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Nathan

Viva Survivor, Thursday 27th March 2025

Event, Update

Every day I share at least one helpful thought through the Viva Survivors blog. There’s a lot in the archives but it could take a long time to put together a full picture of what to expect and what to do by reading the last 2800 posts.

If you want a good idea of what to expect, what to do, how to get ready and how to build confidence then take a look at my upcoming Viva Survivor session on Thursday 27th March 2025. For three hours I’ll be sharing what vivas are really like, what effective viva preparation can look like and how someone can engage well with their examiners.

For three hours on Zoom you’ll get direct help from me through a live session that I have shared and developed with thousands of PhD candidates over the last fifteen years. I have a full plan, plenty of time to take questions from attendees, great follow-up resources and a catch-up recording in case anyone can’t stay for the whole time.

I love doing this session (I’ve delivered it almost 400 times!) and I hope that you’ll take a look at the registration page if you are looking for viva help. If you have any questions please get in touch – and do please pass on information of the session to anyone who might be looking for viva help.

One last time: Viva Survivor session on Thursday 27th March 2025!

Thanks for reading 🙂

Nathan

Viva Help in 2025

Event, Update

“The session last week was so, so helpful. I really appreciated the practical guidance, which made so much sense and feels do-able and will help my confidence going into the viva. It helped that your manner in the training was calm, clear, concise, and full of empathy and understanding.”

I received these kind words in my inbox in mid-December, from a participant of my first independent Viva Survivor session. It was a really nice early Christmas present!

Viva Survivor is a 3-hour session I’ve now delivered to more than 7500 postgraduate researchers. Through it I help PhD candidates see that being ready for the viva is within their reach. They’ve done the work, they can learn what to expect and what to do and generally find confidence for the viva day.

I’m typically invited by universities and doctoral training programmes to share Viva Survivor with their researchers, but I decided to offer it up for open registration in December. One day, one time, any PhD candidate welcome to register. A 3-hour live session with follow-up supporting materials and a catch-up recording.

Would anyone be interested?

Thankfully yes! In fact, seven PhD candidates attended. There was a lovely atmosphere created by my cohort. It also felt good to write to people individually before and after the session. It might be impractical for university sessions, but I’d love to do more to recreate this in the future.

 

“Just a quick note to say I passed my viva with minor corrections! Your webinar was very useful and definitely helped to allay some anxiety regarding the whole process.”

My second early Christmas present was the above message: one of my attendees at the independent session had their viva within weeks of Viva Survivor and had succeeded! As you might imagine, it felt fantastic to have played a part in helping them get ready.

I want to help many more people in 2025. I’m happy to say that I have a lot of dates in my diary with universities over the coming months, including my 400th Viva Survivor – and I’m very happy to announce that registration is open now for independent Viva Survivor sessions on March 27th 2025 and June 25th 2025!

These are months away, but if your viva is this year do take a look at what I’ll be covering and what you get by registering and attending. If you have questions about the session or format then please email me. I’ll be happy to respond.

And if you know someone who might be interested in Viva Survivor please pass the details on!

Thank you for reading 🙂

Nathan

Nathan

Two Hundred!

Daily Post

Every now and then I blink my eyes in amazement when I realise I’ve published so-many-hundred blog posts here. Last week I did something similar and celebrated delivering my 200th Viva Survivor session. I was first asked in 2009 to deliver a “viva survival” workshop, and for a few years it was just an occasional thing I did. I really enjoyed it, and got helpful feedback, but it wasn’t my passion.

Then something changed. I don’t know exactly what, but something hooked me, and Viva Survivor became the thing I looked forward to more than anything. I went from doing four or five in a year to doing ten. Then last year I did fifty! About two years ago this blog became an integral part of the feedback loop: ideas and questions from sessions become posts, posts help me to work out ideas that then help more people in the Viva Survivor sessions.

In two hundred sessions I’ve helped 3601 PhD candidates, travelled to universities all over the UK and found something that I’m eager to do forever. Thank you to everyone who’s invited me to share the session, everyone who I’ve met along the way and to all of you who read this blog and help me share ideas that help others get ready for their viva.

I’m already looking forward to session 300 🙂