Enough Is Enough
What if I hadn’t done enough? What if I needed more results? What if my examiners didn’t see what I saw in my work? After years of work and months of writing up, as my page count crept towards 200,...
confidence
Hats & Rabbits
A magician lays their top hat on the table after showing that there’s nothing inside. They cover the hat with a silk handkerchief and wave a wand – and just like that a rabbit appears! It’s magic! We are amazed!...
Good Day Socks Work!
I wore a pair of my good day socks to the viva – socks that I always wore when I wanted the day to be a good day – and I passed! After my viva I continued to wear the...
Retell Your Story
Once upon a time, the story I told people about myself was that I loved maths, really enjoyed learning more about all kinds of maths, and wanted to do a Masters and a PhD. And I was happy and lucky...
Best of Viva Survivors 2022: Confidence
Years of work, weeks of prep and then… How will you feel at your viva? Feeling nervous isn’t wrong but it doesn’t feel right. It’s a recognition that something matters: your viva and the outcome matter a lot. What can you do...
The Best Of The Best Of Viva Survivors 2021
Between Christmas and New Year I shared some of my favourite writing from 2021. In case you missed those posts here are links to each with a piece that particularly stands out to me. Best of Viva Survivors 2021: Viva...
Best of Viva Survivors 2021: Confidence
I finished my look back over favourite posts last year with the theme of “surviving” – a break with several years of tradition. 2020 was a hard year, 2021 has continued to be challenging, but it feels right to come...
Hundreds To One
The viva: hundreds and hundreds of days of work that come down to one day. One day when you have to do well. That could sound very worrying, but remember that all that work is the price of admission for...
Reboot
Things have gone wrong. We can’t change them. We can’t alter what’s happened already and we don’t know when we can find a space or time that will feel like things are supposed to feel. So for now we have...
Concerning Publications
I’ve met plenty of good candidates who tie themselves in knots about the publications they do or don’t have, and how that impacts their viva. Your examiners are most interested in you and your thesis in the viva. Prior publications are...