Being Great
What are you really good at? What do you notice you have become particularly skilled at doing over the course of your PhD? What topics do you know you’re particularly knowledgeable about? How do you know you’re good? What’s your...
talent work time
Before You Know It
It’s almost twenty years since I started my PhD. I remember the first week very clearly, sitting at my desk, skim-reading through papers I couldn’t grasp, making notes and chatting with my office-mates. I very distinctly remember thinking, “I don’t...
Techniques
A small piece of viva prep: think back over your PhD and pick a method you learned, a piece of software or equipment that you became familiar with or a process for getting things done that you put together. Unpick...
Proving
I’m a lapsed baker. I like making bread, but it’s a practice I’ve fallen out with of late. I must get back to it. It’s a hobby I’ve let fall by the wayside for too long. I’m not the world’s...
Character Sheets
In tabletop role-playing games, players have character sheets. These are a way of capturing information about the person you are pretending to be in the game. Are you a warrior or a wizard? What equipment do you have? Character sheets list...
Three Successes
To build confidence for your viva, write down three successes from your PhD journey. Think back over the years of work and find three things that have been good: maybe things you did well, results that didn’t exist before or...
Your Work Matters
In preparation for your viva, take some time to reflect on why your work makes a difference. Unpick the ideas that matter, reflect on why your work is valuable. Your examiners want to talk to you about why your research...
Manage To Keep Going
Survive means manage to keep going in difficult circumstances. Just difficult. Not negative. Not a struggle. I use the definition a lot in my work to emphasise that surviving the viva doesn’t mean the situation is automatically bad or overwhelming,...
Putting In The Hours
Five years ago, on what would have been my dad’s 70th birthday I published The Knack. It was a personal piece of writing for this blog, but also one with a point: …your PhD is hard, but there are aspects...
Making It Look Easy
Have you ever watched someone do something amazing AND make it look easy at the same time? How do they do it? A comedian doesn’t make a whole theatre laugh at the same time because they have a magical ability...