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The aim of this article was to focus on how supervisors relate to and handle the emotional work involved in the supervision process. These emotional issues are related to changes in the academic system, such as an increasing emphasis on efficacy and quality assurance.

Interviews with supervisors are discussed using a theoretical framework built on the concepts of emotional boundary work and feeling rules. A narrative approach was used to make connections between individual stories and the institutional level of the academic system.

The findings show how emotions challenge and condition supervision, and how the micro-processes of supervision and the wider university systems are tightly connected. A paradox is illuminated where emotional aspects are both recognized as an important feature of supervision and as a threat, which could affect it in the context of regulation and increasing demands on efficiency.

The findings suggest that a mediating role of supervisors and emotional boundary work needs to be considered in supervision, which demands certain amount of flexibility in regulations. Also, the risks of associating supervision with private issues are acknowledged.

The findings suggest that supervision is a highly emotional process, and that supervisors, on the one hand, tend to downplay the emotional side of this process, but on the other hand, are well aware of the complexity of the supervision process and its demands on them. Although supervisor–student interactions have become more regulated, they also include more attention to human interactions, feelings and emotional boundary work.

The purpose of this article is to present findings from the authors' research into how supervisors of doctoral students cope with change in supervisory relationships where a supervisor takes on a student previously supervised by another, or has to hand over a student to another supervisor's care, and to identify recommendations for applying these findings to supervisory practice.

The research used interviews to gather and analyse perceptions and practices from experienced supervisors, and aimed to identify good practice to support supervisors in enabling transitions to enhance student success. This work is underpinned by work on conceptual threshold‐crossing, students working at sufficiently critical, creative and conceptual levels to achieve doctorates; well‐being and emotional resilience, particularly in doctoral studies. It makes links between knowledge construction, resilience and well‐being, from the perspective of the supervisors, since it focuses on the experience of supervisors engaging with and supporting students.

The research identifies supervisors' anxiety at, and ways of managing the difficulties of, either losing or acquiring students. It highlights effective strategies for taking on students midway into their research to enable successful supervision.

This research offers new knowledge about supervisor perceptions of, experiences with and good practice suggestions for, supporting transitions for doctoral students who change supervisor.