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Author: Nathan

Nathan

First Steps Of Prep

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Step one could be to breathe after submission and take a short break.

Your first step could be to read the regulations and check there’s nothing unexpected.

Top of the list might be to check in with your supervisor and see what they think.

And if you feel you’ve got a good handle on what you need to do then step one of viva prep could be to make a plan of how you’re going to get it done.

 

There are lots of really good, sensible things that a candidate might do to prepare for their viva. The starting point and the process is different for everyone: it depends on what you need, how you feel and what your circumstances are like.

Take charge though. Only you can take all the steps needed and only you can take the first step, whatever you need it to be.

 

PS: If you’re looking for more ideas of steps you can take to be prepared for your viva then check out my Viva Survivor webinar on Wednesday 3rd December 2025. This is my comprehensive live session on getting ready for your viva. There’s full details at the link of what to expect from the webinar and what past participants think of it. Please get in touch if you have any questions!

Nathan

Verb Carefully

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If you’re getting ready to endure your viva then you’re probably not going to approach it with a good frame of mind. If you are hoping it goes well you’re probably downplaying the force of your other prep and work.

It’s one thing to worry that your viva will be a nightmare – a nasty noun could easily distract you – but the real concern is that you might worry!

Unhelpful verbs while you’re thinking about your viva and viva prep can have a big impact on your confidence. You might not simply be able to choose how you feel or choose the verbs you keep in mind but if you’re aware of negative associations you can make changes. Read the regulations for the viva, ask for support and find out more about what to expect.

How do you want to approach your viva? What do you need to change? What will you do?

Nathan

Exploring Context

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A key part of a viva discussion might be really getting to the heart of why you did something.

What motivated your research? Why was it worth doing? Why did YOU want to do it?

What was the need?

Why did you use your methods as opposed to other approaches? How did you select them and how did you come to think they were the best way to tackle your research problems?

A response to any of these questions might involve unsolved problems, supervisor advice, your gut feelings, your personal history, necessity, limitations and constraints, things you want to say and things you’d rather not. Exploring the context for your research helps you and your examiners discuss what you did, why you did it and how you did it. Whatever’s true will help you to have that discussion.

Be clear, share detail and explore your context at the viva. Get ready for this by finding opportunities to rehearse before you meet your examiners.

Nathan

A Kind Process

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Whatever your situation and circumstances you can make viva prep a kind process for you.

  • Find out what helps viva prep before you get to submission and read your university’s thesis examination regulations.
  • Sketch out a rough plan of what you need to do and how you might need to do it when you submit your thesis.
  • Be generous with your planning and don’t assume that life will allow your plans to remain fixed; work out good milestones for your progress.
  • Ask for help well in advance of when you need it so that you are sure that your helpers’ schedules will allow the support you need.
  • Find time to remind yourself every day that you have got as far as you have by being good at what you do and by making a contribution to your field of research.

Step by step and bit by bit you can prepare for your viva without stress and without unwelcome pressure. You have the opportunity to make viva prep a kind process for you.

 

PS: I’ll be digging into this kind process in much more detail at my Viva Survivor webinar on Wednesday 3rd December 2025. This is my comprehensive live session on getting ready. There’s full details at the link of what to expect from the webinar but please get in touch if you have any questions!

Nathan

Removing Obstacles To Being Ready

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What’s getting in the way of you being prepared for your viva?

  • Not being sure what to do;
  • Not knowing something;
  • Not having support from people;
  • Feeling like there’s not enough time;
  • Feeling like there’s not the right time;
  • Feeling like there’s too much to do;
  • Feeling nervous, worried, scared or unsure;
  • Not feeling as confident as you want to.

 

What can you do about these sources of friction and irritation?

  • Read viva regulations;
  • Talk to your supervisor and your friends;
  • Make a plan;
  • Reflect on your PhD experience;
  • Read a blog post or two;
  • Explore what help is available from your university;
  • Explore what help is available elsewhere (like daily blogs that also offer webinars sometimes!)
  • Reflect to find the root cause of what’s in the way.

 

That last point is really helpful actually: if you know you feel something that’s getting in the way of being prepared and you know WHY you’re feeling it then there’s typically a lot you can do to help yourself.

Figure out why and you can remove any obstacles in your way.

Nathan

Then What Happened?

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A PhD journey is a series of steps. You make choices, do the work, see what happens and then figure out the next options. Then you do it all again.

