There are many pressures upon PhD students not least the requirement to make an original or significant contribution to knowledge. Some students, confronted with complex research processes, might adopt practices that compromise standards that are unacceptable within a research community. These practices challenge the PhD student-supervisor relationship and have implication for the individual, the supervisory team, the institution, the awarding body and the wider research context. Discussion relating to misconduct within the PhD is of international importance if the aim is to encourage and facilitate rigorous research practice. Cases involving academic and research misconduct, especially those occurring at PhD level, are likely to become more frequent as numbers of PhD students increase and will demand appropriate, defensible responses from supervisors. Misconduct during PhD study can be difficult to resolve because of lack of clarity in definitions, supervisor naiveté and failure to acknowledge students' decision making limitations. Using scenarios from the first author's supervisory practice to illustrate issues of concern for students and supervisors during PhD supervision, the authors aim to illuminate the importance of engagement with regulatory bodies; problems of knowledge and understanding transfer; culturally specific issues and meanings of academic theft.