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Nathan

Non-PhD Vivas

Daily Post

A PhD isn’t the only research degree that has a viva.

The vast majority of PGRs I meet at webinars are PhD candidates but in the last six months I’ve also shared viva help with MPhil candidates, MScR candidates – and a couple of MRes researchers too.

Over the years I’ve also had professional doctorate candidates reach out to me, EngD researchers and more. There are many flavours of PGR that have a viva!

 

A natural question for non-PhD PGRs is “how will my viva be different?”

Let’s start with how they’re the same:

  • Vivas for research degrees have the same purpose. Your examiners are exploring the contribution you’ve made and how capable you are as a researcher.
  • Vivas for research degrees require the same kind of preparation. You need to take time to read, to think and to rehearse – and you need a plan that works well for you.
  • Vivas for research degrees follow regulations. There are ways of doing things and you can learn all about it in advance.
  • Vivas for research degrees always have a little of the unknown about them. There are expectations but you can’t know everything until you’re in your viva.

To explore the differences it’s good to start with regulations for your university. See what they say about your institutional expectations and requirements. Then talk with other people who have been in your situation to get a sense of what that was like.

Viva prep is the same kind of work whether you have done a PhD or, say, an MPhil. You’ll probably do less prep work for an MPhil viva because there is typically less material to read and prepare for. The kind of work is the same and the importance is the same but it might not take as long. The same could be true for your viva too.

 

Whatever your research degree, know that your examiners are prepared. Know that the purpose is the same. Know that you can be prepared and remember that you did the work.

It helps to explore expectations for your viva, whatever your degree, but it helps more to know that you are ready for it whatever happens.

Nathan

Not A PhD

Daily Post

For over a decade Viva Survivors has been geared towards the PhD viva and helping people get ready, but PhD candidates aren’t the only postgraduate researchers who have a viva.

What if you’re doing an EngD or an EdD? Or an MPhil? Or an MScR? Or you’re researching towards another collection of letters?

How do the hundreds of thousands of words on Viva Survivors (and the resources, and the podcast archive) apply when you’re not doing a PhD viva? What changes? What stays the same?

I don’t know – or at least, I don’t know everything.

 

The basic principles of viva prep hold. The ideas of getting ready and building confidence based on your success and development hold.

But the regulations will differ, at least a little. Viva expectations might differ because the general experience of an MScR viva, for example, might not be quite the same as a PhD viva.

But still there is help out there and on Viva Survivors.

Whatever your research degree, read the regulations for your institution. Whatever you’re working towards, talk to people who have gone on the journey before you and ask them questions about what their viva was like. Take time to think about what you need to do to prepare, plan your prep and then get it done.

Whatever you do, ask for help. Whatever you do, take time to get ready. Whatever you do, share what’s helped with others when you’re done.

Then go on and do something even better, because your research degree is only one step in the journey.

Nathan

Nice, But Not Necessary

Daily Post

As you finish up your thesis, take twenty minutes to make a list of all the things that didn’t quite make it.

  • What did you not have time for?
  • What did you not have enough resources to do?
  • What didn’t come together in your thinking?
  • What did you realise too late to do anything about?
  • What would you have changed if possible?

Label the list Nice, But Not Necessary. Add anything else you had thought to do, thought was a good idea, but which you didn’t get to. It can help you to think around your thesis, different approaches, tangents that would be good to explore, ideas that could have merit.

Interesting stuff, but not essential.

Keep the list, but know you don’t need to focus on what-might-have-been. Your thesis, the necessary, the essential, is good enough.

Nathan

Learning From Mistakes

Daily Post

Nevermind typos in my final thesis, I made far bigger mistakes throughout my PhD research…

  • I spent days trying to solve a typesetting issue, before realising I was making a simple code error.
  • I tried for weeks to organise a set of numbers before realising that I was really overcomplicating the situation.
  • And I worked for months trying to solve a series of calculations before admitting that the problem was way too complex for my PhD.

In all of these I struggled, I was frustrated and at times I was bitterly disappointed – but I learned.

I learned how to be a better coder. I learned to see problems in new ways. I learned to stop and say no.

Where did you make mistakes during your PhD? What did you learn? And how has that made you a better, more talented researcher?

Nathan

Your Questions

Daily Post

Your thesis has answers and ideas, but what were the questions that lead to them? And where did those questions come from?

You’ll spend plenty of time in preparation for the viva reflecting on the whats and the hows of your research. Don’t forget to explore the whys too.

Questions don’t just appear out of thin air. Where did yours come from?

Nathan

Limits

Daily Post

A PhD is all about limits.

