You Are Here

Author: Nathan

Nathan

New! Viva Regulations page

Daily Post

A frequent comment at my Viva Survivor sessions from candidates is that they don’t know where to find the actual examination regulations for their institution: the document(s) that specify exactly what they can expect from the process and their examiners. What’s needed for submission and by when? Who will be in the room on the day? What does minor corrections mean at their university?

I could always give some general assistance, but didn’t know where exactly where they would be able to find this information. So I decided to find out…

…for every university in the UK.

If you’re looking for your institution’s regulations then check the Viva Regulations page on this site: a list of every university in the UK with a doctoral programme and links to the regulations for most of them. There’s just under twenty at the time of writing which I couldn’t find, but I’ll keep looking. It took me a long time searching around to find many of these, and it will take some time to maintain it, but I figured it was a useful resource to make. I hope you find it helpful!

Want to know what your university expects from the viva process and from you? Click and find out!

And if there’s any other kind of resource that you think would be useful then let me know. It may be something I can work on 🙂

Nathan

Easy, Hard, Challenging

Daily Post

Don’t worry about whether or not your viva will be easy or hard. Who knows what you’ll feel like on the day, in the moment?

Prepare for a challenge. Two people have read your thesis and are ready to ask you all about it. This isn’t trivial, an elevator conversation or dinner party chit-chat. It’s there to explore what you’ve done, what you could have done and what all that means.

On the day you could find this easy or hard, but it will still be a challenge.

It’s still a challenge even if you are necessarily talented.

Nathan

The Path To The Viva

Daily Post

There is a weird disconnect for some people around submission. They imagine submission is like jumping over a ravine between here and there, between almost- and now-submitted. They take a breath and jump and hope it will all work out, hope they’ll land on the other side.

It’s really not a leap of faith though. It’s the same path to the viva they’ve been on for years.

At submission, you’re striding over a bridge, not jumping and hoping.

Nathan

Six Stories

Daily Post

A recurring theme on the blog is that stories matter – and sharing stories of viva experiences will help change the culture in postgraduate researcher communities. Here are six episodes of the podcast that share some good, useful stories of the PhD and the viva:

  • Dr Fiona Noble: a great episode supported by three generous blog posts Fiona wrote about the different stages of the end of her PhD.
  • Dr Tatiana Porto: one of the longest episodes of the podcast, and also one of my favourites. Tatiana and I talk about how Doctor Who helped her through the PhD.
  • Dr Katy Shaw: I’ve interviewed Katy several times for special episodes on academic jobs and early career research too!
  • Dr Fiona Whelan: Fiona describes some stressful elements of her viva, as well as the positive outcomes. Check out her site about life after the PhD too, Beyond The Doctorate.
  • Dr Laura Bonnett: I talk with Laura about what happened when her examiners didn’t agree on the outcome of her viva, and how that situation was resolved.
  • Dr Nathan Ryder: Me! Another story about viva experiences, it just happens to be mine.

I believe that the more we share stories about the viva, the more we will improve the expectations, the culture and the perception of the viva. New episodes of the podcast will hopefully appear in 2019, but if you know of more stories or helpful articles, then let me know. It all helps.

Nathan

Details

Daily Post

They matter. But the little things that evade memory or fast recall probably don’t matter as much as you think they do.

You’re primed to notice the little things you forget more than you notice all of the things that you easily remember.

If nerves about remembering everything before the viva appear, banish them by thinking about all of the things you do know, rather than the tiny fraction of details that don’t snap into focus.

Nathan

Process of Elimination

Daily Post

Luck or random chance don’t dictate the outcome of the viva. It’s not down to the examiners’ whims. It’s not an exam about “some” book and research. That book and research didn’t just appear. You didn’t just wake up to discover it was viva day. Candidates don’t just “suddenly” fail.

Eliminate the impossible and we’re left with the truth.

You created your thesis through talent, work and time. You earned your place in your viva.

You pass because of who you are and what you’ve done.

Nathan

Once

Daily Post

It’s tempting to build up the viva as an epic once-in-a-lifetime event.

Make-or-break, do-or-die, all-or-nothing…

What about the 1000+ once-in-a-lifetime PhD days that lead up to the viva?

Nathan

Digging Deeper With VIVA

Daily Post

Earlier this year I shared my directed thinking tool, VIVA, which is really useful for analysing chapters of your thesis in preparation for the viva. My general suggestion for VIVA is to take a sheet of paper and divide it into four sections. Then in each section make notes about the chapter you want to reflect on but directed by a specific keyword:

  • Valuable (to others): what would someone else find valuable in this chapter?
  • Interesting (to you): what interests you about the work?
  • Vague: what doesn’t seem clear when you read it?
  • Ask: what questions would you ask your examiners if you had the opportunity?

This kind of directed or prompted thinking can build a really interesting reflection and summary. It’s enough to simply reflect and make notes, see where your thinking takes you. You can go much deeper if you want to though. First, simply asking “Why?” after each of your responses helps:

Why would they find that valuable? Why are you interested in that way? Why is it not clear? Why do you want to ask those questions?

Or for Valuable you could dig into different audiences: is there more than one kind of value that someone could look for? Has the Interesting component of your research changed over time? How can you make something Vague more clear? If there was only time to Ask one question of your examiners, how would you prioritise?

Questions lead to answers sometimes. In my experience they nearly always lead to more questions. That’s not a bad thing if you’re trying to think deeply about something. If you use VIVA, think about how you can use follow-up questions to reflect on your research.

Nathan

No Ifs, Ands Or Buts

Daily Post

You’re in the viva to pass it. You did the work, you built the ideas, you put it all together in your thesis.

You are where you are meant to be.

Nathan

On The Surface

Daily Post

Imagine your thesis is an iceberg.

You can see it floating in a sea of knowledge. Big and beautiful, possibly dangerous! A hazard for other ideas, crashing and crushing, but approached carefully you can study it. Someone can think about how it relates to other icebergs/theses, what it means. They can dream up questions about it. Depending on who that someone is, depending on their experience – their own icebergs – those questions could be tricky…

But there’s more than what’s on the surface.

If an examiner or anyone else reads your thesis they see the surface iceberg. Your research and experience are underwater: a massive bulk of knowledge, skill, time, patience, talent, persistence. Quietly hidden, but there all the same.

Your examiners can ask about what they see on the surface, make guesses perhaps at what else is in the watery shadows.

You appreciate it all though; the surface iceberg-thesis and the experience-knowledge-skill-time-patience-talent-persistence-ice-mountain of research beneath the surface. It’s all there for you when you need it, hiding in the depths.

(with thanks to Sylvia Duckworth and Hugh Kearns for inspiration!)

1 … 253 254 255 256 257 … 317