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Month: October 2025

Nathan

Zombies & Examiners

Daily Post

Allow me a slightly silly post for Halloween…!

I’ve been thinking about zombies and examiners.

One group can feel quite scary. They just keep coming. They don’t stop until they’re satisfied. If you’re careful, when you encounter them, you can pause to think about how you’ll respond to their approach.

Thankfully they don’t move so fast that you can’t stay ahead of them and they’re very manageable in small numbers. They’re not really something to worry about if you keep your wits about you.

Anyway, that’s how I think about examiners – zombies are pretty scary too!

Nathan

Unpacking & Reframing

Daily Post

Summaries are a helpful viva prep tool.

A good summary could help you to unpack ideas. You can take out, examine and remind yourself of what something is, why it helps and what it’s for.

A good summary could allow you to reframe your work. You can find a new perspective by taking a particular focus or by examining a specific aspect of what you’ve done.

Summaries allow you to think ahead. The information can be the foundations of responses in the viva. You wouldn’t be expected to read from summaries in the viva but they can help you to rehearse what points really matter.

Unpack your ideas. Reframe your thinking. Use summary creation as a useful part of your viva prep toolkit.

Nathan

Making Sense Of Expectations

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Viva expectations are the patterns and trends that we find in university regulations, personal experiences and departmental practices. Viva expectations are estimates and ideas of what someone could reasonably experience for themselves.

  • What are they? You can find out. Check regulations and ask others about what it was like for them.
  • How do they apply? Broadly. It’s reasonable to assume if most people get minor corrections you probably will too. If vivas tend to being more than ninety minutes yours is unlikely to be less than an hour.
  • What do expectations mean for you? They mean you have something to prepare for. They mean that vivas aren’t random. They’re unique but not chaotic.
  • What might not apply? You’ll have to explore that for yourself. Your research or needs might lead to a viva that is different from a typical experience. If that’s the case though, it won’t be a surprise and there will be time and support to help you understand.

There’s a wide web of information that underpins vivas. It’s not hard to make sense of it though, either in generally or for a particular situation. Take a little time to ask some questions and make sense of it all for yourself.

 

PS: if you want to explore viva expectations more you could check out September’s edition of Viva Survivors Select. The Expectations Issue is a curated collection from the Viva Survivors archive with twenty helpful posts all about viva expectations plus some original writing to help you get ready.

Nathan

Building A Bridge

Daily Post

Public domain image of a small wooden bridge that crosses a stream between two close banks.

Viva prep is like building a bridge between where you are when you submit your thesis and where you need to be for your viva.

But the gap is not that wide. The bridge does not have to be that complicated.

Why take the chance that you might stumble when preparation is not much work compared to all the work you’ve done before?

 

PS: Viva prep is one of the big topics of my Viva Survivor webinar which is running on Wednesday 3rd December 2025. I’ve shared this session more than 400 times and it is my comprehensive live session on getting ready for the viva. Check the link for full details of what to expect from the webinar!

Nathan

Not For Them

Daily Post

Who is your thesis for?

It’s unlikely that you have written your thesis with only your examiners in mind. Whatever your topic, structure or conclusions, your thesis isn’t for your examiners. You’ll have another general audience in mind but your examiners have to read it, digest it and plan to ask you about it at your viva.

It’s not for them – but you have to think a lot once it is written and ready about how you will talk to them about it at your viva.

To do that it helps to know who your examiners are. Do a little research into them and their publications if you need to. It also helps to know what they might be interested in. Remind yourself of the regulations and purpose of the viva.

Prepare to talk to your examiners about your thesis but remember who it is really for.

Nathan

Solving Viva Prep

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If 20 to 30 hours of viva prep is about right for most candidates then depending on someone’s plans that might mean:

  • 1 or 2 hours of viva prep every day over the course of two weeks;
  • 30 mins to 1 hour of viva prep most days over the course of a month;
  • At least 3 hours of viva prep every day if there is just one week left.

The last option is probably not desirable or helpful!

