You Are Here

Tag: allies

Nathan

Use Your Network

Daily Post

It’s just you answering questions in the viva. Before then there are lots of people who can help you prepare. Think about your network. Think about the resources you can draw on. For example:

  • Do you know someone who can tell you about your examiners’ research? It could be a boost before you read some papers.
  • Do you know someone who can tell you about their viva? It could help to settle your mind about expectations.
  • Do you know someone who can listen to you talk about your thesis? It could be a way to get some useful feedback.

Who do you know, and how can they help you?

Nathan

False Expectations

Daily Post

It’s wrong to expect that your viva will be exactly like your friend’s. It’s wrong to think that because every thesis is different there are no similarities between vivas. It’s wrong to expect to fail. It’s wrong to think that the viva is a box-ticking exercise. It’s wrong to think of it as a trial by fire.

All of these represent persistent memes or half-truths about the viva. You’re not stupid for thinking any of them. They’re a product of PhD culture. They get stuck in your head and can be difficult to shift.

Hard though it might be, we need to re-align the viva story. Every viva is unique, but they happen within frameworks. They’ll be different from each other, but there are expectations for how they are done. It’s an exam, it’s a challenge, and it could be tough or uncomfortable because of what you’re there to do – discuss and unpick your work and you as a researcher.

It’s a challenge that you can be ready for. If you did the research and wrote the thesis then you can thrive in the viva.

Nathan

Change The Story

Daily Post

Have you noticed there’s not a lot of love for the PhD process? Every stage seems to have some kind of negativity attached to how it’s described:

  • First Year Funk: realising that what you wanted to do is harder than you thought…
  • Second Year Blues: feeling down or bored with being stuck…
  • Final Year Fears: worrying about finishing on time or at all…

“Surviving the viva” is a theme that’s been around for a while. Negative associations with “defending your thesis” persist.

These things can’t be beaten with a throwaway line or a joke. We associate being a “viva survivor” with a story that the viva is a trial by fire, the equivalent of a planned natural disaster that can’t be avoided. But the dictionary also defines survive as “manage to keep going in difficult circumstances” – not insurmountable, just difficult. Talking about all the aspects of research and being a researcher can be difficult. Answering tricky questions about your research can be difficult. But not impossible.

So reflecting on this today I have two requests:

  • If your viva is in the past: tell future PhDs what was difficult about your viva and prep, but be honest and talk about what you did to meet those difficulties. You survived!
  • If your viva is in the future: think about what challenges might come your way, but reflect on what difficult challenges you’ve already overcome. You can survive!

One positive story is not going to change the negative associations surrounding the PhD and the viva. But lots of them…

Nathan

Understanding

Daily Post

“What did you do today Nathan?” I tried to show the complexity of the algorithm that I’ve been developing for the last three months. “…Bolognese for tea, OK?”

“How’s it going Nathan? What you been up to, finished that thing yet?” My PhD? Got another nine months, I think I’m on track but it all depends on proving the next result and then getting it all written up. “…Seen anyone else from school?”

My family and friends were very supportive when I was doing my PhD, but they didn’t really get it. Why should they, it had taken me a long time to get it. It wasn’t that they didn’t care, of course they did, but they didn’t understand what I did for the most part.

On the run up to the viva though, it might be useful if your friends and family can get a little understanding of what you’re about to do. Tell them what the viva is all about: it’s the exam at the end of the PhD. Tell them about your examiners and what they’ll be doing. Tell them what you’ll need to do to prepare – and what you might need from them.

It could be a bit of space to yourself, quiet in the evening to read. It could be time, so they’ll need to do the dishes while you mark up your thesis. It could even be telling your boss that you’ll need to arrange a little time off so that you can go to the viva.

Your friends and family are proud of you. Even if they don’t quite understand what you’ve been doing for all this time, they understand that it’s important to you. Help them to understand the end of the PhD and they’ll help you get there.

Nathan

Coffee Break

Daily Post

Viva coming up? Offer to take your friends out for coffee. Buy their attention for the price of an americano, or if summer arrives a frappuccino.

There’s a lot you can do in forty minutes over a coffee.

If your friend has some understanding of your research then give them a good summary of what you’ve done; ask them for questions, what do they need to know? What wasn’t clear?

Are they a good friend? Give them a chapter or two to read ahead of time, and over a latte dive straight into questions. What do they want to know? What are their thoughts?

Really good friend? Give them your thesis draft a few weeks before and brace yourself for questions. You may need to buy them a muffin.

You can get some valuable help from friends over coffee. Chances to practise questions, opportunities to think some more about your work. Really valuable. Your friends get something valuable too: they get the chance to see someone who is close to the finish line. They can read your thesis and see a possible format for theirs. They can be inspired by you.

And they get coffee!

Nathan

Help Someone

Daily Post

If your viva’s not coming up yet, or it’s in the past, find someone to help. If you know someone who has their viva soon, or someone who is finishing their PhD, ask them what they need. Don’t assume that you have all the answers or the right way to do something. Check what they need first. Then see if you can meet those needs. If you can’t, see if you can figure out what else might help.

If you don’t need help, what can you do to help someone?

Nathan

Curious Volumes

Daily Post

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore—
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
“‘Tis some visiter,” I muttered, “tapping at my chamber door—
Only this and nothing more.”

I have an idea to write a parody of The Raven which is about the PhD or viva prep. The idea hasn’t fully come together in my mind.

As a starter, I like to imagine that the narrator is someone preparing for their viva. I can imagine that many researchers produce curious volumes! Towards the end they may be up late re-reading their thesis. Stressing over it perhaps – “weak and weary” – when someone knocks on their door.

Not a stranger, but a friend, offering to help. “What do you need?” That would be nice, right? You don’t have to do it all alone.

Of course you’re probably not sitting up at midnight hunched over your thesis, people (and ravens) probably don’t knock at your door that often after dark. So alternatively: go ask people for help. What would make the difference to you?

Nathan

Allies and Acknowledgements

Daily Post

I re-read my thesis a few months ago. One of the happiest parts for me was the acknowledgements page. It’s like a time capsule. Some of the people I namechecked were very good friends in that period. Some still are. Some I haven’t seen for years now. But they all played a part.

If you have people around you who help you be a better you I think it’s right to stand up and say, “These guys are awesome.” Don’t dash out your acknowledgements page in a quick ten minutes. Think about what you want to say and who you need to thank.

And remember that those people can still be allies as you prepare for your viva: asking questions, giving you space, distracting you, telling you about their experiences and helping you find perspective.

1 2 3 4