What To Wear
Wear whatever helps you present the best “you” that you need in the viva. If you feel you need to communicate you’re serious, or you know your stuff, or you recognise this is important then wear something that shows this....
Daily viva help for PhDs
Wear whatever helps you present the best “you” that you need in the viva. If you feel you need to communicate you’re serious, or you know your stuff, or you recognise this is important then wear something that shows this....
To finish 2018 I’m sharing my favourite posts from the last year. For the last day of 2018 I want to share a few posts about possibly the single most important topic there is around the viva: confidence. I’ve had...
Asking why your research is valuable starts the work of exploring what your significant original contribution is. Asking why you wanted to explore this area gets at a different but equally fascinating discussion: what’s your interest? Everyone has their reasons...
Quite simply, the answer is you, the candidate. You, your thesis, your preparation, your journey, your talent, your knowledge, your goals, your choices… You’re the difference.
In your records you see your story, even in outline. Got a lab book? Read it. Kept a diary? Give it the once-over. You probably have an electronic record of meetings with your supervisor, right? Look over those notes. What...
It’s not realistic to expect your thesis to be perfect, but it’s important not to think that your thesis is just “OK.” “You’ve produced an average account of your satisfactory research.” No! Start by considering what’s excellent about your thesis!...
My daughter has an advent calendar every year at Christmastime. Normally her aunt buys her a toy calendar: every day from the first of December to Christmas Eve she opens the little door and gets a little person or an...
If it helps, why wouldn’t you have something lucky with you in the viva? My good day socks were a story I told myself for years – “wear these socks and it will be a good day” – my viva,...
Σ One of the neatest pieces of shorthand I learned in my many mathematical years. “The Sum of” and then an expression or a concept. In simple terms, add up everything that looks like this. You might have some lower...
I was halfway through a short workshop on project planning. I was sharing a process researchers could use to outline their projects. At the coffee break a young researcher came to me and politely explained he was going to leave...