Beyond Words:

This qualitative study explores how visualisation strategies are conceptualised, enacted, and valued within MA and PhD research supervision. Drawing on the theory of practice architectures and Universal Design for Learning (UDL), it examines the cultural-discursive, material-economic, and social-political arrangements that enable or constrain inclusive supervisory practices. Through semi-structured interviews with four postgraduate students, the study reveals that visualisation serves as both a cognitive tool for sense-making and a dialogic stimulus for co-constructing knowledge. Participants described how collaborative engagement with visual materials helped navigate conceptual uncertainty, reduce power asymmetries, and legitimise diverse modes of expression. However, the findings also highlighted significant barriers such as concerns about professionalism, limited institutional recognition, time constraints, and resistance from colleagues who view multimodal approaches as deviating from academic norms. The study argues that embedding visualisation practices requires not only relational openness between supervisors and students but also broader institutional commitment to recognising supervision as a pedagogical practice. Rather than prescribing visualisation universally, the research emphasises creating conditions where multiple modes of engagement become possible and valued within supervisory partnerships.