The List
Every candidate has at least one list for their viva. It could be a list of typos they’ve found or ten papers they think have made the most contribution to their research. Maybe it’s a to-do list for viva prep...
Daily viva help for PhDs
Every candidate has at least one list for their viva. It could be a list of typos they’ve found or ten papers they think have made the most contribution to their research. Maybe it’s a to-do list for viva prep...
Candidates need to know more about examiners: how they prepare, what’s involved, what they’re asking, what they might ask and do and why. Examiners need to know more about candidates and the PhD journey in the 2020s: they need to...
A morning viva starts sooner, but an afternoon viva might finish more quickly. An afternoon viva could be more nervous for a candidate because they have more hours to think before it starts. But are there distinct advantages or disadvantages...
In the viva, examiners drive the discussion by asking questions that: Explore your contribution; Investigate your authorship; Assess your capability as a researcher. In turn, a candidate typically worries that: They haven’t done enough; They won’t remember enough about the...
Your examiners are interested in your work. They have to be, or they just wouldn’t be there. Your examiners are prepared for the viva. Like you, they have to get ready to do this particular event. Your examiners are experienced....
A small task for viva prep: book an hour or two in your diary to check recent publications. Check journals you have read in the past, ask your supervisors and visit pre-print servers if appropriate to see if there is...
If the thought of meeting your examiners and having your viva doesn’t fill you with joy or excitement, what can you do? How can you get yourself to a state where you feel like having your viva? Five quick ideas!...
Survive means manage to keep going in difficult circumstances. Just difficult. Not negative. Not a struggle. I use the definition a lot in my work to emphasise that surviving the viva doesn’t mean the situation is automatically bad or overwhelming,...
No matter how much work you put into your research and thesis, or how much time you spend on viva prep, there’s always something that your examiners could say or ask that you haven’t anticipated. And no matter what they...
You’ve written your thesis, read it in preparation for your viva and maybe made notes on pages. So why would you write anything else about it? Why would you write a summary as part of your viva prep? To gather...