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Nathan

Factors For Prep

Daily Post

I mentioned yesterday that it’s ten years since I started doing work on the viva, but it’s nearly twelve years since I became an independent researcher-developer. That’s a lot of paperwork and notes, and when you sort through it you find things that you don’t need, things you might need, things you’d forgotten about and things that just might be useful…

Like a note on an old creative thinking workshop plan, not for top tips or processes, but for things that help creativity. Things that are personal to everyone, but which if you get right can really make a difference in outcomes. These four factors that help are Location, Atmosphere, Behaviour and Resources – and all of them can help viva prep too!

  • Location: where will you do your prep?
  • Atmosphere: will your prep space be silent or have a soundtrack?
  • Behaviour: how are you approaching your work?
  • Resources: what do you need to support you?

By themselves they aren’t viva prep – you still have to read your thesis, make notes, practise and so on. But how you do something can have as big an impact as what you do. How can you tailor your situation and strategy to help you prepare well?

Nathan

Viva Survivor, Ten Years Later

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Ten years ago, nervous, optimistic, uncertain but happy-to-help, I stood in front of a room of PGRs in Manchester and said, “Erm, hi, I’m Nathan, and today I want to help you explore getting ready for your viva…” I had no plans to do another one! Halfway through the session a colleague from the university said, “Oh, there was a big waiting list – when can you do another?”

I did a few for Manchester that year, then a few more the year after. Another university asked me to do one. Then a few more. All word of mouth. I started Viva Survivors as a podcast in 2012 so I could share stories and learn more for myself; I used the site as a platform to research and learn even more. More universities asked me to help. Then more!

In 2010 I did the session three or four times I think. In 2019 it was over fifty times!!!

The Viva Survivors blog has become a place for me to experiment, to share, to test ideas and refine how I express them. There’s been a lovely symbiosis between the blog and the Viva Survivor session. A question in a session becomes a new line of thinking for the blog; a neat idea on the blog becomes a cornerstone in the session.

On July 21st 2010 I was thinking, “Oh gosh, please let this go well, I hope this works, I hope people get what they need, phew this will help to pay for my wedding…” Today I’m thinking, “That went by fast! OK, how can I help candidates get what they need for their viva?”

(And, “Oh wow, it’s my tenth wedding anniversary in a few months!”)

If I’ve met you on the journey so far, thank you. Thank you to the nearly-5000 candidates I’ve met at a Viva Survivor session. Thank you to all the readers of the blog, to all the amazing people who shared their story on the podcast and to everyone who has helped me share this blog over the years.

Nathan

Two Reflective Mini-Vivas

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I’ve been playing around with my Mini-Vivas resource recently: I have ideas for other related game-like resources, and am thinking about how to adapt it for other purposes. I happened to roll some dice to get a few mini-viva sets and the following two struck me as being particularly reflective ahead of a viva…

First Set:

  • Where did your research ideas come from?
  • How did your process change as you did your PhD?
  • How did the existing literature in the field influence you?
  • What are your main conclusions?
  • What publications do you hope to produce?

Second Set:

  • Why did you want to pursue your research?
  • How did your process change as you did your PhD?
  • How does your work build on prior research?
  • What questions would you like to ask your examiners?
  • If you could start again, knowing what you know now, what would you keep the same?

While I think it’s more useful to ask a friend or colleague to prompt you with questions as practice, that’s not always possible. There are several suggestions on the mini-vivas page for how you could use questions by yourself. The sets in this post couple help you to summarise key aspects of your research and get you reflecting on the last few years of work.

A little reflection can go a long way to helping you be ready for your viva.

Nathan

Hopes & Disappointments

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There was a time, thankfully long ago now, when my background philosophy could probably be summed up by, “I’d better not hope for too much, then I won’t be disappointed.”

This was a time when I generally expected that I had to work hard and then hope I achieved what I was aiming for, rather than working hard and seeing confidence rising from my actions.

Hope is good, but hope is not the word you want to have hanging around your viva. Don’t only hope you will pass: know that you will. You won’t be disappointed.

Nathan

Facing Fears

Daily Post

If you’re not just worried about your viva but afraid, to the point where it is having an impact, you need to stop and find help.

The right person could be your supervisor, a colleague, a friend or family member. You have to pass your viva on the day by yourself, but you don’t have to prepare for it alone. If you feel fear before your viva it won’t be removed by simply sweeping it to one side.

Tell someone who could help. Get them to gently help you see what the issue is. Make small steps towards resolving it. For example, being worried about answering questions won’t be overcome by jumping straight into a mock viva – a short, sharp shock is not what this doctor prescribes! But one question is a start. Maybe even writing something down rather than speaking first.

