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Year: 2021

Nathan

Final Prep

Daily Post

What’s the last thing you will do to get ready for your viva? What final action will leave you satisfied, a small smile on your face that you’ve done all you can?

When will it be? The morning of your viva, a final check of some detail? The day before, deciding what to wear? A few days ahead of your viva when you have a final chat with your supervisor?

Sketching out a plan for prep helps to make it real. Knowing the final step can give you something to guide you. Deciding for yourself what that final task will be really cements that this is for you.

Your research. Your prep. Your viva.

Nathan

Ready or Not

Daily Post

When the date is in the diary your viva is going to happen whether you’re ready or not.

Don’t agonise over the date. Don’t fret about what might happen or what your examiners might ask.

Instead do the work. Do the work that’s needed to get ready.

The work will help steer you away from concern and lead you towards confidence. Preparing for the viva is a practical path and not a long journey – certainly not compared to your PhD as a whole.

Your viva is going to happen, ready or not. Choose to be ready.

Nathan

Selecting Examiners

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I like things to be just right. I’m not fussy, I’m particular.

Which means I’m never satisfied by Christmas selection boxes: a collection of chocolate bars in one festive package. My grandmother would say, “You mustn’t eat them all at once or you’ll spoil your appetite!”

Well, I couldn’t eat them all at once. Because I didn’t like the bars with nuts in. And I wasn’t keen on the chewy one. And that other one has a funny texture…

So many treats aren’t to my taste even though there’s nothing wrong with them. I’ve not found a selection box that is just right for me.

For similar reasons I think many capable examiners would feel unsuitable for any candidate. There’s nothing wrong them, but their selection would feel wrong.

There are no universal criteria for good examiners. There are criteria that academics must satisfy  – a length of time in post or level of experience – but after that everything comes down to personal taste of the candidate.

Have you cited your examiners? That could feel right for some but not for others. Are they an expert in your field? A lot of candidates could find that scary! A friend of your supervisor? Is that really the best thing to focus on?

So much of what would make an examiner feel right to a candidate comes down to what matters to the candidate.

Fundamentally, you can’t choose your examiners but you can talk with your supervisor. You can make a case for what you think would work well. Reflect in advance on what you would ideally like.

  • What are you really looking for?
  • What criteria would make for someone who is close to perfect?
  • How do you find academics who meet your requirements?

Your supervisor will ultimately nominate your examiners but you can put forward ideas for the kinds of people who would be just right for you. Be particular.

Find the best selection for you.

Nathan

Change of Plans

Daily Post

I’m thinking back to this time last year. In the UK there were various permissions extended to allow families and friends to meet over Christmastime-

-and then there weren’t.

Very quickly plans were changed, compromises were reached and make-do decisions were made.

That was hopefully just for one year. If you’ve had to make a similar change of plans for your PhD since March 2020 then that could have had a big and continuing impact on your PhD journey. Everything from a lack of access to equipment or materials and reduced meeting opportunities with your supervisors, all the way to a fundamental change of direction to your research.

It’s natural to be concerned about the questions that could be asked about this at the viva. It’s natural to worry. Not just common viva nervousness from anticipation of the event, but concern for communicating the practical changes and the impact – perhaps even wondering about what might have been.

It’s also natural to expect your examiners to be understanding about how the pandemic has had an impact on your PhD. They will know the changing situation of the last two years will have been difficult: in whatever way it comes up in the viva they will simply want you to be clear. Be clear about the impact. Be clear about how you changed your plans. Be clear about how you navigated the work despite the situation.

Be clear. They will understand.

Nathan

Need, Nice, No

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When I work with final year postgraduate researchers I ask them to consider prioritising the work they think they have to do with three lists:

  • Need: the things that are absolutely essential
  • Nice: work that would be good to do but which isn’t neccessary
  • No: tasks or projects that aren’t needed to fulfil the main objective

Way back in the distant past of 2007/8 I had projects that would become chapters I needed in my thesis. I also had nice ideas which I didn’t have time to develop. My supervisor agreed they weren’t essential to my thesis contribution, so I put them to one side. There were also things I said no to. I said no to paid part-time work so I could focus on getting my thesis finished. I said no to new ideas as there wasn’t time to add more to my thesis. I said no to fun things that would have been a distraction.

