Measuring Up
My wife found beautiful curtains in a local charity shop. They were a lovely pattern, they would look good alongside the colour of our living room walls and tone in with the furniture. They were clean and in great condition,...
Daily viva help for PhDs
My wife found beautiful curtains in a local charity shop. They were a lovely pattern, they would look good alongside the colour of our living room walls and tone in with the furniture. They were clean and in great condition,...
There’s a knock at your door. A courier leaves a package in your arms. It’s not heavy, but it has a strange heft to it. You don’t remember ordering anything. You’re not expecting something. But here it is, addressed to...
I’ve told this story before, but not, I think, on this blog. I share it to offer a short piece of a life, and to maybe spark reflection for you. I hope it entertains 🙂 I did an easy undergraduate...
I couldn’t sleep the night before my viva because: I had no idea what my examiners were there to do, or what my viva might be like; I had little self-confidence in my ability to discuss or defend my research....
If you have your thesis done and your viva coming up, it’s because you did the work and you developed yourself. Simple to say, but these things don’t just simply happen. What were the big moments along the way? Everyone’s...
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...
It really is! Like one of the George Clooney Ocean’s Eleven movies. ……… Let me explain: You have heroes working to overcome an all-or-nothing challenge! (or at least that’s how it feels for the viva) You have unexpected moments that...
I remember my first lecture at university. Before Dr Gould started telling us about complex numbers he shared an old proverb he thought would help us as we started our degrees: Three things come not back: the said word, the...
FWOOOOOOSH-ZAP! The portal opens between here and the antimatter universe! Look here! We’ve found it. A small and unremarkable planet orbiting a cold yellow sun. Don’t be deceived. Many things are different in this strange and weird place, but some...
A clatter of coins spills! I pulled the lever and now I’m rich, rich, rich! Except I wasn’t. I was maybe ten and they weren’t coins, they were tokens. I grew up in a seaside town and there was a...