Nathan

“The Perfect PhD”

Daily Post

What do we mean when we’re thinking about a perfect PhD?

Candidate? Research? Thesis? The journey?

In some ways it doesn’t matter: there’s no perfection to be found!

There’s good: you can recognise what you do well, what you’re capable of, what you present well in your thesis and how it all ties together in your PhD experience.

There’s difficult: you can consider the challenges, the obstacles overcome, the struggle to write and more.

There’s better: you can reflect on what you have made better both in your research and in yourself – and possibly even see where things could be better still but aren’t yet.

There’s good, there’s difficult, there’s better – and there’s enough.

There’s no perfect in your PhD, but there is enough to show that you are a good researcher. There’s enough to show you have made a contribution at your viva.

Nathan

Live Webinars, Summer 2026

Event, Update

In brief: I have five independent viva help webinars happening soon.

 

“Thank you so much this was very helpful – I have my viva on Monday and am feeling a bit more confident now :)” – Liverpool John Moores University PhD candidate

I regularly deliver Viva Survivor and 7 Reasons You’ll Pass Your Viva sessions for universities and doctoral programmes around the UK. However, not every university engages me to deliver sessions – and sometimes even when they do there’s limited availability.

So, to create more opportunities for PhD candidates to access viva help sessions, I’m offering a range of dates and times for my 1-hour 7 Reasons You’ll Pass Your Viva live webinar in June and July:

Morning, afternoon and evening slots – and for the first time ever I’m offering a Saturday morning session for anyone who might struggle to attend during the week.

 

“Thank you for such an engaging and helpful session!” – University of Liverpool PhD candidate

7 Reasons You’ll Pass Your Viva was developed in the early days of the first COVID lockdown in 2020 and has grown to be one of my most-requested sessions. I love sharing this 1-hour confidence-boost for the viva and seeing how it resonates with and helps PhD candidates.

Registration for these live 7 Reasons You’ll Pass Your Viva webinars is £20 and includes a follow-up email, a pdf copy of my 101 Steps To A Great Viva guide and access to a catch-up recording of the session.

 

“Thanks, really helpful session that’s helped me feel confident about the viva!” – University of Edinburgh PhD candidate

Tickets for all 7 Reasons You’ll Pass Your Viva sessions are available now. If you’re looking for viva help then I hope you can join me on one of these dates:

Thanks for reading. If this might help a friend then please share this message.

All the best,

Nathan

Nathan

Rehearsing For Examiners

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A mock viva might be the best thing you could do to be ready for meeting your examiners. Taking time to practise being in the viva environment will help you rehearse listening to questions, taking your time and responding. This should help you feel comfortable and confident for your viva.

It’s not all you can do though. Make sure you’ve had a good conversation with your supervisors about your examiners. Get a sense of who they are and what they do if you don’t know already – and dig deeper by exploring their most recent publications. This can help you appreciate any particular areas of crossover or connection with your research.

Your examiners will be preparing to do their job well at your viva. You need to do the same. They have a responsibility and a role to play: you can be ready for them through rehearsal and preparation.

Nathan

A Rest Day

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At least, I hope today is a rest day for you! If not, I hope you’re able to rest soon.

I’ve written about rest so much that I thought today I would simply share all the posts I have on the topic: here!

Rest is an essential part of viva prep. Plan what you’re going to do and how you do it to give yourself plenty of space to rest well.

Nathan

Unspoken Rules

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“Everyone knows that about the viva!” – except when they don’t.

Regulations can be consulted but only show some of the picture of what to expect. Your department could have expectations that are assumed as common knowledge. There may even be expectations within your discipline that “everyone knows” about viva lengths, discussion focus and examiner selection.

Everyone knows what to expect – except when they don’t. If you don’t know what to expect or don’t know how something is supposed to be with your viva then find the right person to ask – and ask!

Then, whenever you can, share what you do know with others to help them on their journey to PhD success.

