You Are Here

Month: June 2025

Nathan

Viva Survivors Select 03

Update

It’s come around so quickly hasn’t it? Or maybe that’s just how I feel…

In any case the third issue of Viva Survivors Select is out today!

Viva Survivors Select 03, The Preparation Issue is here and I’m very excited to release it into the world. Twenty posts from the Viva Survivors archive plus two new original pieces equals a lot of concentrated support for anyone who needs to get ready for their viva.

In this issue I felt it was time to dig into viva prep in detail: when do you start? What do you do? What tasks help? And how can you make the most of the time between submission and the viva to get ready for meeting your examiners?

Twenty posts from the Viva Survivors archive and two new original pieces: a new resource for having helpful rehearsal conversations with friends and a confidence-building project you can start to help you feel better for your viva. Viva Survivors Select 03 is out now for £3 and joins the first two issues in this project of monthly viva help.

If you like the blog, want more help and want to support what I do then please take a look at and consider buying The Preparation Issue – and please do pass on details of this issue and Viva Survivors Select to anyone you know who is looking for viva help.

Thanks for reading!

Nathan

Nathan

Pause to Think, Think to Respond

Daily Post

One approach to engaging in the viva could be summarised as pause, think, respond.

  • Pause first to give yourself a moment. Consider the question or comment. Take your time.
  • Think to explore whatever ideas come to mind. Remember what you need. Put ideas together.
  • Respond to the point, clearly. Take your time to say whatever you need to say so that your examiners get what they need.

Another way to look at this is to see that all three points are linked. You pause to think, taking time to be sure of what you need to say. You think to respond well, being reflective and careful.

Pause, think, respond. Pause to think, think to respond. Whichever way resonates, the connection is that a candidate engages well at the viva when they take their time.

It doesn’t need to be a hard question for you to take a few moments to consider what you will say or how you will say it.

Nathan

Less Than Perfect…

Daily Post

…but you don’t need perfect to succeed in your PhD or at the viva.

  • You need to have worked to produce research.
  • You need to be a capable researcher.
  • You need to have written a good thesis (and submitted it!).
  • You need prepare for your viva after submission.
  • You need to engage with your examiners and the discussion at the viva.

None of these are trivial but none of them requires perfection.

You don’t need perfection to pass your viva.

Nathan

The End Of Your Viva

Daily Post

It’s not the end of your journey or the end of the work.

As your viva concludes take a moment to reflect and think if there’s anything else you want to ask your examiners. Are there any questions you can imagine asking now?

Before the very end of the viva there is often a break where examiners confer. You could sit or pace nervously – or decide in advance that you’ll get some fresh air, refill your water bottle or quickly journal anything that’s occurred to you. What will you do in that break?

As you find out the result of the viva it’s very likely that you’ll be asked to complete minor corrections. While you might not know these now you can learn how long that corrections period. You can plan ahead for how you might do that work.

The end of the viva is not the end of your journey or the end of the work – but you’ll be really close to being done.

 

PS: want to explore what else you need to do to be done? Check out Viva Survivor, my upcoming live webinar on Wednesday 25th June. I’ve shared this session more than 400 times with PhD candidates all around the UK, but this is only the third time I’ve opened up registration. A 3-hour live webinar, catch-up recording and follow-up materials all about the viva, viva prep and getting ready. Take a look at the details and see if it might help you or someone you know. Thanks for reading!

Nathan

Skilled

Daily Post

Compared to the start of your PhD journey, what can you do now that you couldn’t before?

How do you know this for certain? How can you demonstrate this? What are your skills as a capable researcher in your field?

Reflecting and unpicking the answers to these kinds of questions will give you a lot to share with your examiners in the viva.

 

Nathan

Concerning Corrections

Daily Post

You can do a lot to write a good thesis. It’s still likely that you will miss some unintentional typos. You might not spot when a sentence gets really long without a break. And after submission you might change your mind about a particular phrasing or explanation.

Any corrections that your examiners request are simply that. Corrections. Amendments. Fixes. Requests for changes to make your thesis that little bit better.

They don’t think you didn’t care. They don’t believe you should have done more or better.

Writing is hard. Writing a book is very hard.

If during your preparations you spot something that needs correcting that’s fine. If your examiners tell you about some in the viva that’s fine. After the viva, get them done and move on.

Don’t be too concerned about corrections.

Nathan

Ten Minute Annotation

Daily Post

Annotating your thesis for the viva takes more than ten minutes! However, you can make a good start in a short amount of time:

  • Add sticky notes or tabs to mark the start of each chapter.
  • Add similar for any key sections that stand out to you in your thesis.
  • Add a summary sentence to the start of each chapter.
  • At the top of the title page write three things you are proud of from your research.
  • Further down on your title page write “You can do this!” – and then underline it.

Then take as much time as you need to finish annotating your thesis.

In ten minutes you can start well. What else do you need?

Nathan

The Right Words

Daily Post

The right words of feedback from your supervisor or a trusted colleague can make a huge difference to your work or your wellbeing. Think about what you ask for, when you ask for it and who you ask it from.

The right words of annotation on the pages of your thesis – by you – can make a huge difference to how ready you are for viva day. Think about what you need to add during prep, how you will do it and what the result will be.

The right words in the right way can make a huge difference to your PhD and your viva.

 

PS: looking for more about viva prep and getting help from others? These are two topics I’ll be talking about at Viva Survivor, my upcoming live webinar on Wednesday 25th June. Registration is open now for my 3-hour live webinar – all about the viva, viva prep and getting ready – and attendees also get access to a catch-up recording and follow-up materials. Take a look at the details to see if this session might help you.

Nathan

Viva Survivor webinar, June 25th 2025

Event, Update

If you want to know about the viva then you could ask friends and colleagues. You could talk to your supervisor about examiner expectations. You could explore the support that your institution provides.

You can also look through the 2900+ posts on this daily blog about the viva, all freely accessible, or explore the different publications I’ve produced. There is a lot of support around you to get an idea of what the viva is about and what you might do to get ready.

 

And if you want to go deeper then register for my upcoming Viva Survivor session on Wednesday 25th June 2025. Three weeks from today I’ll be sharing what vivas are really like, what effective viva preparation means and how someone can engage well with their examiners. We’ll be exploring the practical steps to take before and after submission, building confidence and a lot more.

For three hours on Zoom you’ll get direct help from me through a live session that I have shared with over 8000 PhD candidates. We have plenty of time to explore questions from the group, I have great follow-up resources including some of my publications and a catch-up recording in case you can’t stay for the whole time.

I love sharing my Viva Survivor session – so much so that I’ve delivered it over 400 times for universities and doctoral training groups all over the UK.

“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.” – UCLAN PhD Candidate, December 2024

Please take a look at the registration page if you are looking for viva help. There are full details there but please get in touch if you have any questions. Please pass on information of the session to anyone who might be looking for viva help.

One last time: Viva Survivor session on Wednesday 25th June 2025!

Thanks for reading 🙂

Nathan

Reflect & Review

Daily Post

“Plan, Do, Reflect, Review” is a simple framework for getting things done. Plan what you’ll do, do it, reflect on what happened and review things formally so you have a better understanding.

If you’re reading this post then hopefully you followed a similar process during your PhD. There are lots of systems, resources and processes that use Plan, Do, Reflect, Review to underpin how they work.

As you get close to your viva you’ll be leaning much more on reflect and review. Give yourself time to really take in what you did, what happened and what that means. Ask yourself questions and find answers that will help you communicate what matters to your examiners.

(reflecting and reviewing your journey also helps your confidence to grow by bringing your progress and capability into the spotlight!)

1 2 3 4