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Month: November 2022

Nathan

The Breaks

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It’s always worth saying: yes, you can have a break in your viva.

A bathroom break.

A medically necessary break.

A break to breathe and relax or compose yourself.

An hour in, two hours in, three hours in, it doesn’t matter when.

Your examiners might offer, but you can always ask.

Then at the end of your viva, most likely, one more short break while your examiners discuss the outcome. They exchange notes and reach their final consensus.

For that final break decide in advance what you might do, so that you aren’t sitting and wondering about what just happened and what is about to happen.

 

And hopefully when your viva is finished you can take a longer break that is solely about relaxing and resting.

Nathan

Personally Developed

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Personal development is sometimes seen as a box-ticking exercise during a PhD: perhaps a form or report that has to be filled in every now and then. That’s a shame, because I think personal development is what the PhD is all about. A PhD is not just a piece of paper or a couple of extra letters around your name. It stands for something. It represents the change you’ve made in yourself.

Reflecting on that before the viva helps you. You don’t want to stand on a chair and boast of your talent and knowledge, but you do want to sit there and be confident. Reflect on your journey. Reflect on the change in yourself. Consider how you have grown and developed and use that to build your confidence for the viva – where you can calmly explain and explore what it all means.

Nathan

A Series Of Steps

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You take a PhD one day at a time. Read, write, test, think and do it all again. Day by day you work through the journey.

You take viva prep one task at a time. Read, write, think, talk: each task brings you closer to the viva.

You take the viva one question at a time. Pause, think, respond, then on to the next point. Each question is an opportunity for you to demonstrate something about your research and yourself.

Step by step, each one bringing you closer to success.

Nathan

Not Noticed

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Twenty minutes before my first webinar of the autumn I realised that I couldn’t close my office door.

The panel from the side of the bath was in the way, leaning just beside the door. I had taken it off two months earlier to fix a leak and never quite got around to putting it back. I’d become so used to it being there that I no longer noticed it when I was passing through the doorway.

I spent two hurried minutes jiggling and fiddling with it to get it back into place on the side of the bath where it belonged. Then I washed my hands, took a deep breath and it was time for the webinar.

My bath panel is pretty big but it was only a little problem to resolve. It was stressful in that moment because of the urgency. It would have been far better to look around in the previous days (or weeks!) and sort it out sooner.

 

Little problems can be overcome once we notice them. Little problems in your thesis or your research are less stressful to resolve before the viva than in your viva. While you can’t just prime yourself to notice what you’ve not noticed previously, you can work carefully during your viva prep to look for little problems.

  • Read your thesis without skimming. What do you see? Typos aren’t a problem because they don’t require you to come up with a solution. A clunky sentence might be a problem. How do you make it clearer? A forgotten topic is a problem. What can you do to refresh your memory?
  • Ask for considered feedback when you rehearse. Your friend not understanding you is a problem. How can you explain your point better? Your supervisor disagreeing with you is a problem. How can you explore the issue?

A clunky passage in your thesis or a misunderstanding in the viva will not lead to your failure. Little problems are little, but remember: little problems are less stressful to resolve before the viva than in your viva. By working to spot what you’ve not noticed before you can pre-emptively fix things – or give yourself more practice solving little problems for the viva.

Nathan

Small Beginnings

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Do you remember the first day of your PhD? Do you remember what that was like?

I do! I can vividly remember showing up at my office, being told which of two desks I could commandeer for the next few years and then waiting and wondering what I should do next. I knew my supervisor already, but knew that I wasn’t due to see him for several days. I knew, kind-of, what area I was going to be working in.

So I started reading my Master’s dissertation. I had carried that into university with me that day, in my bag, proof for myself that I was meant to be there. As I worked through the pages of a short book I hadn’t read in over a year I found typo after typo. Clunky line after clunky line. I picked up a red pen and started amending my previous work in the margins.

And I felt bad.

Foolish. Naive even. What was I doing here? What was I going to be doing…

…for the next three and a half years?!

I had no idea.

 

And then Shaine asked me if I wanted to go for a cup of tea as it was eleven o’clock and that’s what happened at eleven in the maths department. For the rest of that day, and the rest of that week – and the rest of the month – I was slowly introduced to the rhythms of life in the maths department.

Meeting by meeting, I figured out what I needed to do to get started. Chat by chat, I started to understand what being a PhD maths researcher meant.

