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Month: August 2025

Nathan

Considering Weakness

Daily Post

Words matter.

If you think part of your research has a weakness then how do you describe it to others?

Can you think of it as a limitation? Was it necessary given the circumstances?

Was the “weakness” a decision that you had to make? Was it a measured choice between alternatives?

If you had to make a change or adaptation due to circumstances does that make a difference to how you talk about it?

It’s OK to talk about things that could be better. It’s better, especially ahead of the viva, to think about how best to express it.

Words matter – both for how they’re heard by others and for how they have an impact on the speaker.

Nathan

In Case Of Emergency

Daily Post

There’s a relatively small chance that a question at the viva could make you feel like you’re in an emergency.

  • A stressful question.
  • A complicated question.
  • An unclear question.
  • A never-before-considered question.

If your first thought is “I don’t know” or “Aaaaaargh!” it can be hard to figure out how to respond.

Here’s the best advice I can give for those moments: do exactly what you’ve been doing for the non-emergency and non-stressful questions.

 

Whatever the question or comment from your examiners: pause, think it through and then respond. Your response could be an answer, an opinion, sharing an idea or asking a question.

If the question is really simple: pause, think and respond.

If the question is complex: pause, think and respond.

If the question makes you think “Aaaargh!”: pause, think and respond.

 

You don’t need an answer for everything. You do need to engage with every question.

Having one process that you can follow for simple questions and stressful questions makes it easier for you to follow and engage with the discussion in the viva.

Questions can be complicated. Your process for responding to them doesn’t need to be.

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