most importantly, there was a feeling of togetherness among students, thus decreasing the feeling of being alone with the challenges of PhD work.Conclusions: Plans for the future include the need to have the PhD Away Days continued structured around key topics of concern to both students and supervisors, and to implement content-specific modules in the PhD programme.