Category: Daily Post

January 19, 2025December 17, 2024 Nathan

Who Are You?

Daily Post

No, this isn’t an existential post following yesterday’s birthday post!

 

What title do you give yourself as a researcher? How do you describe what you do?

When I was doing my PhD, to people outside my immediate circle I would say I was a PhD student. To other people at my university I might say I was a mathematician; perhaps a pure mathematician if I felt they would understand the distinction.

In my department I would say I was a knot theorist. If it was someone fancy I would say I was a low-dimensional topologist. If it was someone knowledgeable I would say I was interested in finding effective algorithms for calculating certain polynomials of particular classes of knotted objects.

Who you are and how you describe yourself might change from person to person.

How do you describe yourself to you? What labels do you use? Are they accurate? Are they kind?

And, whatever your work, whatever your stage of your PhD or however close your viva is, do you remember that you are more than your research? You are a researcher but that’s just one part of who you are and what you do.

Who are you?

January 18, 2025January 21, 2025 Nathan

A Lot Of Little Steps

Daily Post

Today is my birthday and I’m old.

How did I get here? My beard is turning grey, various joints ache and I still have a moment of confusion now and then that I don’t look as I expect in the mirror.

Seriously, how did this happen?!

As the title of this post suggests, through a lot of little steps. Birthdays come around and burst the bubble that we’re not changing, but the path from last year to this was many little steps along the way.

 

The same is true for the PhD journey. How did you get to where you are now?

Through a lot of little steps.

You worked, you thought, you reflected, you worked some more, you wrote some things, you talked, you grew and developed and became someone very similar to who you were at the start and also a little bit different. That’s how you got this far.

It’s how you’ll get to your viva too. You don’t have to take one big leap to be ready: you take a lot of little steps to read, review, reflect, rehearse and re-orient your thinking before you meet your examiners.

 

I should add, by the way, that despite my gripes at the top of this post, all of my little steps have lead me to a place where I am happy, with a wonderful family, a happy home and work that fulfils me and helps others. What more could I ask for on my birthday? 🙂

 

It’s also my annual custom to offer an age-related discount to some of my paid resources on my birthday. However a 44% discount sounded odd, appropriate as it may be – so let’s round it up to 50%!

Until Friday 31st January 2025 you can find the Viva Help Bundle for half price. The sale runs automatically, there’s no code to enter or anything like that. If you like the look of it, please take advantage of this sale now. Thanks for reading 🙂

January 17, 2025December 17, 2024 Nathan

Find The Right Direction

Daily Post

Rowing harder doesn’t help if the boat is headed in the wrong direction.

This phrase, attributed to Kenichi Ohmae, is something I try to keep in mind whenever I find myself stuck or working on something for a long time. It’s a reminder that working hard doesn’t matter if I’m not doing the right thing.

It’s a sentiment I wish I had known during my PhD!

Be sure that you’re working on the right things as you prepare for your viva. It’s good to work hard but you might not need to do as much work as you think.

Obsessing over every detail, finding every typo in your thesis, checking every reference – you could work really hard at these sorts of things, but will that help you to be ready?

Read, review, rehearse. Keep it simple. Work hard but find the right direction.

January 16, 2025December 17, 2024 Nathan

Mindsets Can Change

Daily Post

A mindset sounds fixed by definition. Your mind is set on something, in behaving a certain way or doing a certain thing.

I’ve talked to a lot of PhD candidates who get worried about their examiners. They think that they’re out to get them. They think examiners will solely focus on “the bad stuff” – even if they can’t quite define what parts of their thesis they think that will be. And sometimes they’re intimidated by examiners; their level of general knowledge and experience could make a candidate feel small by comparison.

Examiners are often cast as the bad guys (by the candidate) but really they’re just doing a job.

• They prepare. They plan. They explore ahead of time what they might ask.
• At the viva they facilitate. They make notes. They listen. They ask questions. They decide.
• And more generally, they have PhDs so they can empathise. They know what it’s like to do what you’ve done and to be sat where you’re sat.

Have I changed your mindset with these little thoughts? Maybe not. But perhaps it’s chipped away a little worry. You now have to think about what else you can explore to change your mindset about your examiners.

Perhaps there are other mindsets about the viva (the tone, the expectations, the questions) that you can challenge. Perhaps by changing your mind about a few things you can find a better way to think about and prepare for your viva.

January 15, 2025December 17, 2024 Nathan

Difficult ≠ Negative

Daily Post

It’s reasonable to expect your viva to be difficult.

Consider the work that you’ve done and how long you’ve been doing the work. Consider the level that you work at. Consider the years of work that yours is built on, the expectations of your discipline, the amount you’ve written and the general demands of a viva.

Consider that you might be nervous, anxious, worried or stressed.

It’s reasonable to expect your viva to be difficult – but that doesn’t mean it will be bad.

You might not like aspects of your viva or viva prep. You might not want to respond to certain questions or topics at the viva. And there might be general expectations of the whole event that worry you.

Still: does that mean your viva has to necessarily be a negative experience?

If you’re anxious, ask why. If you’re worried, ask why. If you’re stressed, ask for help.

 

It’s natural to be nervous. It’s right to expect your viva to be difficult.

Accept the situation, work in and around the parts that you need to. Don’t expect a box-ticking exercise but do expect that you can do well in a situation you can know so much about and prepare for.

And do remember that you’ve not got this far without facing a certain amount of difficulty – and making it through.

January 14, 2025December 17, 2024 Nathan

Challenges

Daily Post

Formally the viva is an exam.

Practically it could be described as a discussion.

It’s accurate to call it a challenge.

It’s not wrong to be nervous about exams, worried about talking or concerned about a challenge. It’s human to feel any of those things.

 

Remember that the viva is an exam conducted as a discussion – and only a challenge because that’s what you’ve made for yourself. The viva is one particular challenge after many that you have overcome. You’ve worked hard to do the work, do the research and write your thesis. Along the way you built yourself up as well, in your knowledge, understanding and general capability.

Remember that the work that has got you this far is what will get through the challenge yet to come.