Tony Wigram as Research Supervisor

By Cochavit Elefant, & Felicity Baker

Anyone who has ever met Tony, even for just a few minutes, would easily be affected by "Tonism,"' his character, energy, sense of humor, his music, but most of all his enormous heart and love for people.

Tony was our PhD supervisor. He was a supervisor with a wealth of theoretical, research and musical knowledge. His enormous experience and passion for clinical work and belief that the basis of good research is good clinical work helped each one of us (clinicians at heart) to find our own research voices. He guided us closely through our research journey; during the ups and downs, but also provided us with ample space for growth and development. He listened and respected our experiences and knowledge, and this left us always with ownership of our research project.

The PhD training program at Aalborg University was a very serious one with a focus on clinical research. It exposed us to different perspectives and research methods brought to us by many international teachers. Tony never hesitated to surround himself with professionals and to share with them knowledge as well as the pleasures of life.

We'll describe our typical morning during our PhD courses at Aalborg University. Tony arrived at 7.30 at the Park hotel; ate breakfast while also giving his first supervision to one of the students. At 08.30 he drove quickly to the university, made copies of documents, entered the classroom and placed a sheet of paper on each desk. The students and teachers slowly entered the classroom and sat by their desks. Suddenly voices of laughter began to fill the room. This is how our day began, with jokes that Tony had prepared for us.

One of Tony's strength as a supervisor was that he could recognize potential – potential in prospective PhD candidates and potential in our proposed research ideas irrespective of the clinical research field, methodological approach, or philosophy of practice. Not only did he respect diversity, he also thrived on it and valued its role in the ongoing development of music therapy. He recognized candidates' potential, advocated for them during their application for the PhD program, and then nurtured and shaped them during the following years. Tony was dedicated to his students – phoning students for supervision session mornings, noons, and well into his evenings to accommodate the many time-zone differences among his truly international student cohort which spanned Australia, Asia, Middle East, Europe, Scandinavia, the UK and the USA. He was dedicated to quality supervision and seized any available opportunity for meeting his students. For example, on several occasions, he arranged to meet his students while he was at the airport. He never wasted a moment!

His research students were like his "other family." He shaped us as we grew from inexperienced young researchers to fully qualified PhD graduates, and, just like his own children, he continued to mentor us as we moved on in our careers.

While Tony worked hard, he also knew how to "play," and, more importantly, how to "cook." He was a whiz in the kitchen cooking up several dishes for his PhD students at the semi-annual PhD course dinner he hosted in his apartment. After a full day's supervision often finishing at 6pm followed by dinner with the group, he would go home and prepare the meal – sometimes until 2 or 3am before arriving on time, and fully "present" for supervision at 7.30 am sharp the next day. He was whole-heartedly dedicated to excellence in supervision, but with an appropriate balance of relaxation and fun. In this way, he was also a role model for us.

We would like to end with a few words about his wife, Jenny and his three sons. "Behind a great man there is a great woman." Thank you, Jenny, for giving Tony the space to engage with us during our research studies. You always welcomed us into your home without reservation. We were also privileged to witness Robert, Michael and David develop and grow into amazing people. The entire Wigram family travelled with us throughout our PhD process.