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Month: January 2019

Nathan

Time For Prep

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There’s no meaningful viva prep that needs to happen before submission. Given the kinds of tasks involved – reading your whole thesis carefully, making notes, having some kind of meaningful practice with questions, and so on – an estimate of around 20 to 30 hours of work seems reasonable. But rather than simply block that much time out in your diary, I think it’s better to ask more useful questions about the post-submission period:

  1. How long might you have between submission and the viva?
  2. How busy is your life, or how much of your time is already accounted for?
  3. What do you think you need to do in order to feel happy about your viva?
  4. How long do you think that might take? (and how certain are you of that estimate?)
  5. Given the answers to the previous questions, how much time can you regularly commit to your preparation?

And finally given the answers to all of these questions, when do you likely need to start preparing for the viva?

Twenty to thirty hours could be right, but it depends on many factors. Pay attention to your situation and how you feel. Make a little plan and then take the time you need.

Nathan

Your Choice

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You don’t get to choose your examiners, officially, but you can have a conversation with your supervisors about who might be a great examiner for your viva. Make sure you do that.

You don’t get to veto potential examiners either, but you could raise your concerns and expect your supervisors to listen. Don’t simply say yes if there’s someone you really don’t want; dig into why you are concerned and see how the conversation goes.

You don’t get to choose or veto your examiners, but you can choose to lead the conversation. Be pro-active: think about what you are looking for, who might be great, and start the discussion with your supervisors.

 

Nathan

Logistics

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I’ve love the six honest serving men – who, what, when, where, why and how. The six proto-questions are handy for finding the root of interesting questions. They’re also valuable for unpicking the logistics of your viva day…

Who? Who are your examiners? Who else is going to be at your viva?

Where? Where is the viva taking place? What is the room like and what is in there?

When? When is it taking place? How will you be sure you’ll be on time?

What? What do you need to take with you? What will help you to feel confident on the day?

How? How will your viva be? How do you feel about it?

And finally, most importantly, why? Why are you doing all of this?

Whatever else happens, whether or not you feel nervous, focus on why you’ve been doing it all.

Nathan

Anti-Worry

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So much worry is put on the viva, that many candidates overlook the idea that it could be really, really good.

How good?

You could get new ideas for future research. You could get validation from high-standing members of your community. You could get feedback and opinions that will help. You could get ideas of how to be a better researcher.

You could even enjoy it.

If you spend a little time worrying about your viva, at least try to balance that and spend some time thinking about how good it could be.

Nathan

A Little Feedback

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After submission there’s a nice opportunity to get a little feedback. Just a little, mind you, not too much.

You know what you know. You know what you think. You probably have some idea of what your supervisor thinks too. You know what others have said at conferences and in seminars and so on.

You don’t need a lot of new feedback at this stage. You have years of it. What you need is just a few thoughts to help you keep thinking in new ways about your research.

Ask for what you need. Ask your supervisor for their thoughts on your strengths, and if there’s anything you could have done differently. You’re not problem hunting, just exploring ideas. Tell friends about your research, and ask what questions they have. Offer to give a seminar if you have time, and listen to questions from that.

A little feedback can go a long way.

Nathan

Needs & Examiners

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You need to talk about them with your supervisors.

You need to know why they’re a good choice.

You need to know why they might be interested in your work.

You need to explore their research.

You need to think about how their work is related to yours.

You need to believe they’ll be fair.

You need them to do their job.

And you need to accept that they’re just people, same as you; they’re not on a great high pedestal, they’re just humans, filling a necessary role, and doing it because they’re highly qualified to meet the needs of your viva.

Nathan

Answers To “How Long Will My Viva Be?”

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One of the most common concerns of PhD candidates is how long their viva will be. It’s a question that I can give no definite answer to for any particular candidate, but one that generally has many relevant answers:

  1. About two to three hours in many cases.
  2. As long as is needed.
  3. Typically less time than you worry it will be.
  4. Typically more time than it actually feels like on the day.
  5. Rarely less than one hour; rarely more than four.
  6. Several orders of magnitude shorter than everything you’ve done so far for your research.
  7. It doesn’t matter.

That’s the big picture: it doesn’t matter. Maybe it feels important, but it’s more important to focus on being prepared, feeling ready and approaching the viva with as much confidence as you can, rather than spend time concerned about how long it will take.

There are lots of answers to “How long will my viva be?” – including the most honest one, “You’ll find out.”

There are far more interesting questions to spend time unpicking and answering.

Nathan

No More

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The viva means no more.

No more time. No more writing. No more reading. No more meetings. No more experiments or interviews or models. No more prep. No more re-reading. No more wondering about what will or won’t come up.

No more…

…or enough?

After all of your PhD, enough time. Enough writing. Enough reading. Enough meetings. Enough experiments, enough interviews, enough models. Enough prep. Enough re-reading. Enough wondering about what will or won’t come up.

There’s a point where it’s all enough.

You’re getting there.

Nathan

Perfectly Impossible

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I got a note from an anonymous seminar participant:

I have written the perfect thesis. Should I worry about the viva?

If the first statement was true, I could see no reason why they should. If their thesis was perfect, really, why would they need to worry? If I had a perfect thesis, there wouldn’t be much point!

Small problem: there is no perfect thesis. Imperfection is inevitable. The perfect thesis is an impossibility.

But an imperfect thesis doesn’t automatically mean that someone should worry. They might anyway, because they have doubts, or questions, or 101 concerns. And there could be a problem in any imperfect thesis that leads to tough questions or tricky corrections: both are part of the process, neither “should” be worried about.

An imperfect thesis doesn’t mean you failed. It means that you didn’t achieve the impossible.

You have a thesis. You have you. You have everything you need to beat back your worries and succeed in the viva.

Nathan

What To Wear

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Wear whatever helps you present the best “you” that you need in the viva.

If you feel you need to communicate you’re serious, or you know your stuff, or you recognise this is important then wear something that shows this. If you need something to act as armour to protect you, or even a superhero costume then pick something that helps in this way.

If you just want to be really cool then go for it!

In any situation, not just the viva, what you wear can send signals to others about who you are, who you want to be and what you think about the situation.

Of course, you pick up on those signals too. You can reinforce the truth you want for yourself.

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