Supporting Roles

There are a variety of individuals who support you in different ways at the University of Cambridge. Your Director of Studies/Supervisor, your Tutor, and the CR Welfare Officers are your three main points of call.

Director of Study
or
Supervisor

The person responsible for your academic progress.

Tutor

An academic Fellow in college responsible for your wellbeing.

Student Welfare Team

Students elected as CR officers for Welfare, BAME, LGBT+, Women, International, and Families.

Support role anchor

Affiliation with college?

If you are an undergraduate, your key academic contact is your Director of Studies (DoS). For postgraduates, it is your supervisor. If possible, your DoS will be based at Eddie’s, but it is not uncommon for them to be based at other Colleges.

In addition to your DoS/supervisor, the college also assigns you a Fellow at Eddie's (usually in a different academic field) to support you in non-academic ways.

Student members of the college. Officers are voted on and those elected volunteer as representatives of the student body alongside studying for their degrees.

What do they do?

An undergraduate's DoS sets up your supervisions, consults on choice of papers and oversees your academic progress. He or she may be your supervisor for a specific paper, but doesn't have to be.

A postgraduate's Supervisor guides your dissertation to completion.

Your Tutor assists you when you have issues adjusting to life in Cambridge or if you need to contact the college about anything affecting your welfare.

The Welfare Team arranges Welfare Wednesdays and other events, represents you to College, signposts you to welfare resources, and escalates issues within college if they have not been adequately resolved.

Examples of Concerns

Undergraduate to DoS

“My supervisor is very unhelpful, what should I do?”

“I think I made a mistake picking X, can I do Y instead?”

“I’m finding one of my papers really difficult, could I do an extra supervision in that paper?”

“I’m having unforeseen financial issues, what are my options for support?”

“I feel all alone, how do I access mental health support?”

“My neighbour is being really loud all the time, talking to him isn’t helping and its affecting my studies, what do I do ?”

“I would like to access some support resources, but am not comfortable doing so through my Tutor, who should I contact?”

“I have contacted my DoS/Tutor about an issue, but they have not responded in a timely fashion.”

"I just need to talk."