This kind of prioritising can help with finding focus for the final year, but Need, Nice and No can also help with getting ready for the viva.

Viva prep isn’t a great challenge, but there are lots of things you could do in that period. It helps to separate out the kinds of work that are essential from what would help if you had time – and also from what you don’t need to focus on to be ready.

For example:

  • Need: read your thesis, check regulations, use rehearsal opportunities…
  • Nice: re-read your key references, have a mock viva, practice sharing a summary…
  • No: look for typos, consider improvements to your thesis, become an expert in your examiners…

When you put something in the No category you free yourself to focus on what you Need. Prep tasks that are Nice you can do if you have time or if, like the mock viva, you feel it is right for you. Not every candidate needs a mock viva – although they can be very valuable – but every candidate needs to rehearse responding to questions as they would in the viva.

Find your focus for your viva prep. Reflect and think ahead. What do you need to do? What would be nice as you get ready? And what will you say no to so that you can focus?

Nathan

Show Your Working

Daily Post

These three words were drilled into me in my former life as a mathematician. In solving a maths problem it wasn’t enough to find an answer, I had to show how I had got there. I couldn’t claim a result without proof.

“Show your working” is important for PhDs more generally, not just for low-dimensional topologists!

Postgraduate researchers show their working in their thesis, but then also in the viva. They have to explain their thinking, share the knowledge they have and demonstrate their ability.

A viva isn’t only about reciting facts. You have to show your working – but of course, by this stage, you must have a lot of experience doing that. Preparing for the viva is partly reviewing those experiences, and partly practising doing it one more time.

Show how you’ve worked in your viva – and show once again how you can do the work.

Nathan

The PhD Is A Journey

Daily Post

A long journey.

Tiring and stressful perhaps. At times the destination might have seemed uncertain – or perhaps even changed! But if your viva is somewhere in your near future then you’ve almost reached your journey’s end.

As you get closer, pause and take some time to reflect:

  • When has the journey been most joyful?
  • When has it been hard?
  • When have you been lonely?
  • When have you been supported?
  • When have you made the quickest progress?
  • When have you struggled the hardest?
  • When have you had to make difficult choices? (and how did you make them?)

And most importantly, what’s kept you going?

Reflecting on the PhD journey can bring up sensitive or upsetting memories sometimes. It can also help to show your progress, your success, your development.

You got this far. Now keep going. Your journey’s final destination isn’t too far away.

Nathan

Facts, Opinions, Hunches

Daily Post

I know. I think. I feel.

There’s a place for all in the viva, potentially.

Some questions will hit a target made up of facts. Things you know. Things you have discovered.

For some questions you weigh up information against your experience and knowledge. You think and offer what you think is appropriate. Perhaps someone else could think differently.

Then you could be asked a question and you don’t have an answer. You have nothing to weigh up. Instead you could offer what your gut feeling says. A hunch you can’t shake. This could be right or wrong – and there might be no way of anyone knowing.

You can know, think or feel in the viva. In all cases you have to be clear. Be clear with what you’re saying to your examiners. Be clear in your own mind so that you don’t confuse yourself.

Listen to the question, pause and then see: do you know, think or feel your response?

Nathan

The Big Pictures

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There isn’t a single big picture to consider before your viva.

Why did you want to do a PhD? That initial motivation is helpful to reflect on and share. It could help you to explain to your examiners what you thought was interesting about your research area when you started.

Why is your thesis research valuable? Insight into what makes your research significant can help you to describe why what you’ve done is worth a PhD. Reflecting on this can help you to find better ways to communicate your contribution.

Why did you keep going? Your response to this big picture question can help you – and your examiners – see your dedication, talent and effort. It can help boost your confidence.

There’s no single big picture way to reflect on your research for the viva. By considering different questions you can find what you need to engage well with the process and do what you need to succeed.

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