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Month: August 2020

Nathan

Two Moves Ahead

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I’ve been learning how to play chess over the last few months. I’m a total beginner. I knew how the pieces moved, have always been interested in the game but from a great distance. A video I saw by chance on YouTube has hooked me, and now I’m trying to get good enough that I can help my daughter when she starts learning in school next year.

As I’ve been learning recently, you have to analyse constantly in chess. Be thinking several moves ahead: if I play like this, what are the possible likely responses, and what could my responses be to those moves. It’s a curious thing: I’ve played lots of kinds of games over the last few decades, and played plenty of games where you have to think ahead, but never has it struck me in the way that chess has now. In doing so, it’s giving me a new way of seeing games (when you’re playing to win!).

Another thing that stands out to me is that this way of looking ahead in playing chess is completely the opposite of how I think about the viva and preparation for it. Thinking two moves ahead for the viva doesn’t work. You can’t game the viva by writing your thesis in a certain way, to avoid questions or lead examiners in a preferred direction. It’s not possible to think ahead and anticipate all of the questions you might be asked, then think about possible responses – and think abut the remarks or questions that might come from those responses.

Thinking two moves ahead won’t help you win your viva: instead you have to continue with the same long-term strategy. Do good work. Learn things. Become talented. Keep going. Then whatever move your examiners make, you’ll be able to respond well.

Nathan

If You Need Help With Your Viva…

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…ask for it.

This year, everyone needs help. Everyone is hurting somehow. Everyone is pressured, tired, concerned, and it could be tempting to think that it’s best not to bother people. What’s your viva compared to someone else’s troubles, worries, workload? Keep it to yourself, you might think.

Ask – of course, pick your moment, be aware of other’s circumstances, be prepared to perhaps compromise – but ask.

Ask your supervisor for a Zoom chat, but be concise and targeted with your questions. Ask your colleagues for help preparing, and be prepared to offer the same in return. Ask your friends and family to give you space – whatever your living situation, ask them to support a little place and time of calm so that you can get ready.

Support others however you can at this time, and look for the support that you need. In a strange and radically different world from a year ago, you matter, your viva still matters. Ask for the help you need to get it done.

Nathan

An Imposter Story

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Academia is rife with imposter syndrome. Lots of talented people, wondering about whether or not they are really talented, worried that they will be found it. For researchers at postgraduate level, I don’t think imposter syndrome starts with the viva, but the viva can certainly increase worries about being “good enough” or being revealed.

Working against imposter syndrome takes time, but perhaps a starting point is understanding that even the most high-achieving people in the world can feel it. Author Neil Gaiman describes meeting an older gentleman at an event who had the same first name as him:

…I started talking to a very nice, polite, elderly gentleman about several things, including our shared first name. And then he pointed to the hall of people, and said words to the effect of, “I just look at all these people, and I think, what the heck am I doing here? They’ve made amazing things. I just went where I was sent.”

And I said, “Yes. But you were the first man on the moon. I think that counts for something.”

Neil Armstrong worried that he was an imposter. Neil Armstrong!

If you worry about doing enough, chances are your examiners do. Perhaps your supervisor does. Some of your colleagues certainly will. And knowing that is not enough to banish your own feelings, but if you realise that lots of people struggle, that you’re not alone, perhaps you can start to work against it.

Seek help. Ask questions. Share with your community. Find out what people do to realise that they are good enough.

Because if you’ve submitted your thesis and your viva is coming up, you MUST be good enough. You’ve earned this. You are good enough. You might not banish imposter syndrome with ease, but you can work through some of the worries that come with it. You can start to feel better.

Take one small step to begin with.

Nathan

The End of the Line

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The town I live in is the last stop on our local train service. It’s been five months since I’ve travelled by train for work – or at all, come to think of it – but whenever I was returning from a trip, there was something really nice about knowing that I was a few stops away from the end of the line. Almost home.

A few more stops and I’m there. Down the road, right at the traffic lights, up the hill a little and two more corners and home.

The viva is a little like the end of the line. It’s the final station; maybe your research train arrives after what feels like a very long journey. Perhaps you’ve had to make several changes along the way. Hopefully there haven’t been too many delays – especially in the final stages. I imagine if your submission or viva is coming soon, given this year, then the end of your PhD trip has been tough.

And now you’re almost there. Almost. Because there’s still a short walk through corrections, past streets of necessary admin and paperwork, before finally you’ve reached your real destination.

Remember that your viva might be the end of the line, but you’ve a little way to go yet.

Nathan

Long-Term Learning, Short-Term Prep

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I’ve seen relief on the face of PhD candidates when I tell them they don’t need to prepare for their viva until after submission. That in itself helps to frame the scale of the challenge. I also emphasise that viva prep is building on the talent and work that has been created over the course of the PhD.

Thinking about this, I’m reminded of the song “Scales and Arpeggios” from near the beginning of Disney’s The Aristocats: little kittens singing about the importance of practice over the long-term. You do the basics again and again and become proficient. You lay the groundwork for later success by working to get good. You do the work, you learn the skills because there is no other way to get the work done, no other way to achieve what you want.