One thing stood out to me: research takes time. It takes work over a long period of time. You might have breakthroughs or periods of intense activity, but it all takes time.

 

From small beginnings you must have come a long way over the course of your PhD. Do you remember your first day? Your first week or month? Can you compare and contrast that to where you are now?

I imagine if you’re reading this that your viva is some time in the near future. At the very least you can have a good idea of when it might be. Look back to the beginning of your PhD journey and realise: you have come a long way.

You’ve invested the time and the work to become better, to build your research and develop yourself. Remember and realise that you must be good by this stage of your journey; you might not be at the end, not yet, but you have made a lot of progress and found a lot of success since your beginning.

Nathan

Good Question!

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I listen to podcasts while I wash the dishes. It’s my little bit of “me time” in a busy day!

Recently, while scrubbing away at a pan I was struck by how often someone being interviewed began their response by saying, “That’s a good question…” They said it a lot, and every time they sounded very sincere and genuine – almost delighted to have been asked.

Many years ago in a short presentation skills seminar I was told that saying “that’s a good question” was a good way to stall and play for time to think. It could help to create a good impression and – as a presenter – engage with the person asking the question.

All those things can be true but stood in my kitchen with my hands covered in bubbles it hit me that it was also a really positive attitude to take into the viva.

 

Now, I don’t mean that every time your examiners ask something, you have to smile and say, “That’s a good question!”

But rather than worry in advance about what might come up, or ponder in the moment what your examiners could mean, just think that all of the questions you will be asked will be good questions.

Every single one.

Good because the topic is good.

Good because they get you to talk about something great.

Good because they challenge you.

Good because they highlight something that needs to be talked about.

Good because they help you get one step closer to the end of your viva and passing.

Your role in the viva is to engage with the discussion and respond to questions. Will some of them be tough? Probably – but start with the idea that they will all be good to give yourself a helpful way to engage throughout your viva.

Nathan

Just After Submission

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At submission, a PhD candidate won’t typically know when their viva is going to be. There’s a period when they’ll wait to find out the date and time for their viva. In the UK it’s common for the viva to be anywhere from six weeks to three months after thesis submission.

A candidate might feel pressure to do something just after submission – from nerves, wondering or hoping – but there’s generally not a great need to start preparing immediately. Viva prep is a different kind of work to what one does to get a thesis finished. The wait after submission can be useful as a break or gear change – a boundary between submission and prep.

Perhaps all you need just after submission is to take a moment. Deep breath. Make a few notes. What will you do for your prep? How will you do it? Sketch a simple plan. Then put it into action when you know your viva date.

After submission, generally, you can relax a little. The hardest work is done. You could be busy – it’s unlikely that your PhD is your only responsibility in life – but at least, for a short time, maybe you can put your research to one side and do something to help yourself rest.

Nathan

The Pauses

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There are no bad reasons for taking a pause during your viva.

A pause to check you’ve heard your examiners correctly. A pause to get your thoughts in order is helpful. Checking a detail from your thesis is a useful beat of silence.

The pauses in the viva aren’t limited to your side of the table or the Zoom call. Your examiners may have to read their summaries or make a note for later. They may need to check between them to see who will speak next.

The pauses in your viva are the punctuation for the discussion. Like punctuation in a book they are just as necessary.

Pause, think and respond. Pause, check and ask. Pause, note and consider.

Silence isn’t always comfortable but pausing in the viva is never bad.

Take your time.

Pause.

Nathan

Viva Time

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It could be a nervous time.

It could be a happy time.

It could be a strange time.

It could be a rushed time.

 

It’s a time of preparing.

A time for remembering.

A time for reflecting.

A time for checking.

 

Time could pass quickly.

Or time could pass slowly.

You could be waiting or pacing or chasing ideas.

Time could feel odd.

 

But it’s your time.

Your time to use as you want or need.

Your time to get ready and then be ready.

Viva time is your time.

Nathan

The Exp Words

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What kind of speaking are you expecting to do in your viva?

Do you imagine you’ll have to explain what you did?

Do you think you’ll simply expand on what you’ve done?

Or perhaps you think you will explore what your research really means?

In truth: you’ll do all of these and more. The viva is a discussion centred on your research, your thesis and you. The conversation can go in many different directions. Expect that you’ll explain, expand on and explore a lot of what you’ve done.

Don’t expect that your examiners will expose big problems though – or explode your central ideas!

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