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Nathan

Eight Years

Daily Post

April 18th 2017: I published the first daily Viva Survivors post.

April 18th 2025: today!

What’s in-between? A lot of words.

 

It’s been one of the best decisions I’ve made to do this daily blog. It helps me to think through what I need to say at work, finds new ways of exploring the viva, unpack questions that people ask and also just help me think.

I’ve had almost 3000 attempts to say something helpful. I’ve been writing Viva Survivors for over twice the length of my PhD journey.

After eight years a few things occur to me:

  • Writing a daily blog isn’t a lot of work so much as it is a lot of practice.
  • Writing a daily blog is a great way to develop ideas.
  • Writing a daily blog is not a fool-proof plan for fame and fortune!

And writing a daily blog for eight years is a lot like a PhD in many ways: the amount of work required is enormous but spread out over a long period of time. It can be easy to tell yourself at the beginning that it’s impossible because the scale is vast – but it’s also easy to tell yourself at the end that you just kind of bumbled your way to success because you can’t remember so much of what you’ve done.

In both cases you can only do it by doing it. It only exists because someone did the work.

I’m very happy to be eight years in on this ongoing project and looking forward to many more. I hope the same is true for you dear reader, whoever you are and whatever your project.

Thanks for reading!

 

PS: On this eighth anniversary post I have to mention the first issue of Viva Survivors Select – my curated zine series drawing from the daily blog archive! Issue 01 shares twenty posts from 2017 on viva prep, confidence and the viva process. It feels great to start an exciting project like this but it’s made doubly exciting by doing it around the anniversary of the blog. Check out the issue here – and again, thank you for reading 🙂

Nathan

Three Simple Words

Daily Post, Sabbatical

Are you prepared to say “I don’t know” in your viva?

There’s only so much information, knowledge and talent you can build up before your viva. You’ll have enough, but you might not have everything. Perfection isn’t required: but do you feel comfortable enough saying “I don’t know” so that you aren’t worried if you do need to say it?

To help build that comfort, and the confidence that goes with it:

  • Make opportunities where you can be asked real, relevant questions for your research, thesis and competence. You can’t predict in advance what questions you will be asked in the viva, or what questions will prompt a response of “I don’t know”. The more times you practise being in a similar situation to the viva, the more experience you will have and the better you will feel.
  • Review your work to convince yourself of how much you do know. You don’t know everything, but you know a lot. It would be impossible to write an exhaustive list of everything you don’t know, but you can reassure yourself that you have a good knowledge base.
  • Learn about viva expectations. Examiners could ask questions to which you can only respond “I don’t know” but they don’t do it out of malice or some attempt to belittle you or your work. They don’t ask unreasonable questions.

I don’t know what you might have to say “I don’t know” to. You can’t know that in advance either. But you can know that it is OK.

These three simple words don’t have to define you, your viva performance or how you feel going into the viva.

 

Viva Survivors Summer Sabbatical: I’m taking July, August and September off from new writing to concentrate on other creative projects, so will be sharing a post from the archives every day throughout those months. Today’s post was originally published on September 21st 2020.

Nathan

The Prototype Viva

Daily Post

A mock viva or mini-viva is like a prototype for the real thing you’ll experience.

  • Does it have all of the questions you’ll be asked at your viva? No, but it has enough to get a sense of what to expect.
  • Will you have all of the familiarity or preparation you need to engage on the day? No, but you can figure out what else you need to do for that day.
  • Does it mostly work in the way you’d expect of the real viva? Yes, it’s still trying to explore and discuss all of the things you’ve done and can do.

A prototype never has all of the features of the final product, but it helps one to get a feeling for what it will be like. Whether you rehearse with your supervisor or with friends, make some time to engage with viva-like practice before your viva.

Nathan

Three Simple Words

Daily Post

Are you prepared to say “I don’t know” in your viva?

There’s only so much information, knowledge and talent you can build up before your viva. You’ll have enough, but you might not have everything. Perfection isn’t required: but do you feel comfortable enough saying “I don’t know” so that you aren’t worried if you do need to say it?

