You Are Here

Category: Podcast

Nathan

Episode 17: Dr Stacey Habergham

Episode, Podcast

In this first podcast after my house-moving hiatus I talk to Dr Stacey Habergham, who completed her PhD in Astrophysics earlier this year. Stacey did her research at Liverpool John Moores University, and is now a post-doc and outreach officer there as well. You can find Stacey on Twitter as @AstroHabs.

Stacey and I talked a bit about some of the outreach activities that she is involved with, and she very kindly sent through the following links!

If you’ve got questions or comments about the podcast then please leave them on the post, or email me – or get in touch via the site’s Twitter account: @VivaSurvivors. And please get in touch if you would like to share your PhD and viva experiences!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Nathan

Episode 16: Dr David McGrogan

Episode, Podcast

In this episode I talk to Dr David McGrogan, who recently had the viva for his PhD in international law. Dave is my best friend, and I’ve been asking him since I started the podcast whether or not he would be willing to come on eventually and talk about his experiences. He recently took up a position at Northumbria University in the School of Law.

If you’ve got questions or comments, then leave them on this post, tweet @VivaSurvivors or email me – particularly if you would like to share your story on the podcast.

And finally, if you’ve read “Fail Your Viva – Twelve Steps To Failing Your PhD (And Fifty-Eight Tips For Passing)” then please get in touch, I’d love to know what you think!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Nathan

Episode 15: Dr Carrie Birch

Episode, Podcast

In this episode I talk to Dr Carrie Birch, who completed a PhD in education in 2010. Carrie did her PhD part time at the University of Sheffield, and it was really interesting to talk to her about what she did for her PhD and how she did it. You can find her on Twitter as @carriebirch.

In the podcast Carrie mentions some articles that she read to help her prepare for the viva; she has been kind enough to send me a list to share here.

Leshem, S. (2007). Thinking about conceptual frameworks in a research community of practice: a case of a doctoral programme. Innovations in Education and Teaching International 44(3).
Leshem, S., & Trafford, V. (2007). Overlooking the conceptual framework Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 44(1), 93-105.
Pearce, L. (2005). How to examine a thesis. Maidenhead: Open University – McGraw-Hill.
Trafford, V. (2003). ‘Questions in Doctoral Vivas: Views from the Inside’. Quality Assurance in Education, 11(2), 114 -122.
Trafford, V., & Leshem, S. (2008). Stepping stones to achieving your doctorate. Maidenhead: Open University Press-McGraw-Hill.
Trafford, V., & Leshem, S. (2009). Doctorateness as a threshold concept. Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 46(3).

If you have any comments or questions then please get in touch: follow @VivaSurvivors on Twitter, or email me. If you would like to share your viva story then definitely get in touch!

And if you have your viva coming up, take a look at my first book, “Fail Your Viva – Twelve Steps To Failing The PhD (And Fifty-Eight Tips For Passing)” – on sale exclusively in the Kindle Store for now, but a print-on-demand edition is coming!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Nathan

Episode 14: Academic Jobs Special 1

Episode, Podcast

Some time ago I had a request to do something on the academic job market and academic jobs. I had planned to do one long episode on academic jobs, but time and schedules worked against me in January. So I’ve decided to release a podcast now and follow it up with more interviews soon!

In this episode I’m interviewing Dr Katy Shaw – regular listeners will remember that I spoke to Katy in Episode 10, and she very kindly volunteered to share her experience on the podcast again. Katy is the Subject Leader for English Literature and a Senior Lecturer in Contemporary Literature at the University of Brighton. She is also the Director of C21: Centre for research in twenty-first century writings and can be found on Twitter as @DrKatyShaw.

I’ve had a lot of recent volunteers who should be appearing on the podcast soon sharing their stories. If you have any comments or questions, drop me an email or send me a tweet via @VivaSurvivors – and especially if you would like to share your PhD and viva experiences.

PS – I have a book out! Take a look, and if you read it and find it useful, please consider leaving a review. Thanks!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Nathan

Episode 13: Dr Liz Walder

Episode, Podcast

In the first episode of 2013 I talk with Dr Liz Walder, who had the viva for her PhD in Architectural History at the end of November. It was really great to talk to her about her viva, and also to hear about her experience as a part time research student. Liz has some materials on the Royal Institute of British Architects website about the Royal Gold Medal, the subject of her thesis. You can find her on Twitter as @WalderWit.

