Daily viva help for PhDs
What do you think it will feel like to wake up the day after your viva?
How might you feel if you were to look at a list of requested corrections?
What do you think it will feel like to be told you’ve passed?
How will you feel when you shake someone important’s hand at graduation?
And assuming that some of the above are positive or good expected feelings, what are you going to do between now and your viva to get to that reality?
On March 16th 2020 I wrote Interesting Times, an extra post that marked when things started to change in the UK because of the pandemic. Things had been changing for weeks but lots of little changes became very big, very quickly.
And then things kept changing.
And changing.
And changing…
These five years have been a lot, right? That’s not to say that life is all doom and gloom. There’s good news everywhere. It can be hard to see sometimes, but there are people who want to help.
As I think back, I think about how my life was changing then and how it has changed since. At the time I thought, I’ll be doing webinars for a few months probably, and that became five years and forevermore by the looks of it!
Outside of my own situation I think about the people I meet at webinars now and the people I imagine who are reading these words.
I think of them and you, dear reader, because you have lived through interesting, difficult and upsetting times. You have been challenged not only by the work you do but by the conditions you do that work in. You have managed to keep going on your PhD journey in very difficult circumstances.
When your viva comes you’ll have to prepare but you can be sure that the challenge you’ll find there will be smaller than the challenge of what you’ve been through in the 2020s so far.
Dear reader, in short, keep going. Help others. Work to make things better if you’re able.
And thank you for reading.
Imagine I had a new service, YourViva™, where I could offer you a viva with one of the following characteristics:
You can pick one but will have no guarantees on any of the other characteristics. You might get them, their opposites or anything else in-between.
What would you pick? Why does that matter to you?
YourViva™ doesn’t exist but if you picked a viva feature it would be for a reason. You may not have any influence over getting that for your viva but, given that it’s in your mind, what will you do as a result? If you have a worry or concern you can still do something.
For example:
Focus on what you can reasonably expect and what you can practically do for your viva. You can’t control all the details of your viva but you can ensure you show up ready to do well.
It’s hard for me to offer guidance on questions that are usually asked at the viva.
You could search for “PhD viva questions UK” and explore the results. Adding your general research area as part of the search term might produce something more specific.
But every viva is unique and questions are always tailored by examiners to the research, the thesis and the candidate. Examiners need to explore the significant original contribution, unpick the research process and examine the capability of the candidate.
Consequently, it’s hard for someone like me without subject knowledge to suggest questions for someone – but if that candidate reflects on their research and the areas that drive examiners they will be able to identify topics to help their preparation.
There are no questions that are usually asked. There are areas that have to be explored in discussion.
Consider those areas, reflect on your research and see where that thinking leads you in your preparation.
It’s an easy enough mistake to hear “thesis defence” and believe that you have to guard your work.
Defence brings up ideas of protection, or courtrooms, of shielding and more.
An examiner might have a pointed question or comment, but you generally don’t need to worry about them piercing the armour of words and ideas you have fashioned during your PhD.
Defending your thesis means supporting your work. Defending your thesis means providing clarity. Defending your thesis means saying more after you’ve done a lot.
You don’t need to guard your research from your examiners. You do need to be ready to show exactly what it all means at your viva.
The simplest way to end your viva well is to:
Vivas tend to conclude with short breaks for examiners to confer.
They tend to result in minor corrections for candidates.
And they tend to end after several hours of challenging discussion about interesting and potentially difficult topics of research – which is why it’s useful to breathe, take your time and make notes if you need to.
No-one wants a really long and drawn out viva process. At the same time, no-one benefits from rushing through the final stages. End your viva well.
There are no silly questions for a PhD candidate to ask about the viva.
I’m continually saddened though that PGR culture – and regulations and supervisors – haven’t stopped candidates believing that their examiners are some higher order of human and thus need very special treatment at the viva.
Here are three questions I’ve been asking the last six months:
Again, these aren’t silly questions: these are stressed questions by people who desperately want to do the right thing. There’s a mystery to the viva process. There’s a substantial amount of work leading to it. It’s all important so there are a lot of motivations for a lot of questions that any candidate might ask.
To the questions above: catering might be welcome, but it’s not your job to arrange it; no gifts; being polite and friendly is enough.
Your examiners are professionals. They’ve come to do a job. It’s an important job, no more than that.
They don’t need a red carpet rolling out.
Expect them to be prepared. They expect the same from you.
Leave the formalities there.
At the viva you’re expected to know your stuff, whatever that might mean for someone in your field or discipline. Broadly speaking: you’re clever, you’ve done the work and you’re assumed to be capable.
It’s not hard to worry that you might be missing something, but keep in mind, to set the right perspective:
At the viva, knowing your stuff means being knowledgeable, capable and being willing to engage with your examiners’ questions and the discussion that follows from them.
To get as far as you have you must know your stuff: it’s the only way anyone could get to submission.
PS: want to know more about the viva process and expectations? Take a look at my Viva Survivor session. Registration is live for my March 27th 2025 webinar and includes follow-up resources and a catch-up recording if you can’t attend on the day.
Defending your thesis doesn’t mean that you need to argue throughout the viva. Defending can simply be supporting what you’ve done and written, providing clarity if something isn’t as clear as you hoped or confirmation if your examiners just need a little more.
There is a possibility though that you might need to argue. You might need to say that you believe or know that you are right. You might need to say that you believe or know that your examiner’s opinion is not correct, incomplete or not seeing the whole picture.
Remember that arguing the point does not need to be assertive. You don’t need to dial your speech up to 11 to win!
Ask questions. Listen carefully. Think even more carefully. Speak clearly to get your reasons across. And be sure you know your examiner’s reasons before you argue against their point or opinion.
Thesis defence does not imply that it is under attack. It certainly doesn’t mean that you are under attack.
Three qualified people is what you have, at a minimum, at your viva.
Every viva in the UK has one candidate and at least two examiners.
The latter are qualified because of how they are selected. They need to meet criteria, such as having a doctorate, experience and training. There will be a specific reason why they were asked to be your examiners rather than someone else.
You are qualified because you did the work. You invested the hours. You made something. So you’re capable now and qualified to be at your viva.
Remember: qualified is not a synonym for perfect. No-one at your viva is perfect or is expected to be perfect. You’re all just continuing to demonstrate your best and most capable selves.