To help build that comfort, and the confidence that goes with it:

  • Make opportunities where you can be asked real, relevant questions for your research, thesis and competence. You can’t predict in advance what questions you will be asked in the viva, or what questions will prompt a response of “I don’t know”. The more times you practise being in a similar situation to the viva, the more experience you will have and the better you will feel.
  • Review your work to convince yourself of how much you do know. You don’t know everything, but you know a lot. It would be impossible to write an exhaustive list of everything you don’t know, but you can reassure yourself that you have a good knowledge base.
  • Learn about viva expectations. Examiners could ask questions to which you can only respond “I don’t know” but they don’t do it out of malice or some attempt to belittle you or your work. They don’t ask unreasonable questions.

I don’t know what you might have to say “I don’t know” to. You can’t know that in advance either. But you can know that it is OK.

These three simple words don’t have to define you, your viva performance or how you feel going into the viva.

Nathan

In Theory

Daily Post

It’s one thing to know all of your research really well, and to know generally what happens in the viva (expectations, structure and so on). You can have a good picture of it all in theory – but then stumble when you come to the reality of being asked questions and being forced to think, ponder, respond and engage.

So practise.

Mock vivas, meetings, seminars, presentations, conversations, impromptu Zoom-meetups, mini-vivas – take and find every opportunity you can to share your research and be asked questions about it.

Theory will only take you so far. Build confidence for the reality of the viva.

Nathan

Read, Do

Daily Post

I’ve been sorting through ten years of notes and ideas I’ve collected from countless workshops, seminars and articles. I smiled a few days ago when a quote from an old friend jumped off the page at me:

No amount of book-reading by kittens on “How To Be A Cat” will help them.

My friend Adrian would often say things in workshops that would make me smile and learn at the same time. Kittens can’t learn by reading, they must do things. They have to play their way to being cats.

By contrast, reading a thesis will help PhD candidates get ready for their vivas, but I think the principle of my friend holds. Reading your thesis is necessary, but not sufficient. Thinking is essential, but writing will make those thoughts clearer. Anticipating questions can be useful, but answering them is much, much better.

You can read your thesis, you need to read your thesis – but what else could you do?

Nathan

Answering New Questions

Daily Post

Every step of the PhD has new questions, from the first time you read a paper through to the end of your viva. Answers don’t always come immediately. They might take a little time and thought, or during the PhD real, practical research to bring an answer to life. Sometimes there are no answers: you can offer ideas, theories or reasons why no answer comes to mind.

New questions aren’t a problem by the end of the PhD. Questions can be unexpected, but your mechanism for answering – the knowledge, the talent, the skill at thinking things through – is the best it could be.

Any time you get one, a new question is an opportunity for demonstrating what you can do.

 

Nathan

Countless

Daily Post

There are countless questions you could be asked in the viva, but you’ll only be asked one at a time.

Preparation doesn’t mean somehow considering every question, but feeling comfortable considering and responding to any question that comes up.

Find opportunities that will help you practise and give you confidence, but remember you don’t need an answer for everything.

Just each question as it comes up.

Nathan

Rehearsal

Daily Post

The mock viva is generally valuable because of the kind of practice it provides. Your supervisors might have some clear ideas about what a mock should be like. But if you think about it, the mock is a sort of test run for later success.

So think: what do you need to succeed?

  • Are you looking for certain types of questions or a particular focus for the discussion?
  • Do you want practice or pressure?
  • What kind of feedback would be most useful from the experience?

Think about what might help you. Everyone has different needs. It’s not wrong to think about how you can make the most of the opportunity.

Nathan

Different Audiences

Daily Post

Here’s a thirty minute viva prep exercise. It aims to help you think differently about your thesis by considering how you could communicate your work with other people. All you need is something to write on and write with.

Take 5 minutes to make general notes, first thoughts about your research and how you share it with others.

Take 5 minutes to plot out a conference talk about your best work. What must you include?

Take 5 minutes to sketch a thirty minute talk at a local high school. How would you begin?

Take 5 minutes to brainstorm for a Three Minute Thesis talk. What would you have to cut out of your normal explanations?

Take 5 minutes to think about your elevator pitch. What would you say if you were in a lift with the head of your university?

Finally, take 5 minutes to review. What ideas or themes consistently showed up? What surprised you? What can you do with these ideas now? How does this help you to frame your work for others?

Exploring different perspectives and looking at your work in a fresh way is valuable. Make time to take a step back in your viva preparations and consider what someone else might think of your thesis. And think: you have the outline for four or five different kinds of talks about your work now. Why not give one of them?

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