As a history student, my research proposal is about a comparative research of xx in country A and B. Does the potential supervisor need to be interested in both A and B? Or either of them is fine?
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3You could contact the potential supervisor and discuss it with them. As a supervisor I tend to have a fairly clear idea of what I can supervise and what I can't.– Christian HennigCommented Sep 9, 2022 at 9:52
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2 Answers
I'm not a historian, but I expect it is most important that your adviser is experienced in comparative research. However, if your adviser is focused on country A, you could look for a co-adviser or collaborator with deeper knowledge about country B. In my field, such constallations are quite common.
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1Thank you. but how to find a co-supervisor during the application? is it my job to find a co-supervisor during the application, or after I get the offer, then the university would look for a co-supervisor for me? (UK university)– hahahaCommented Aug 10, 2022 at 6:25
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I cannot comment about the UK specifically. I would discuss this with the potential main adviser. They would need to agree to a co-adviser anyway and usually can help finding one in their academic network.– user9482Commented Aug 10, 2022 at 6:29
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1@hahaha I would not expect "the university" to find you a co-supervisor. Maybe your main advisor will help you look for one, but to a large degree that is going to be your job.– xLeitixCommented Sep 9, 2022 at 7:20
This answer is more general than the humanities.
An advisor needs both an interest in your research and an ability to guide you when necessary.
Lack of the first is too likely to lead to delays and disruptions.
If a potential advisor is sufficiently knowledgeable about the common research methodologies in your specific field, then they probably have the necessary background to guide you. They don't need knowledge of the specifics. In fact, since you are doing research, which involves the unknown, you can't expect too much knowledge in any case.
In your particular case, I can envision situations in which a good advisor had little knowledge or interest or background in either A or B. But they need to know about how to attack such problems and how to judge the reliability of answers. It is up to you to apply those methods to the specific research questions.
You don't even need a co-advisor, I think. It is up to you to make the specific application to the case at hand. An exception might be if the two places differ culturally and you seek advice about how to approach those cultures if you need to gather data that might be influenced by those factors. Then, you might need someone to give you warnings about things you should avoid. But that can be a short term relationship rather than a co-advisor.
In some fields, the advisor also needs to be able to provide sufficient funding for the student and/or the research. But that is a very different issue.