You Are Here

Tag: capable

Nathan

Reflecting On Capable

Daily Post

Some questions to consider as you get ready for your viva:

  • When did you know you had made a significant and original research contribution?
  • What’s the most interesting thing you know now that you didn’t know when you started your PhD?
  • How many references have you listed in your bibliography? (and how many more potential references did you read?)
  • What do you understand about your research area now that you had no idea about when you started?

A key part of the viva process is your internal and external examining your capability as a researcher. They need to get a sense that you are good. It helps to reflect on this in advance of your viva: it helps you prepare and builds your certainty that you are good.

Reflecting on your capability leads towards finding confidence for your viva.

 

PS: You’ll find more reflections in the latest issue of Viva Survivors Select. The 2025 Issue collects twenty of my favourite blog posts from last year and adds two new pages of viva help. Please take a look at the zine and some pages here – and pick it up if it seems helpful 🙂 Oh, and please spread the word if you can!

Nathan

Days Of Work

Daily Post

Between 700 and 800 days probably, if you’re a full time PhD candidate.

Seven to eight hundred days where you show up to do the work. Maybe some were really light on work but others were full dawn to dusk efforts.

Between seven and eight hundred days. Seven or eight hundred days of opportunities.

Probably not all of those 700 to 800 days were good. I’m sure they weren’t all bad either.

700-800 days of learning. 700-800 days of trying things. 700-800 days of moving your research forwards. 700-800 days of becoming a capable researcher.

Between 700 and 800 days of work. That’s what helps you be ready to succeed at your viva.

Nathan

The Firsts

Daily Post

There are a lot of firsts on your PhD journey.

What was the first day of your PhD like? How far have you come since then?

What was the first paper you read? How did it help?

When did you find an answer to the first question you raised? How many more have you found since then?

What was the first step towards the first big result you got? And what was the first big result?

When did you finish your first draft? How did you improve upon it?

After submission you’ll find your first typo, take your first step to being ready, have your first moment of nervousness at the thought of your viva and eventually face the first question at your viva.

There are a lot of firsts on your PhD journey. Don’t forget them – and don’t forget how much more you have done.

Nathan

Talent & Work & Time

Daily Post

Talent, work and time are three related things that help a PhD candidate get to their viva – and help them get through their viva.

You need all three and each of them needs the others.

  • Your talent, by which we mean your capability as a researcher, rests on being developed through your work over a long period of time.
  • The work you do requires ability and a good amount of time for it to be done and to mean something.
  • The time for your PhD journey is necessitated by the work you do and the effort and talent you bring to it.

All three of these are wrapped up in you, your research and your PhD journey. All three of these are behind you, supporting you as you work towards being ready for your viva and then help your success at your viva.

You took the time. You did the work. You have the talent.

That’s how you got this far and it’s how you will succeed at your viva.

 

PS: I’ll be exploring viva confidence, which is what today’s post is all about, at my Viva Survivor webinar on Wednesday 3rd December 2025. I’ve shared Viva Survivor more than 400 times. It is my comprehensive live session on getting ready for the viva covering expectations, viva prep, examiners and more. Check the link for full details of what to expect from the webinar!

Nathan

Know Your Whys

Daily Post

Why did you want to do a PhD?

Why was your research worth pursuing?

Why do you believe your methods are sound?

Why did you keep going when you faced obstacles and setbacks?

Why does your thesis have a significant and original contribution to knowledge?

Why do you feel capable as a researcher in your field?

 

When you know your whys you have a foundation to respond to most questions at your viva.

Nathan

The Starting Point

Daily Post

The most important thing you can remember about the start of your PhD journey is that you are a long, long way from it.

This is more important than remembering your first meeting, the first paper you read or even why you wanted to pursue a PhD!

 

You have done more. You know more. You can do more.

You are more knowledgable, more capable and far better at what you do.

Remember that whatever else has happened in your PhD you have come a long way. You have not got this far through luck. You got here because you are good at what you do. You can build on that foundation to be ready for your viva.

Nathan

Push & Pull

Daily Post

Your success is partly the result of many actions that push your work forward and create your thesis contribution.

Your examiners will want to know all about this at your viva: the story of your research, the actions that got it done and the result now that your thesis is finished.

The actions that push your work forward also pull you along. Through the process you learn, understand more and become a capable researcher.

Your examiners will want to know all about this at your viva as well: what you know, what you can do, how you think and more.

Remember in viva prep to reflect on and review both your thesis and yourself.

Nathan

What You Learned

Daily Post

You invested years of work. Read countless papers. Many months following the practical steps necessary in your discipline.

Was it experiments, interviews, reading, modelling or something else for you? Whatever it was, you did it.

What you learned matters.

You need to have a thesis to pass your PhD but that book is only an expression of the learning and development that rests in you. What you learned shows your capability. Being able to talk about what you learned, what you know and what you can do matters. You need to be able to communicate this to your examiners.

And even more importantly: understanding just how much you’ve learned and grown can be a huge boost to your confidence as you get ready for your viva.

So, what have you learned?

 

PS: Need more viva help? Check out the latest issue of Viva Survivors Select: The Focus Issue explores writing summaries as part of viva prep to focus your thinking and highlight what matters most.

Nathan

Routes To Confidence

Daily Post

Confidence comes from lots of places. The confidence you want for your viva could be found in many things.

You can feel confident if you feel capable. Your talents can help you to see you can manage this challenge.

You can feel confident if you’re calm. Putting problems and stress to one side can help you find self-confidence for the viva.

You can feel confident if you reflect over your PhD journey. You have got as far as you have by doing well, by making something that matters.

You might not be able to do all of these to the full extent you would like. Doubt, time and other pressures might get in the way. Make an effort with any of the steps above and however far you get will prompt greater confidence for your viva day.

There isn’t one way to viva confidence. Find a route that works for you. Don’t hope you’ll feel good – work your way to feeling good.

Nathan

By Now…

Daily Post

… you must be good at what you do or you wouldn’t still be doing it. You are not the person you were when you started your PhD. The things you have learned and done over the past few years put you in a good position for meeting the challenge of your viva.

It might be that you have weeks or months to go until your viva, or maybe even more, but you have time to get ready. The stage you’re at right now is a good foundation to build on. By now must recognise that you’ve made a contribution. There might be more to say or other things to do, but you can’t do everything.

Your examiners are expecting to see a good contribution made by a capable candidate. It’s helpful, to begin with, if that’s what you can see in yourself and your work.

1 2 3