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Year: 2016

Nathan

Episode 57: Dr Emmanuel Mogaji

Episode

In this episode I’m talking to Dr Emmanuel Mogaji, who completed his PhD at the University of Bedfordshire earlier this year. Emmanuel’s thesis research looks at how the public perceives bank advertising, and it was really fascinating to hear about how his research and how he prepared for his viva. He was a Three Minute Thesis finalist at his university in 2015, and you can find him on Twitter as @e_mogaji.

Would you like to share your viva experience? It would be great to hear from you! Please get in touch if you want to come on the podcast.

Thanks for reading!

Nathan (@DrRyder and @VivaSurvivors)

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Nathan

Episode 56: Q&A Special 1

Episode

Hello!

A few weeks ago I asked for your questions for a Q&A episode, and here we are! Thanks to those of you who submitted questions; there were only a couple of you, but the questions that were asked are really important to the viva process. I hope that the answers are helpful, I was able to share a mix of some of the research I’ve done in the last few years and also some of my opinions about how to prepare well. One of the questions wanted to know about the comparison between vivas in the UK and in Europe, something I don’t know a lot about: if anyone has any links to resources about this area then do let me know!

I had fun recording this episode, and if it seems like a useful thing then let me know, and maybe it can become a quarterly bonus or special episode. You can find me on Twitter as @DrRyder and @VivaSurvivors, or you can email me. And please get in touch if you want to come on the podcast to share your PhD and viva experiences!

Thanks for reading!

Nathan (@DrRyder and @VivaSurvivors)

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Nathan

Q&A Episode Coming Soon

Episode, Update

Hello!

One of the few podcasts I regularly listen to is the Tim Ferriss Show: I highly recommend it, Tim interviews people about how they manage to be excellent in their fields. It’s a wild ride sometimes, and he has a huge variety of people on his show. I don’t think that the Viva Survivors Podcast is a “wild ride” but I think it’s great that there is such a variety of PhD graduates who come on here to share their experiences.

A few times now, Tim has had special Q&A episodes and listeners ask him all kinds of things – anything and everything really. It struck me a month or so ago that this might be a useful thing to do on Viva Survivors, at least every now and then. I used the poll function on Twitter to see if this was interesting to followers, and got a couple of positive votes, and also heard from several friends to say that this was a neat idea.

So let’s do it!

(more…)

Nathan

Episode 55: Dr Anna Mackenzie

Episode

The Viva Survivors Podcast returns! I needed to take a break to start a few other projects – one or two of which you might hear about on here in due course – but now we’re back.

In this episode I’m talking to Dr Anna Mackenzie, who completed her PhD at the University of Chester in 2015. Anna’s research looked at gender and genre in the works of Shakespeare, and we talked about her PhD, future research plans looking at Shakespeare and Doctor Who, and her new role as a member of the “hidden academic network”. You can find Anna on Twitter as @DrAnnaMack. She’s previously written about her viva experiences here, and you can read her thoughts about post-PhD life here.

You can find me on Twitter as @DrRyder and @VivaSurvivors. Please get in touch if you want to come on the podcast to share your PhD and viva experiences. Come back soon for details on the upcoming Q&A episode!

Thanks for reading!

Nathan (@DrRyder and @VivaSurvivors)

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Nathan

Hiatus Ending Soon!

Update

Long time, no see!

This short hiatus wasn’t something that I particularly had planned for the podcast: I underestimated how involved I was going to be with a new project of mine, and the time that I had for doing any work on the podcast seemed to evaporate into thin air. Now that new project is underway (and another one has been done in secret; I’ll tell you about it in a few months’ time) I can switch my attention back to sharing PhD and viva stories.

Episode 55 is coming up on April 11th, one week from today, and features Dr Anna Mackenzie telling me about her PhD research, how she prepared for her viva and what happened on the day. I think this will be the only episode for April, but then I’m planning to do two episodes for May: one regular and one “special” that I’ll need YOUR help with.

A few months back, after listening to a couple of other podcasts that I really like, I thought that it might be fun to do a Q&A episode: what do you want to know about the viva? About the podcast or the work I do? What would help you? Ask me, and I’ll answer! I’m going to start the prep for this in two weeks I think, so will give more details then. I really want this to be a useful episode, so your help is greatly needed and appreciated.

A quick update on my idea of running a Patreon campaign: after a lot of back and forth on this, thinking about pros and cons and so on, I’ve decided not to pursue this. I think Patreon is a neat idea, but I don’t think it is quite right for how I want to develop the podcast. Running and managing it could become a distraction to making the episodes themselves. I am fortunate that I have the kind of business and life that gives me time to do the podcast (and pursue ideas and projects for my own development) and I think for now that it’s best that things stay more or less as they are.

So to recap: new episode on April 11th, more episodes in May, including plans for a Q&A epsiode, and no plans for Patreon. Email me if you want to know more about any of this, or if you’d like to come on a future episode – I’m always looking for people who are happy to share their PhD and viva experiences, or who are interested in coming on a future special.

Thanks for reading!

Nathan (@DrRyder and @VivaSurvivors)

Nathan

Episode 54: Dr Fiona Noble

Episode

We’re back with the first episode of 2016! In this episode I’m talking to Dr Fiona Noble about her PhD experiences and viva. Fiona’s research was on Post-Franco Spanish Cinema, and it was great to talk to her about this, and also chat with her about her viva preparations and what happened on the day.

Fiona has a blog here and has written three posts dissecting her viva preparation and experience, which you can find on her blog in the following places:

I’m exploring the last few details for the Patreon campaign for supporting the podcast – get in touch if you’d like advance notice about this. You can find me on Twitter as @DrRyder and @VivaSurvivors. Please get in touch as well if you want to come on the podcast to share your PhD and viva experiences. I’m planning for 2016 to be a big year on the podcast – I hope you’ll join me on the journey!

Thanks for reading!

Nathan (@DrRyder and @VivaSurvivors)

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