Thank you for your thoughts. I must agree you are right, that is not a good idea to have a relative or a friend as a supervisor. However, it still appears to be quite enigmatic, shady area..... a friend of mine has within his department a new student (she is the wife of the one of Prof. who teaches there and he is a principal supervisor of his wife PhD) That made me quite curious how can it be? From what I gather it must be that every university has a different guidelines when it comes to the supervisory arrangements. Hmmmm...... that made me wonder if someone else know of the similar case? Thanks a lot!

Hi all! I contemplate applying for a PhD and was wondering what are the precise rules with regards to choosing supervisor at the UK university? Can I for instance have a supervisor who is my friend as we both are from the same subject group and share similar interests? What about being supervised by a husband or wife who is an academic and is willing to take his/her spouse on? Would you please give me your thoughts on the above? Many thanks :-)