Not That Different
A lot of viva prep – and the viva itself – is not that dissimilar to many things that you will have done during your PhD. Many prep tasks draw on the same skills and knowledge you have used throughout...
Daily viva help for PhDs
A lot of viva prep – and the viva itself – is not that dissimilar to many things that you will have done during your PhD. Many prep tasks draw on the same skills and knowledge you have used throughout...
Think back, if you need to: how far had you come when you were halfway through your PhD? How much work had you done when you were halfway through the journey? What did you still have to do? And what...
Just a moment. That’s all you need, compared to the years of work in your PhD already, in order to get ready for your viva. Just a moment. The shortest of pauses, used regularly throughout the viva, is all you’ll...
An infrequent-but-troubling question at viva help seminars is “What will my examiners think if I don’t have any publications by the time I have my viva?” Or worse, “Can my examiners fail me if I don’t have any publications?” Examiners...
A lot can happen during a PhD: success and failure, progress and setbacks and halfway stages in-between all of these. You learn more. You know more. You won’t know everything (probably!) but you’ll gain a perspective that helps you to...
Maybe your viva is the full stop on your research. Maybe it’s the final occasion where you will really have a conversation about what you’ve done. That’s OK: a PhD is a big, important thing but it can be seen...
My PhD was in an area of pure maths. Maths was the thing I was most interested in for many, many years. Looking back I can remember the day that maths became exciting for me. It was a long time...
Consider some of the following questions ahead of your viva to capture thoughts on the difference your work makes: What does your thesis add to what was known before? How does your work change previous perspectives in your research area?...
If you open a cafe then you can expect occasional customers who want to make changes to what’s on the menu. They’ll ask for toast instead of bread, or wonder if you can take the tomatoes out of the salad....
Remember that your viva comes as a response to the work you’ve done. There may be regulations for thesis examination and ideas for what makes a “good viva” but yours is just for you, based on the thesis you’ve written....