Their Focus

The two academics who examine you and your thesis at the viva are first of all focussed on doing the job well. They are taking on the responsibility of being examiners and do it carefully.

Your examiners, internal and external, are focussed on exploring your contribution, discussing your PhD experience and examining your capability as a researcher. While they have a big picture focus they have their own work and ideas as well. Taking a little time to understand what they do as researchers can help you to think about how they read your thesis and what they might want to talk about, what they will understand and so on.

One more way to grasp their focus is to remind yourself of your focus. Whatever you did during your PhD and whatever you’ve presented in your thesis is the focus of the viva.