The Buffer
I publish a blog post about the viva every day. To be sure that I meet that promise I write and polish posts far in advance. I like to make sure that I have several weeks completed at any time,...
pandemic
Disrupted & Different
We’re in our third year of the pandemic changing our lives. After all this time it’s reasonable to assume, at least for the next few years, that it’s a topic that might come up in the viva. Your examiners will...
Interesting Times Forever
It’s two years since my world changed, just before the first pandemic lockdown in the UK. Two years ago today I shared Interesting Times, thoughts on where I was and where I might be going in the weeks that would...
Change of Plans
I’m thinking back to this time last year. In the UK there were various permissions extended to allow families and friends to meet over Christmastime- -and then there weren’t. Very quickly plans were changed, compromises were reached and make-do decisions...
Hard Limits
There are limits for everything related to your PhD journey. There is a finite number of hours you could have spent on your PhD. You can’t read everything that could be relevant. You would never have time to work towards...
The Missing Things
I used to travel a lot. In a busy month I might spend upwards of forty or fifty hours in transit, shuttling between cities in the UK by train, going the final mile or two on foot or in a...
Lockdown Limits
In the last few months I’ve been asked the following many times at webinars: is it acceptable to tell my examiners that “lockdown(s) slowed me down when I was doing my research” if I’ve had to change my plans or not been...
Video Viva Expectations
Last March I asked for examiners and PhD graduates to share their experiences of being part of a video viva. Lots of generous people shared their stories, observations and advice. A consistent detail – from the examiner perspective – was...
Disrupted
There have always been candidates whose plans have been disrupted during their PhD journey. A project finds itself without the resources it needs. A plan loses support. Something just doesn’t work out the way it was expected. Every PhD candidate...