Any questions or comments? Then please leave them in the comments below! If you’d like to be on a future podcast or have ideas for any special episodes that might be cool to do then please email me. Also tell your friends and colleagues about the podcast: you can find it on Twitter at @VivaSurvivors.

Note: there is a little distortion/fuzziness at a few points in the audio for this episode, sorry about that! Hope it doesn’t spoil your listening experience.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Nathan

Episode 12: Dr Dawn Llewellyn

Episode, Podcast

In this episode I talk to Dr Dawn Llewellyn, who did her PhD at Lancaster University and now lectures at the University of Chester. Dawn’s research was in Christian and Post-Christian women’s spiritual reading practices, and as always it was fascinating to hear about someone who has had such a radically different experience of research to me. Dawn had some great advice about preparing for the viva, and had an interesting story to tell about her viva. She is on Twitter, and you can find her at @DawnLlewellyn.

Any questions or comments? Then please let me know, either through the comments below or by dropping me an email. You can find the podcast on Twitter, if you haven’t already, by following @VivaSurvivors. Hopefully there will be at least one more podcast before Christmas, and if you would like to share your PhD and viva story on a future episode then please get in touch!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Nathan

Episode 11: Dr Claire Savy

Episode, Podcast

Dr Claire Savy did her PhD in neurotoxicology at Newcastle University, and her viva was less than a month ago! She is currently working at the University of Leeds as a Researcher Training and Development Project Officer; Claire is working on the organisation of the Postgraduate Research Conference and is responsible for the Thesis Twitter Conference and the conference’s Twitter feed: @UoLPGconference.

Claire had a lot of great advice on viva preparation. She spent a lot of time preparing, and I know that people are going to find her story valuable – particularly practising answering questions out loud to get used to talking about her thesis in a certain way.

If you have questions or comments about this or any of the podcasts then please get in touch, either through the comments, on email or via the Viva Survivors Twitter account: @VivaSurvivors.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Nathan

Episode 10: Dr Katy Shaw

Episode, Podcast

In this episode I’m interviewing Dr Katy Shaw, who is the Subject Leader for English Literature and a Senior Lecturer in Contemporary Literature at the University of Brighton. Katy is also the Director of C21: Centre for research in twenty-first century writings. She completed her PhD at Lancaster University in 2007 and her thesis was on cultural representations of the 1980s UK Miners Strike. Following on from the last podcast it was great to hear more from someone whose PhD research is in such a different area to mine. As an early career researcher Katy had lots to say about life as an academic, and shared some valuable advice for PhD students too. Katy can be found on Twitter as @DrKatyShaw.

Please leave comments below! And if you’re happy to, then please tweet and share the site and podcast with others. I’m slightly shocked that we’ve reached ten episodes already, it seems like yesterday that I was just getting things rolling. I wonder when we’ll hit 25? (which feels like the next milestone) If you would like to be on the podcast then please get in touch, either by emailing me or by sending a tweet in the direction of @VivaSurvivors.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Nathan

Episode 9: Dr Nadine Muller

Episode, Podcast

In Episode 9 I’m talking with Dr Nadine Muller, a lecturer in English Literature and Cultural History at Liverpool John Moores University. She received her PhD in English Literature from the University of Hull earlier this year for her thesis “The Feminist Politics of Neo-Victorian Literature, 2000-2010”. It was really great talking to Nadine about her research and her viva, as her field is something really different to my PhD research, and to the research of other interviewees in other Viva Survivors podcasts so far.

Nadine also has a great interest in supporting postgraduate and early-career researchers, so we had a lot to talk about. She is the creator of the #phdadvice hashtag on Twitter, a community sharing their experience of postgraduate research. Her Twitter handle is @Nadine_Muller.

Any questions or comments? Let me know, either drop me an email or leave them below. Share your postgraduate experience and advice with Nadine’s #phdadvice hashtag. And keep track of the podcast on Twitter by following @VivaSurvivors!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

1 2 3 4