Nathan

Cramming Isn’t An Option

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There are lots of ways to prepare for your viva:

  • You could spread the work out over a month or schedule it within two weeks.
  • You could read your thesis in an afternoon or review a chapter per day for a week.
  • There’s a range of options for annotation, writing summaries and learning what to expect.
  • And you could, depending on mutual availability, have a mock viva anywhere from a few days to a few weeks before your viva.

Cramming, however, isn’t an option for viva prep. If you don’t plan your prep and leave it to the last minute – or try to overload your days – you will only add stress to your situation.

Stress won’t help.

Instead, plan your viva prep. Consider how you’re feeling, what you’re doing and how you like to work.

Make an honest plan not a hurried one. Ask for help when you need it and take your time to do the work – give yourself time to gently think, consider and reflect.

Cramming isn’t an option for viva preparation.

Nathan

Imagine Success

Daily Post

Success at your viva means satisfying your examiners and doing what you need to in the discussion. Maybe success still leads to corrections but it certainly leads to passing, the opportunity to graduate, celebration and being Doctor Somebody.

  • What would it take for you to succeed at your viva?
  • What might you have to do between now and then?
  • Who do you need help from?
  • What might you need to explore or check?
  • How might you have to change?

There might be time and work ahead of you before you reach that success. Remember though that that viva success does not solely rest on the actions ahead of you.

In fact if you’ve submitted your thesis or are working towards submitting soon then your future actions are only a small part of your success. Remember everything else you’ve done to get to this point.

 

PS: Looking for more helpful reflections and viva confidence-building? Then take a look at The Submission Issue, the latest Viva Survivors Select collection – twenty posts from the archive and two original pages of help for £3.

PPS: If you’re looking for even more help then check out the dates of my upcoming 7 Reasons You’ll Pass Your Viva live webinars in June and July. Booking for all of these opens on Tuesday and I’ll be sending an extra announcement then – but you can activate reminders on Eventbrite so you’re told as soon as registration opens!

Thanks for reading 🙂

Nathan

That One Question

Daily Post

It’s my belief that every candidate has one question that they know they don’t want to be asked.

  • “Why did you use the method you outlined in Chapter 4?”
  • “How would you summarise the limitations of the data you collected?
  • “How else could you approach the project you detail in Chapter 5?”

There may be other things candidates generally don’t want at the viva – unexpected questions they’ve never considered or going blank – but fairly high up the list is that one question that they are dreading being asked.

It’s entirely rational to not want the question. There’s no guarantee that someone will get the question they dread. As it’s probably going to be a distraction either way, if you know that one question you don’t want then it makes sense to find a way to prepare for it.

Unpack and unpick what it means. Make notes. Talk it over with someone. Find some helpful points that you could draw on if you are asked the question at your viva.

Give far more time to general preparations and rehearsal though: there’s a lot more to your viva than that one question you hope you’re not asked.

Nathan

Try Something

Daily Post

Viva prep shouldn’t be a terrible, all-consuming task. It shouldn’t require great changes to how you do things.

It might require that you try something different though.

You might need to try a different approach to your planning to make sure you have time to get things done. You might need to try annotation-making or summary-creating to help you focus differently. Or you might need to try something as you rehearse to give you a good process for responding to questions at the viva.

If you need to try something different during viva prep then there is time to do it. Don’t wait until your viva.

Nathan

Confidence Beats Comfort

Daily Post

There is something to be said for getting comfortable with the viva. You can find out what to expect, learn what happens and rehearse to feel alright being there.

Finding confidence for the viva helps even more. When you really reflect on what you did to get to this point you can appreciate that the challenge of the viva is well within your capability.

Knowing that 99.9% of people succeed at the viva might give you some comfort.

Knowing what you did to get this far will give you confidence.

Comfort will only take you so far – and confidence will help raise how comfortable you feel.

 

PS: There’s more ideas about building viva confidence and a lot more in The Submission Issue, the latest Viva Survivors Select collection – see last week’s news about the contents here!

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