A PhD journey can develop due to good fortune. You make a choice and it works out well. Maybe an opportunity comes your way. A eureka moment strikes you at just the right time.

Still: where do these things come from?

You have to put yourself in a good place to receive an opportunity. It isn’t a lightning bolt from nowhere. It’s not magic. It happened to you because you did the work.

 

Remember the steps that got you where you are. Think about how you might explain that to other people including your examiners. If you’re telling your story and someone says “Then what happened?” your response should never be to simply say, “Oh, I got lucky…”

You might have the benefit of some good fortune, where you work hard and enough of that hard work pays off – but PhD candidates don’t get where they are because of luck.

(if you’re working towards your PhD and your plan requires luck to succeed then you need a new plan!)

Nathan

Nice Ideas

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“…I’m sorry but that won’t work for me…”

I’m always slightly sad when I hear that or see it in response to a piece of advice or help for the viva.

Please don’t mistake me: I don’t think that someone is wrong for not agreeing to what I suggest! I want to help people get ready for their viva and if options I offer don’t work I’m sad that I couldn’t help.

I’ve come to accept that there is no universally helpful idea for getting ready for the viva. Ideas for making plans might run counter to someone’s preferences or situation; the good idea of having a mock viva might not be practical given a candidate’s supervisory relationship; a particular annotation idea could be a non-starter given the nature of someone’s thesis.

Still: if a nice idea, a tip, approach or piece of advice you receive for your viva really won’t work for you, then use that as a provocation. What could work for you? If a particular annotation won’t help, what might? If you’re not going to have a mock viva, how will you rehearse?

If someone’s nice ideas for getting ready for your viva won’t work for you, then you have to come up with some nice ideas of your own.

 

PS: one nice idea for getting ready for your viva is my Viva Survivor webinar on Wednesday 3rd December 2025. This is my comprehensive live session on getting ready and there’s full details at the link. Also, if you use code VIVASURVIVORS before midnight tonight you can save £10 on registration!

Nathan

Plan Ahead

Daily Post

Read the regulations for vivas at your institution before you get to submission time.

Sketch out a plan for your prep when you submit your thesis, looking ahead at your obligations and circumstances for the coming weeks.

Assume that you have a good plan as you get to work but review it as and when you do work or your situation changes.

When confronted with several options for how to get ready – or when circumstances change ahead of your viva – the best option is probably the one that allows you to keep as many options open as possible.

The more freedom you have to pivot and change your plans the less stress you’ll hopefully have as you get ready for your viva.

 

PS: if you’re thinking about how to plan your viva prep you can get many more ideas at my Viva Survivor webinar on Wednesday 3rd December 2025. This is my in-depth 3-hour session on getting ready for your viva. Participants can attend the live session, get a catch-up recording and a bundle of resources to help their prep. Also, if you use code VIVASURVIVORS before midnight on Sunday 5th October 2025 you can save £10 on registration!

Nathan

Be Helpful

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What can you offer your friends and colleagues when they are getting ready for their vivas?

When you’ve had your viva, who will you share your experience with and how will you try to help them?

If you’ve not already had your viva then keep a little record as you get ready of what you do and how it helps. This will help you to figure out positive actions that you might recommend.

A good starting point for helping others could be to think of the help that you got. An even better starting point might be to consider the help that you feel you really needed.

 

PS: and another good starting point might be to tell someone to subscribe to the Viva Survivors daily blog if they don’t already do that!

Nathan

The Same

Daily Post

It’s interesting to consider what you would do differently if you had your PhD time again.

Perhaps with the benefit of hindsight you would take a different approach, explore another topic or organise your work differently. In some cases it might not even be a case of thinking that things would be better: perhaps you can simply see that there are other options or opportunities.

What would you keep the same?

This is perhaps an even more interesting provocation: with experience, understanding and hindsight, what would you keep the same about your PhD?

Ahead of your viva consider what you wouldn’t change. Maybe your topic, approach and effort. Maybe your working process.

Surely your determination. One reason that you got as far as you have is that you managed to keep going, whatever challenges came to you along the way.

 

PS: if you’re looking for help getting ready for your viva then check out details of my Viva Survivor webinar on Wednesday 3rd December 2025. This is my standout, comprehensive session on getting ready and there’s full details at the link about what to expect. Also, if you use code VIVASURVIVORS before midnight on Sunday 5th October 2025 you can save £10 on registration!

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