The other two could work and more generally you can find a solution for viva prep simply by thinking about your circumstances, needs and preferences.

How much time do you have? What pressures constrain you? How do you like to work?

Reflect on those questions and compare the timings above. Then you can start to think about how you might plan your viva prep in a kind and sustainable way for yourself.

Nathan

Making Mistakes

Daily Post

It’s important if you find a mistake after submission that you take a little time to think about the correction. Other people – including your examiners – might think you are unprepared.

It’s important to correct any mistakes after your viva because otherwise you won’t pass!

 

It’s not important generally whether you have things to correct or not. Writing is hard. Doing research is hard. Bringing those difficulties together makes making mistakes almost inevitable.

It’s important to know what’s important at your viva. You can work hard, proofread and do your best. Did you make mistakes or not spot some typos? That’s OK, so long as you’re prepared.

You did something that matters in your research – and that’s far more important than a few mistakes that can be corrected.

 

PS: The Confidence Issue, the most recent issue of Viva Survivors Select, has a lot about focussing on what matters. Do you want to know how to build confidence for your viva? Do you want ideas on how to respond well to questions from your examiners? Then take a look at this curated collection of twenty posts from the Viva Survivors archive plus two new helpful resources!

Nathan

Crossing A Line

Daily Post

Some PhD candidates worry about getting something wrong at the viva because they don’t know what they need to do to get it right.

Does that resonate? If it does you don’t have to do a lot to get rid of the worry.

  • Read the regulations for your institution;
  • Talk with friends and colleagues about their viva experiences;
  • Ask your supervisors if your department has any particular viva practices.

These three sources are enough to figure out a useful sense of what to expect. You’ll see that there are no hidden red lines, no secrets and no terrible traps waiting ahead.

You’re unlikely to cross a line. Get things right at your viva by learning that there’s nothing really you can get wrong.

Nathan

Waiting For A Good Time

Daily Post

It might feel like you have to wait a long time to get to your viva. Hopefully you’ll be busy enough along the way that it won’t feel too bad.

And hopefully it won’t feel too much like waiting for your viva while you’re preparing.

There will probably be some waiting to get started on the day.

And you might wait a little during the viva while your examiners pause and think – which you can do too – or during breaks.

And wait again when they confer about the outcome towards the end.

And then again when you wait to hear if your corrections have been accepted.

And then again(!) when you wait for an opportunity to graduate.

There’s a lot of waiting on the journey to being a PhD graduate. What can you do to get used to it or to make a good use of the time for yourself?

Nathan

Is A Video Viva A Good Idea?

Daily Post

Things have come a long way since the emergency measures of 2020 when, against an uncertain background, many PhD candidates had to change plans and have a viva over video.

Without the stress of those times there are definite pros and cons of a video viva.

On the plus side:

  • Not needing to travel could be a positive for many candidates;
  • Not needing to meet in person could reduce anxiety for some;
  • Being able to control the setup and space could be really helpful.

And of course, there are some situations where a video viva isn’t just a positive idea: it could be a necessity that will allow someone to have a viva at all or participate fully.

There are potential negatives though:

  • Anecdotes suggest that video vivas are more formalised, probably due to the format;
  • There is the potential for conversations to be awkward because of platform limitations;
  • They might not allow for networking-style conversations in the same way as an in-person conversation.

Where does all of this leave a candidate wondering what to do?

 

Unless a video viva is a necessity because of travel or availability it just depends on the candidate and what they feel they need. There are plenty of positives that can make a video viva a good experience. The negatives are not overwhelmingly negative in any way.

And remember: we are not in 2020 any more. Technology, training and experience has moved on. A video viva is a known thing and can be learned about and prepared for. If you need one or are thinking about one it’s not a bad idea at all.

Whatever the format the purpose and process of the viva is the same. You can do well in it wherever you are.

 

PS: I’ll be sharing a lot more about the general viva process at my Viva Survivor webinar on Wednesday 3rd December 2025. This is my comprehensive session on getting ready for the viva. Check the link for full details of what to expect but please get in touch if you have any questions!

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