If you’re facing fear: Who could help? What steps could help? And when will you start to make them?

Nathan

Explaining Absences

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If you had to pause your PhD – for medical reasons, for personal reasons, for pandemic-related reasons – then you can absolutely explain that to your examiners. I think it should be enough to say, “Oh, it was disrupted for personal reasons,” and you’re done. A PhD is important, the viva is important, but the work that goes into them shouldn’t be put on such a pedestal that day-to-day human life is overshadowed by them so completely. But you can say more if you want to.

Most of the time, when someone asks me about anything to do with the viva, my first thought is to direct them to think, “Why?” But absence, whatever the reason, was probably quite personal. I don’t think your examiners need to know “Why?” – so perhaps think “How?” instead.

Think concretely and clearly about the impact that the absence had. Did it pause things? There was a gap and then you had to start again. Did you have to change your plans? Explore the differences brought about by the delay. Did you have to leave things out? List what didn’t make it into your thesis.

For absences, reflect on how it had an impact over why it happened.

Nathan

A Careful Candidate

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I think this is the overall mindset I’m trying to encourage when I try to help people get ready for their viva.

Careful doesn’t mean cautious or pessimistic. Careful doesn’t mean trying to game the process or gain an advantage. Careful, in this sense, means someone taking their time to think things through – only a little – and trying not to leave themselves open to errors that could have been avoided.

For example, if you want to be a careful PhD candidate for your viva you could:

  • Discuss possible examiners with your supervisor and say what you would look for.
  • Plot out the weeks when you’re likely to be preparing for your viva to get a sense of what time you might have.
  • Decide on what you will wear for the viva to help you feel your best self.
  • Make opportunities to present and discuss your work to gain confidence.
  • Read your examiners’ work, both to show a little respect and to get a sense of their perspective.
  • Read the regulations for your institution and ask about anything that is unclear.
  • Ask recent graduates about their experiences to help set your expectations.

Be careful – full of care – to respect the moments you have coming up in the viva. Approach the viva confidently, having understood what it’s about, and what you can do to do it well.

Nathan

Thesis & Viva

Daily Post

A few loosely connected thoughts…

The viva is bigger in some ways than the thesis, but takes much less time (to read or write!).

A lot of focus is given to the viva, but without a good thesis you won’t pass your PhD.

Your thesis has to be good. Your viva has to go well. The former helps the latter.

Your thesis prompts the discussion for the viva, but doesn’t hold all the questions (or answers).

You don’t have a viva without a thesis first, and you don’t need to prepare for your viva until your thesis is finished.

Nathan

Ten 1-Minute Viva Prep Tasks

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Viva Prep!!!

Maybe you’re busy and overwhelmed, or don’t know where to start. Perhaps you only have a few moments in which you could get something done. Or simply you’re looking to be ready.

Here are ten tasks that will all help your viva prep, and each of which can be completed in a minute or less. Some are the first steps of bigger tasks, but can be compartmentalised and done to lay the foundations for future work:

  1. Google and bookmark your internal examiner’s staff page.
  2. Google and bookmark your external examiner’s staff page.
  3. Send a message to a group of researcher-friends to see who would be willing to help with asking you questions for practice.
  4. Stick a Post-it Note at the start of each chapter of your thesis.
  5. Find the regulations for thesis examination for your institution (this page might make that task even quicker).
  6. Find contact details for someone in your graduate school or doctoral college who could answer questions about the viva process.
  7. Gather up a pile of Post-it Notes, pens and stationery to help with viva prep.
  8. Sketch a basic calendar of the days between now and your viva.
  9. Check out the Resources page of this site!
  10. Write I DID THIS clearly on the abstract page of your thesis.

Simple searches and minor tasks all need doing – and only need doing once.

Viva prep takes more than ten minutes, but could begin idea number 10 – with clearly remembering and reinforcing to yourself that YOU have written your thesis. YOU did the work.

YOU are going to pass your viva.

Nathan

What’s Left?

Daily Post

Do you have ideas that you didn’t have time to develop during your PhD?

Questions you maybe asked at the start that now at the end don’t have answers?

Or perhaps a section or chapter you were going to write but weren’t able to?

Review loose threads, unfinished projects and half-formed ideas as you prepare for the viva. The work at the edges could be of interest to your examiners, and you’ll be able to share it with them if you’ve spent a little time in preparation for that possibility.

More importantly, by contrast, you’ll see why the work that is finished got done. Ask yourself why unfinished projects didn’t make it, and you’ll get a sharper sense of why the work in your thesis got to completion – what was different about what made it in and what didn’t?

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