The Welcome Mat
I love visiting friends who have a mat by their front door, big letters: WELCOME. We’re glad you’re here. You’re supposed to be. Come in, join us. I’ve never heard of a viva that had a welcome mat. I wish...
Daily viva help for PhDs
I love visiting friends who have a mat by their front door, big letters: WELCOME. We’re glad you’re here. You’re supposed to be. Come in, join us. I’ve never heard of a viva that had a welcome mat. I wish...
I like SWOT – Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats – as a simple tool that provides a lot of direction for thinking. I’ve written about it before but today I want to explore how it could help you think about you as...
There’s a place for honest feedback and difficult questions in viva preparation. Criticism can help too, but all of this has to be in proportion with encouragement. Look for people who can help you see that it is all going...
I remember knocking on my supervisor’s office door thirty minutes before my viva to check a mathematical definition. I know of people who took the day off before their viva and just relaxed. Some candidates will be checking notes almost...
You don’t have to carry everything around in your brain for the viva. You can make notes. You can make plans. You can clear out the clutter and make sense of your ideas. When you start to prepare, write down...
At the end of your PhD, you could say, “I don’t know how to run that type of an experiment,” or “I don’t know about that topic,” or “I never read that paper,” and feel bad… …or you could choose...
During my PhD I became aware of the Katamari Damacy series of video games. They’re odd games, really colourful, really lively music – I used to write for hours while listening to the soundtracks! – and lots of fun. The...
How would you advertise your research? Do you have an exciting and original take on classic ideas? Do you have a new and improved way of looking at things? Is your work wholly original, never-before-seen concepts? Advertising works. When we...
We don’t talk about it enough. One day in every UK PhD’s life that is shoved aside, joked about, under-analysed, glossed over and swept under the rug. Don’t think about it too much because you’ll worry or stress. Don’t ask...
Where is it? How do you define best when it comes to your research? What’s your best result? What’s your best chapter? What’s the best idea in your thesis? What was the best talk you gave during your PhD? What’s...