The End of the Beginning
The viva is the beginning of the end. Passing it is, I like to think, also the end of the beginning. However you feel about your PhD journey, particularly if it has been challenging or coincided with the pandemic, it is...
Daily viva help for PhDs
The viva is the beginning of the end. Passing it is, I like to think, also the end of the beginning. However you feel about your PhD journey, particularly if it has been challenging or coincided with the pandemic, it is...
That’s the viva. At and after submission there’s still lots to do, but at and after the viva there’s hopefully only a little way to go. Still work, but not too much. The viva is the beginning of the end...
In most cases the viva is a tough, fair, interesting conversation. In most cases the candidate finds out they have to complete some corrections afterwards. In most cases the candidate discovers that their worries about what might happen didn’t match...
There’s a lot of waiting in the thesis submission and viva process. Waiting to hear that your examiners have got your thesis. Waiting to find out when the viva is going to be. Feeling like you’re waiting for the day to arrive. Waiting on...
The viva is nearly-but-not-quite the end of the PhD journey. It really won’t take much to get ready for it. You’ll get to have a conversation with two interested academics about your research. Once your viva is finished and your...
Your viva is almost the end of your PhD. What’s next? An ending is also the start of something else. What’s your new beginning? What do you take with you into this next chapter of your life? What new knowledge...
It could be that, like me, having to wait for something means your thoughts turn to asking “What if…?” These questions aren’t always helpful for keeping calm or confident. Sometimes they even prompt nervousness. They could be natural to ask,...
In and amongst your viva prep, take a little time to think about how you will start your life after your viva. If your viva is over video, how will you step back from that situation? Who will you talk...
The break at the end of my viva really wasn’t that long. My memory tells me it was about 17 minutes, but it was a very long 17 minutes. It felt longer than the four hours I was in the...
Finishing my PhD was a strange time. I remember a weird few weeks of tidying my desk, taking folders home on the train, clearing stuff into recycling, and then a gap of months of trying to figure out, “What now?”...