Episode 49: Academic Jobs Special 3

In this episode I chat to Dr David McGrogan about academic jobs: Dave is my best friend, and I previously spoke to him about his PhD and viva in Episode 16, and then he interviewed me for Episode 25. Dave is a Senior Lecturer at Northumbria University, and he was very generous in sharing his experiences in applying for jobs, thoughts on the academic job market at the moment and in the future, and advice for anyone looking to apply for lectureships. You can find him on Twitter as @DavidMcLaw.

Episode 50 is next! It will be a little different, as I’ll be taking a reflective look-back at the first forty-nine episodes, what’s happened, what I’ve learned, the opportunities that have come from doing this and more. I’ll also be looking ahead to the next year or so of the podcast, and while I’m not quite in a position to share something exciting just yet, I hope to be able to tell you something about it.

Expect to see Episode 50 of Viva Survivors on Monday 9th November 2015. Until then if you want to get in touch please email me, or you can catch me on Twitter as @DrRyder or @VivaSurvivors. I love hearing from people who want to come on the podcast to share their PhD and viva experiences. If you can, please consider supporting the podcast by buying one of my ebooks on viva preparation.

Thanks for reading!

Nathan (@DrRyder and @VivaSurvivors)

Episode 48: Dr Laura Bonnett

In this episode I talk to Dr Laura Bonnett, who is currently a Post-Doctoral Research Associate at the University of Liverpool. Laura completed her PhD part-time at Liverpool, and her research area was biostatistics. In the episode we discuss what it was like for Laura to do her PhD part-time and to have several papers published. We also talk about what happened on the day of her viva – when her examiners didn’t agree on their recommendations – and how she resolved the situation. You can find Laura on Twitter as @ljbcmshe.

I can’t believe we’re almost at fifty episodes! I’m planning to do something a little different for episode 50, and am also hoping to have a special announcement (or two) for then too. If you want to get in touch please email me! I’m on Twitter a fair bit, so you can catch me there as @DrRyder or @VivaSurvivors. I love hearing from people who want to come on the podcast to share their PhD and viva experiences. If you can, please consider supporting the podcast by buying one of my ebooks on viva preparation.

Thanks for reading!

Nathan (@DrRyder and @VivaSurvivors)