You Are Here

Category: Podcast

Nathan

Episode 7: Dr Andy Hoyle and Dr Louise Hoyle

Episode, Podcast

In this episode I talk to some married friends of mine, the Drs Hoyle! Dr Andy Hoyle graduated from the University of Liverpool in 2006 with a PhD in Mathematical Biology; Dr Louise Hoyle finished her postgraduate research this year, completing her PhD in Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Stirling.

We’ve been trying to arrange an interview time for a while now; I thought it would be really interesting to chat with them about their research and also about their experience of having a partner who was doing postgraduate research. It was lots of fun talking to Andy and Louise, I hope you enjoy listening to it. They had lots of good advice for both the PhD and the viva.

Episode 8 should be along in the next few weeks; I’m still looking for interesting ideas for future podcasts and interviewees. Drop me an email, leave comments on the episodes and make sure you’re following the Twitter feed for announcements: @VivaSurvivors.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Nathan

Episode 6: Dr Helena Mihaljevic-Brandt

Episode, Podcast

In this episode I’m talking with Dr Helena Mihaljevic-Brandt, a PhD maths graduate who did her research at the University of Liverpool and now lives in Berlin. She works as an editor for Zentralblatt MATH, an online reviewing database of mathematics papers. Helena’s research area was holomorphic dynamics – I know a little about that because she used to sit at the next desk to mine at Liverpool!

It has been a few years since I last caught up properly with Helena, and it was great to do so for Viva Survivors. I was really interested to hear her perspective and her PhD journey; I was curious about what it was like for her to do her postgraduate research in a foreign country, and what it was like to then return home to take up a research post.

I hope you enjoy Helena’s podcast as much as I did recording it with her! Check back soon on Viva Survivors for more podcasts and maybe a couple of surprises; as always, please feel free to leave comments or drop me an email, and make sure you’re following the site’s Twitter feed for updates and announcements: @VivaSurvivors.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Nathan

What Else?

Podcast, Update

Last week I tweeted, asking

I’ve got one response so far:

This is definitely something that is in my mind, and I’m going to look around my contacts and see who has experience that they can share.

I’ve also been thinking about sharing some funny viva-related pieces. Many of you might be familiar with PhD Comics, which I am sure has had some viva-related humour in the past. As well as that I was forwarded a really funny piece of thesis examination preparation, care of McSweeney’s, “FAQ: The Snake Fight Portion Of Your Thesis Defence“.

Q: Would someone who wrote a bad thesis and defeated a large snake get the same grade as someone who wrote a good thesis and defeated a small snake?
A: Yes.

You can go and read the rest of it here – I am extremely thankful that I defended my thesis in the UK, where you simply have to know a couple of sets of Morris Dancing, rather than have to fight a snake!

To come back to my main question though: what else might be good to include in the podcast or on this site? What helpful resources or conversations could I try to provide? Let me know in the comments or email me!

Nathan

Episode 5: Dr Ben Libberton

Episode, Podcast

In this episode I’m talking with Dr Ben Libberton, who runs the website Literature Review HQ. Ben completed his PhD in Microbial Ecology last year, and recently graduated from the University of Liverpool. As well as running his site, he holds a post-doc in Electrical Engineering.

It was great chatting with Ben, particularly because of his continuing interest in things relating to postgraduate researchers. His site has some great resources, so please go and check it out. He’s also on Twitter: @litreviewhq.

Viva Survivors will be back soon with another episode! I have several interviewees in the pipeline, including a couple which will make for slightly out of the ordinary podcasts. If you have ideas and thoughts for future episodes, even for doing something different (whatever that might be!) then please get in touch. As ever, follow me on Twitter at @VivaSurvivors.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Nathan

Episode 4: Dr Julia Collins

Episode, Podcast

EDIT: I had the wrong link to Julia and Haggis’s blog in both the podcast and in this post! D’oh! Sorry about that everyone. I’ve corrected it now. Big thanks to Colin Wright for spotting it and letting me know.

Two podcasts in under a week! It’s almost like it’s your birthday!

In Episode 4 I have a chat with Dr Julia Collins, who had her viva in 2011. She got her PhD in maths (in the same field as me) from the University of Edinburgh. Since completing her PhD, Julia has had the position of Mathematics Engagement Officer at Edinburgh. Her stuffed sheep Haggis blogs about maths and science communication here and you can follow them both on Twitter: @haggismaths. It was great to talk to Julia about her PhD and viva; we met several years ago at various conferences, and were both doing research in the same branch of maths.

