In The Distance
If you’re reading this and you’re in your first or second year of your PhD, you don’t have to worry about your viva! You don’t have to give it any great thought: for now, keep on with the main work...
Daily viva help for PhDs
If you’re reading this and you’re in your first or second year of your PhD, you don’t have to worry about your viva! You don’t have to give it any great thought: for now, keep on with the main work...
That’s the viva. You’re doing something you have done many, many times throughout the last few years – thinking about and talking about your research and your ability as a researcher – and this is the last time you’ll need...
Four words to remember. They don’t mean that you’re ready. They don’t mean you’re perfect. They don’t mean that your viva will be easy. They simply mean that you have got to this point in your PhD journey because of...
Your examiners will have a plan for what they want to talk about at your viva. This isn’t a script. They’re not asking a set list of questions like a questionnaire. They’re using pre-prepared questions and points to prompt the...
Hope is what we have when we have little leverage on the outcome. I encourage PhD candidates to prepare for their viva rather than hope it will just all go well, because preparation leads to a better experience and a...
If you had an extra day to get ready for your viva, what would you do? Would you spend a chunk of time reading your thesis again, just in case you missed something? Perhaps you’d feel better if you sat...
To feel confident for your viva you have to do the work: you have to do the research needed, write your thesis, develop yourself and really realise what all of that means. Confidence isn’t a destination on your PhD journey....
Viva prep starts at submission. You can do helpful tasks before then like searching for examination regulations or sketching out a prep plan, but the actual work of viva prep doesn’t start until after your thesis is submitted. Up to...
There’s a lot to consider when you’re preparing for your viva, but getting started is easy. You need just one thing on a list and you can start to work. Just one paper to read and reflect on. Just one...
If you think back on your PhD, all the work and effort, the success and setbacks and so on, you’re not going to remember three or more years of continuous story. You’ll remember moments: events that for matter to you...