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Nathan

101 Steps To A Great Viva

Update

I am very happy to share that, after my recent Kickstarter project, 101 Steps To A Great Viva is now available to buy! 😀

Cover of 101 Steps To A Great Viva

Thanks to the generous support of backers I was able to finish this project and create a small print run of this new guide. Copies are now available for purchase from that print run – and 101 Steps To A Great Viva is also available to buy and download as a pdf.

 

Wait, what is this? What are you talking about?

…are two questions you might be asking!

101 Steps To A Great Viva is a 24-page guide to what a PhD candidate could do to help themselves before the viva. From learning about expectations to researching examiners, and from planning viva prep to building viva confidence – this helpful little guide is my attempt to gather together useful, practical advice that any PhD candidate can put into action.

I’ve helped over 8000 PhD candidates with their viva prep in the last decade or so: all of that experience, the questions I’m regularly asked, the worries I hear, the advice I offer – it’s all in 101 Steps To A Great Viva, framed as clear steps for PGRs to take as they prepare to get ready.

How can someone get this?

There are two ways!

First, you could get one of the limited number of print copies still available after the Kickstarter. You can get these from the Books page on this site. For £7 you’ll get a print copy sent through the magic of the Royal Mail (but note that I can only ship to UK addresses).

Second, you can buy and download a pdf copy from my Payhip store for £5: there’s an infinite number of copies so you’ll always be able to get one this way, wherever you are in the world! 101 Steps To A Great Viva has an A5 page size so it will read very well on most screens and devices.

I am excited and happy to finally release 101 Steps To A Great Viva. It’s taken a lot of work but been a lot of fun and I’m delighted at the thought of it helping a lot of people. Take a look, ask me about it if you want to know more and please pick a copy if it sounds like it might help.

Thank you for reading!
Nathan

 

PS: if you’re looking for a lot of help, check out the Viva Help Bundle on my Payhip store, which brings together digital versions of 101 Steps To A Great Viva, Keep Going – A Viva Survivors Anthology and my new, short writing game for viva confidence, How You Got Here.

Nathan

The Big Announcement

Update

I’ve written a helpful little guide to the PhD viva and I need your help to make it a reality.

From today until May 31st I’m running a Kickstarter campaign to fund a print run of 101 Steps To A Great Viva. I’ve nurtured this idea for a long time and I’m thrilled to be sharing it now.

Draft interior pages from 101 Steps To A Great Viva

If you find Viva Survivors helpful then please take a look at my Kickstarter. I think you’ll like what you find and if you think it’s worth backing there are some great rewards to say thank you:

  • Copies of 101 Steps To A Great Viva, including limited earlybird pledges at the time of writing!
  • Signed copies of my last book Keep Going – A Viva Survivors Anthology.
  • Your name listed in the special thanks section of 101 Steps To A Great Viva.

There are also a limited number of very special pledges to have a 1-2-1 conversation with me over Zoom! We can talk viva prep, advice, respond to particular questions and just go over anything you need for your viva.

Thank you so much for reading and do take a look at 101 Steps To A Great Viva. I’m so happy to share this with you today and I hope it can help you or someone you know. Pledge your support and help me make a print run of 101 Steps To A Great Viva!

Draft cover of 101 Steps To A Great Viva

Nathan

A Little Announcement

Update

(because The Big Announcement will be in a few weeks!)

The Headline: I’ve written a new publication and I’ll soon be running a Kickstarter campaign to fund producing a print run!

Cover of 101 Steps To A Great Viva!
My draft cover!

101 Steps To A Great Viva is a short guide to the many things that a PhD candidate can do to work towards a great viva. From understanding expectations to building confidence, via planning your viva prep and asking for help, the guide covers 101 actions that any candidate can do. I share a concise and simply-framed statement for each followed by an exploration of what that means, how someone might do it and what it does for being ready for the viva.

101 Steps To A Great Viva is the publication I’ve been thinking about for years: an original, short guide of viva help. Bite-sized help built on my experiences of working with over 7500 postgraduate researchers and writing the Viva Survivors daily blog for more than six years.

I’m really pleased with what I’ve developed and 101 Steps is 95% complete. A few more edits and it will be ready to be printed. Which is where I need help!

Draft of Page 7, Getting Started
Draft of Page 7!

A few weeks from now I’ll launch a Kickstarter campaign to fund producing a print run of 101 Steps To A Great Viva. I need people to help me by pledging money – and in return I’ll be offering rewards, from copies of the guide, ebooks and print copies of my last publication and even 1-2-1 Zoom conversations with me! If everything goes well enough with the crowdfunding, I’ll be sending out the first copies of 101 Steps in July 2023.

If this sounds at all interesting to you today, here’s how you can help: please go to this link and use the “Notify me on launch” button. That way you will be emailed on the day I launch the campaign, which I’m expecting will be Tuesday 9th May 2023. Using the “Notify me on launch” button won’t obligate you to pledge any money at all. The campaign will run for about three weeks after that, but early interest really helps with the algorithms that help organise these services.

Thank you so much for reading, and I hope you check out 101 Steps To A Great Viva!