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Nathan

The Viva Roles

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Examiners: two academics who accept the opportunity to examine your thesis and you. They have training, they prepare, they plan and they’re ready to do what’s required. They want to do the job well. They only take the role on if it seems interesting and right for them. They’re at your viva for a good reason, even if some of their questions might seem difficult.

 

Observers: a category that covers two particular sub-classes, the Independent Chairperson and your Supervisor.

  • The Independent Chair’s specific role is to make sure that the viva goes well. They might seem like a passive role – if they’re present at all, as not all vivas have Independent Chairs. They’ll steer the discussion if they think they need to. They’ll support newer academics taking on an Examiner role if that’s necessary.
  • If your Supervisor is observing then they are only observing; like the Chair they can’t ask or respond to questions. They sit back and watch. You get to decide if they’re present or not.

 

The Candidate: that’s you! How would you describe what you can do and what you’re there to do?

Nathan

Without An Audience

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An important expectation for the UK viva is that it is private. Members of the public don’t attend and you’ll never have an audience present while you talk with your examiners.

Two examiners, one internal and one external, is the typical situation at the UK viva. It’s possible to have more, but rare. It’s possible to have an independent chair as part of your viva process, but they’re not an “audience member” either.

Your supervisor could attend, with your permission, but even then they are not like an audience member. They can only observe, they can’t participate like an audience member at a public thesis defence.

The UK viva is a discussion, not a presentation, not an open forum. It’s closed, and even if there are others present – chairs or supervisors – they’re not the audience.

Nathan

Why Might You Have An Independent Chair?

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It could be that you have an independent chair at your viva; they would be a member of staff from your university. Their role in the viva would be, largely, to observe what happens.

There are lots of reasons you might have an independent chair:

  • Their presence could be part of the regulations for your university.
  • It may be part of the culture for your department to have one.
  • One of your examiners might be a fairly new academic and so it’s been thought to be good to have an experienced member of staff present.
  • It may even be that your viva has been randomly selected to be observed, so that your institution can be confident that vivas are being held in an appropriate way!

There are lots of reasons you might have one, but no bad ones: an independent chair is there to watch and to make sure that the viva is going well. They won’t have read your thesis. They won’t ask you any questions. They will make sure the process is fair.

An extra person in the room might add to nerves, but really the best thing you can do is check far in advance what the situation will be or might be for your viva. Then you can do anything you need to do in order to be comfortable on the day.

Nathan

In The Chair

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An independent chairperson for the viva can be really valuable. They act as an impartial observer, recording what happens. They can be a navigator carefully steering examiner or candidate away from fruitless discussions. They don’t decide the outcome but they can help set the tone for a good viva.

And not every viva has one. If you don’t, then your internal examiner takes on some of these responsibilities. They’ll make sure your viva is fair.

Is there a chair or not for your viva? Find out. One situation isn’t better than the other – they’re just different. Knowing as much as you can about what to expect can help settle your mind that your viva really is going to be fine.