Supervisors have a responsibility to help their candidates understand what’s expected of them.
Universities have a responsibility to ensure candidates have access to regulations and support.
Independent chairs for the viva have a responsibility to set the tone, observe and help steer things if needed.
Examiners have a responsibility to do their homework, prepare well, ask relevant questions and facilitate the discussion appropriately.
And finally candidates have a responsibility to do what they can, after submitting a good thesis, to arrive in as good a place as they can for their viva. They have a responsibility to respond to questions, to think, to be clear, to engage.
It may seem like you, as a candidate, have a lot to do; given everything else you have already done, it doesn’t take much to live up to your responsibilities when you get to the viva.