As your viva gets closer, think about the basics you’ve mastered and the talent you’ve made on them: the skills you’ve created through research and learning. After submission, prep is a small bit of work, highlighting all the years of practice and what they’ve created.

And finally, do check out “Scales and Arpeggios” – it’s such a lovely song! Sure to lift preparation spirits! 🙂

Nathan

Fighting The Hydra

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Combatting nerves and anxieties ahead of the viva is like cutting the heads off the hydra of myth: cleave away the head of concern about typos, and it’s replace with two heads of slightly-unclear passages. Become certain that your examiners are good choices, and you can then stress about what each of them might think.

Every attempt to squash away nerves or thwart little anxieties will make you more and more open to spotting things that could make you nervous. It’s fine to practically assess and fix issues, but doing so to try and push nerves away is not a great strategy.

Unlike ancient heroes though, you have a choice: you don’t have to fight this hydra at all. You have to prepare, but your goal does not have to be eliminating nerves – more will always pop up – instead you can work to build your confidence.

Turn away from the worry-hydra. Work to become more certain of your ability. Worries are not the real challenge in the viva. Greater confidence in yourself and in your work can help you to respond to challenges in the viva, and also put pre-viva worries in perspective.

Nathan

Emergency!!!

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An examiner cancels with short notice.

Someone involved gets sick.

Technology fails on the day.

You can’t account for every possible viva emergency in advance or have insurance policies against every worst case scenario, but simple things can really help.

  • Find out who the go-to person is at your Graduate School for helping PhD candidates, and get their name and contact details written on a Post-it Note.
  • Check the regulations for the viva, and requirements for video vivas. Check the technology, have test runs with friends and explore other options.
  • If your viva is over video, find out who you can contact if you do have problems (in case there is no in-person line of communication at the time you have your viva).

A viva Emergency!!! has to be figured out, but some of the work and stress can be reduced with a little early thought. You can do nothing now and choose to panic if something bad happens, or invest a little time now to thwart any unexpected situations later.

(and often the little time and thought now usually helps with non-emergency aspects too!)

Nathan

Take Your Time

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Take your time, if you can, to finish a good thesis. Make it the best presentation of your research, to convince your examiners of the significance of your work and your talent as a researcher.

Take your time, unless your time is very limited, when you need to prepare for the viva. Spread out the work. Sketch out a plan for what that period might be like. Think about how you can break up the things you need to do so you’re not overwhelmed.

Take your time, and there’s plenty of it, to pause and think and respond well in the viva. You’re under no rush. You might feel a pressure to do well, but that shouldn’t come from a need to go quickly.

Your PhD is worth doing well, so take your time.

Nathan

Excited (To Be Done)

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In viva prep sessions I ask candidates how they feel about their viva. Often, the group are between a few weeks away from their viva to a few months before submission, and there will be a range of emotions in the room. There’s lots of worry, concern about being unprepared, maybe uncertainty about what they feel.

And typically one person who raises their hand and says, “I’m excited actually…”

…but then they hurriedly qualify their statement with, “…erm, to be done!”

Excited that it will soon all be over. Excited that soon they will feel relief. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it saddens me that the most positive people seem to feel is “excited (to be done)”.

I don’t have a magic wand to wave, but if I could I would aim it to help people feel:

  • Excited that they get to discuss their work with examiners!
  • Excited to have achieved something big!
  • Excited to have come so far and learned so much!

I suspect these candidates do exist, but perhaps feel like they can’t speak up as much. Maybe it’s hard to seem positive around others who don’t.

If you want to feel some flavour of excitement for your viva, even excited to be done, but are stuck on something like worry, anxiety or fear, then think about what you could do to move yourself. What do you want to feel, and what could you do to get you there?

Nathan

“But There’s A Problem”

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I think nearly all PhD candidates can point to at least one thing in their thesis or research that’s a Problem.

A specific issue, question, idea, result – a thing – that invites reasoned concern. Non-hypothetical, something you can talk about, analyse, offer opinions on, but perhaps something that is still undecided. Is it good or bad? Right or wrong? Perhaps it opposes conventional thinking, or is different to how your examiners might think or approach a topic.

Unlike vague hypothetical worries – resulting from general nerves over the importance of the viva – a Problem can become a focus for concern that can’t simply be defused by general practice and prep. If you have a Problem, you can’t push it away. You have to work with it. Dig deeper, learn more, write notes, discuss it with your supervisor and be ready to discuss it with your examiners.

Remember too that a Problem is not automatically disqualifying. A good thesis does not mean a perfect thesis. A Problem does not mean a fail or even major corrections. After three or more years of research, there may not be the space to remove all problems or Problems from a thesis. You may simply have to say, “This is as far as I could come.”

Also remember, that after three or more years, if you have a Problem in your thesis, then YOU are the person best qualified to understand it. Your work, talent and time created this Problem, but also made you the person most capable to discuss it in the viva.

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