Note that there is a slight echo on the podcast audio; sorry about that! I forgot to plug in my headphones when we were recording, and it only became apparent towards the end. I’ll watch out for that more on future recordings!

Please share Viva Survivors with friends, family, colleagues, peers, anyone and everyone! If you have comments about the podcasts or questions about the viva then please get in touch, maybe they are things that I can explore in future podcasts. I’m always looking for more people to interview too.

And as ever, we’re on Twitter: @VivaSurvivors.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Nathan

Episode 3: Dr Jennifer Cromwell

Episode, Podcast

After a delay of several weeks Viva Survivors is back!

In Episode 3 I talk with Dr Jennifer Cromwell, who earned her PhD in Egyptology from the University of Liverpool in 2008. Jenny is a Macquarie University Research Fellow at Macquarie University in Sydney, and we had our conversation with a nine hour time difference! Jenny had lots to say about her experience as a postgraduate researcher and a really interesting viva story.

I was really interested to hear about her experience as an early career researcher, and she shared some valuable insights from her career so far.

Keep checking back for details of the next episode of Viva Survivors, which will be up hopefully by the weekend! You can follow the podcast on Twitter at @VivaSurvivors – and please RT and share the podcast and site with others that you think will be interested.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Nathan

Episodes 1 and 2 Comments

Podcast

I am not entirely sure why the comments didn’t work for the first two podcast posts, but they seem to be working well enough for future posts. So if you have any comments or questions for Episode 1, featuring Dr Shaine Bushell, or Episode 2 with Dr Anna Tarrant then please write them here! Thanks.

Also you can follow me on Twitter, @VivaSurvivors, or email if you want to with any questions or comments.

Nathan

Episode 2: Dr Anna Tarrant

Episode, Podcast

In Episode 2 of Viva Survivors I talk with Dr Anna Tarrant, who had her viva last year for her PhD in social geography at Lancaster University. Anna is a Research Associate at the Open University, and is also the Managing Editor of PhD2Published, a site that

“offers a wealth of hints and tips for early-career academics on how to get published as well providing discussion on the future of academic publishing in the e-age”.

PhD2Published looks really cool, and they also have a weekly livechat over Twitter using the hashtag #acwri.

Episode 1 of Viva Survivors is here, and the next episode of Viva Survivors will be along some time in the next ten days; check back for details, or follow us on Twitter: @VivaSurvivors.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Nathan

Episode 1: Dr Shaine Bushell

Episode, Podcast

In the first episode of Viva Survivors I’m talking with Dr Shaine Bushell, PhD maths graduate of the University of Liverpool and now the Mathematics Enhancement Course Leader at the University of Chester.

Shaine and I were officemates during my PhD, and we’ve remained close friends ever since. It was great to interview him for Viva Survivors, and really interesting to hear the story of how he came to be a researcher, how he prepared for his viva, what happened and what he has been doing since then.

Episode 2 of Viva Survivors is up right now! For details of future episodes, be sure to follow us on Twitter: @VivaSurvivors.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Nathan

The Viva Survivors Podcast is here

Podcast

About a year ago I had an idea to interview people about their viva and share their experiences, so that PhD candidates would have the mysteriousness of the viva demystified a little. I wanted to ask people about how they had prepared, what others had told them, and also ask them about their experience on the day.

When I started to develop the idea and talk to people I realised that it was not going to be enough to just ask people about the viva. It would be important to understand the context that they were in. What was their research about? Why had they done it? What had that been like? Did they enjoy doing it? And what were they doing now? What had their PhD meant to them, and what advice did they have for people who were researching now?

Following the name of some workshops that I deliver, I decided that it would be neat to call these interviewees Viva Survivors. Plus it just sounds cool!

Today the site launches with two interviews:

  • Dr Shaine Bushell, a PhD maths graduate from the University of Liverpool
  • Dr Anna Tarrant, a PhD social geography graduate from Lancaster University

In the next month there will be at least two more podcasts going up, and I’m looking for more people to interview so that I can maintain a regular update schedule of two or three new podcasts a month. Would you like to be interviewed for the podcast? I’m looking for PhD graduates from all backgrounds, all disciplines, all nationalities – whether you work in academia now or not, whether you were part time or full time, had fun or hated it – I want to hear from YOU! The listeners of the podcast do too.

So get in touch with me, either via my work site or on this site. Please tell people about Viva Survivors, volunteer to be interviewed – or if you have any questions or topics that you think I should cover in future episodes please let me know.

Follow Viva Survivors on Twitter at @VivaSurvivors!

1 2 3 4