Motivations & Questions

There are three things your examiners have to do in your viva:

• Explore your significant original contribution;
• Unpick the hows and whys of your research;
• Examine your capability as a researcher.

They have to do this. There’s a lot to talk about and a lot that could be brought up through the discussion, but as a starting point, consider how you would respond to these three questions:

• Why would someone value your research?
• How did you solve a difficult problem in your PhD journey?
• What can you recognise as an area of growth in your ability?

Each question corresponds to a point from above; there’s more to ask, more to say and these are just starting points. But what would you say?