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Tag: needs and preferences

Nathan

The Ideals

Daily Post

What’s the ideal time for you to do viva prep?

Who are your ideal examiners?

What’s the ideal date and time for your viva?

What would be your ideal opening question?

These questions and others can be interesting to reflect on but take care. Thinking about ideal situations, questions and people bring together needs and preferences under one grouping and they are quite different.

  • You could prefer Dr A over Professor B for your external examiner but you won’t need one or the other.
  • You might need a specific date or location for your viva due to your circumstances.
  • You might prefer your examiners to ask about a specific topic to start the viva but you need to understand that they’ll follow their experience and plans.
  • You could need certain requirements to help you have a fair and accessible viva – it’s not what you prefer but what you must have.

When you recognise a need or preference you might have work to do. If the ideal examiner will help you feel better then you can communicate that to your supervisors and see who they ultimately select. If they’re not available then you have to work to feel better about whoever is appointed.

If the ideal viva situation means you can have a fair viva then you need to make sure that the right people know about your needs. Who do you contact? What do you do?

 

PS: I’ll be talking about all of these topics and more at my live 3-hour Viva Survivor webinar on Wednesday 25th March 2026. You’ll also get four-week access to a recording of the session and follow-up materials too. There’s more information at the link but please get in touch if you have any questions or want to know more. Thanks for reading!

Nathan

Share What You Need

Daily Post

There are institutional regulations and general expectations that underpin what might happen at a viva – and yet so much of what happens in every viva is unique.

One aspect of this is simply a person’s situation and needs. Nevermind that every thesis and the research is unique – every candidate has their own preferences, requirements and situation. You might like to do things a certain way or want things to happen in a certain way at your viva.

 

In some cases you might need particular support to help you get ready or to help your viva be a fair and accessible experience for you. Your institution’s regulations will show you what you need to do if that’s the case; universities have got a lot better at listening to their PhD candidates who need support in the last decade but none are perfect at following processes. If you have needs for your viva then you might have to follow up and make sure that the right people know the right information.

For more general needs talk to your allies. Ask for practical support from your supervisors, friends and family. Reach out to your graduate school or doctoral college to see what help they offer people getting ready for their viva.

Support isn’t just for the viva itself. Think about what you need from others to help you get ready.

Nathan

The Good Viva

Daily Post

How do you have a good viva?

That’s a hard question to answer. What counts as good is going to vary depending on what you think, feel and know about vivas. It also depends on what you really want from your viva. If you are trying to get through your PhD and want the viva to be an exam and done then you’ll have a different set of criteria than if you are looking for a rewarding conversation with your examiners.

So on one level it’s hard to say how someone has a good viva when they can have different expectations or desires.

On another level it’s quite straightforward:

  • Do the work;
  • Write the best thesis you can;
  • Read the regulations;
  • Find out what to expect;
  • Do the necessary prep;
  • Show up to do the work on the day.

And that’s how you have a good viva. You do the work and keep doing the work. If you have other criteria that are bound up in your viva being good then you can probably work out steps that will help you get closer to that too.

 

PS: Want to explore having a good viva in more depth? Then check out the details of my Viva Survivor webinar which is running on Wednesday 3rd December 2025. I’ve shared this session more than 400 times and it is my comprehensive live session on getting ready for the viva. Check the link for full details of what to expect!

Nathan

Needs & Preferences

Daily Post

There’s a difference between needs and preferences.

Both can have a great impact on how you feel about and approach your viva.

 

If you need something for your viva – from regular breaks, examiners to wear microphones or anything else – then you need it. That shouldn’t be up for debate with anyone else; the best thing to do is make sure the appropriate people in your department, doctoral college or graduate school know and know what to do for your viva.

A need is something you absolutely have to have. A preference is something that would be helpful. You might prefer if your examiner was someone you’d cited. You might prefer to have your viva in-person or over Zoom. You might prefer to have your viva sooner rather than later. But if that preference isn’t met an alternative way can be found.

 

Whenever something feels like a need or a preference for your viva, unless it’s unambiguous, reflect again and just be clear for yourself.

Is it a need? Is it a preference?

And whichever it is you have two questions to respond to: Do you need help from someone? What do you need to do next?