  • There’s a limit to how much you could do.
  • There’s a limit to how many questions you could ask and answer.
  • There’s a limit to how many papers you could read.
  • There’s a limit to how long you can spend writing your thesis.
  • There’s a limit to how much time you can invest in preparing for your viva.

You can’t do everything you want. There will always be other things you could do.

You have a choice. You can focus on everything that didn’t happen; you can try to speculate and account for all of the maybes and possibles…

…or you could focus on your limits and where they’ve lead you.

You’ve got this far through your research journey by having limits. Keep going.

Nathan

The Extra Mile

Daily Post

During my PhD I didn’t have to extend my algorithm to consider the HOMFLY polynomial…

…but I thought it was more useful than just writing it was possible in a discussion section.

I didn’t have to produce tables of plait presentations in my thesis…

…but I knew that no-one else had done it before and thought it might be helpful to someone.

When have you gone the extra mile in your PhD? When have you done something, big or small, that maybe wasn’t essential but which helped?

Make a list of what and why. Don’t play them down. They can show others your drive to do something valuable for your field.

Nathan

Hiatus

Update

What happened?

It’s been some time since I’ve posted a new episode, and I’m sorry to say that there might not be another before the end of 2016. Episode 63 came out a few days before we went on a family holiday. When we came back we had the convergence of a busy work period and our daughter started nursery, which has added a new adjustment to the flow of our daily lives here at Casa Ryder.

It dawned on me recently that I had forgotten to follow up with a few people who had volunteered to come on the podcast – and then it dawned on me that I had forgotten to even promote the podcast through the Twitter feed. Recently, I’ve been working on a few new projects and a few old ideas, and the podcast has slipped through the cracks as a result.

So what now?

  • I need to spend time to shake up the design of the site and get the Other Resources page up to date;
  • I need to follow up with people who have volunteered to come on the podcast and share their experiences;
  • I need to book a window in my diary to start a new research project and I want to ask both for your help to promote it, and for question ideas;
  • And I need to do another Q&A episode, because I enjoyed the challenge of making the first one.

If I spend a bit of time now and think it through, make a proper plan, then I can get 2017 off to a good start!

In the mean time…

…if you’ve been in touch before about coming on the podcast, expect an email in the near future. If you’d like to come on and share your research and viva experiences, then please get in touch. If you’re looking for viva experiences from a wide range of PhD graduates then check out the Archive. And if you’re looking for a bit of extra support then check out my ebooks and print offerings – including the ultra-concentrated Viva Prep Handbook!

Thanks for reading, thanks for your support and thanks for listening to the podcast.

Nathan (@DrRyder and @VivaSurvivors)

Nathan

Viva Survivor Workshop Update 1!

Update

A week ago I announced my viva preparation workshop, Viva Survivor, which is taking place on June 29th in Manchester. I’ve been delivering these workshops in universities for six years, but this is the first time that I’ll be offering it directly to PhD candidates – and I want to make it extra special for people who are coming. Over the next four weeks I’ll be blogging here and over on my work blog about the behind the scenes things as I prepare for this workshop; this is my first update over here, so let’s recap:

I’m writing a blog post soon for my main work blog about books, but here is a sneak peek: I’ve created a paperback print run for my first book Fail Your Viva!

PrintRun1

Participants at the workshop will receive a copy as part of their participant pack, and I made a print run of 100 copies to be able to offer the book directly. I’ve created a books page where you can order them from me, and have a stack of padded envelopes ready and waiting to send them on their way. I love reading books on my Kindle, but there’s something awesome about a print book. If print is more your thing, then maybe this is what you’ve been looking for! Check here for more details.

I have some more great things to share about the workshop over the coming weeks – and plus next week the podcast is four years old, so I’ll do something fun over the week to celebrate that 🙂

Thanks for reading – check out the Eventbrite page for more details, and if you know someone who might be interested then feel free to share this with them!

Nathan (@DrRyder and @VivaSurvivors)

Nathan

Q&A Episode Coming Soon

Episode, Update

Hello!

One of the few podcasts I regularly listen to is the Tim Ferriss Show: I highly recommend it, Tim interviews people about how they manage to be excellent in their fields. It’s a wild ride sometimes, and he has a huge variety of people on his show. I don’t think that the Viva Survivors Podcast is a “wild ride” but I think it’s great that there is such a variety of PhD graduates who come on here to share their experiences.

A few times now, Tim has had special Q&A episodes and listeners ask him all kinds of things – anything and everything really. It struck me a month or so ago that this might be a useful thing to do on Viva Survivors, at least every now and then. I used the poll function on Twitter to see if this was interesting to followers, and got a couple of positive votes, and also heard from several friends to say that this was a neat idea.

So let’s do it!

(more…)

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