Small Beginnings
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...
Daily viva help for PhDs
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Doctor Important or Professor Amazing perhaps, but your viva examiners are still just people. They know that exams can be stressful for the people taking them. They know that you have worked hard. They know you might be nervous. They...
A long time ago I would regularly help to deliver residential learning programmes for researchers. Two or three days at an isolated retreat centre, long hours, creative project work, sharing ideas and experiences and thinking about what it all meant....
You don’t have to work every hour of every day to prepare for your viva. You don’t have to be word perfect in your viva to succeed. You don’t have to be perfect. You can be you and that’s enough.
There are three types of people at your viva: those who will be there, those who might be there and those who may be there only if you agree. Your examiners WILL be there. Every candidate in the UK has...