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Nathan

Vivas Have Structure

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Every building has multiple blueprints or plans. On one plan are the walls, but another diagram shows where pipes and cables go.

If you compare building plans for different buildings you’ll notice similarities and differences, but look closer and you’ll see common structures.

Certainties for what you would find.

 

Vivas are based on regulations, expectations and norms.

  • Universities set thesis examination regulations.
  • Expectations rise from the general stories in academic culture.
  • Your department finds norms, the “good practice” ways of the viva.

All three give the viva structure. Every viva is unique because every thesis and candidate are unique but vivas tend towards patterns of experience.

You can make predictions and have expectations of what your viva will be like. You’ll have to wait until viva day to know exactly what it’s like.

Every viva is unique – but that doesn’t make yours a big unknown.

Nathan

Surprising Questions From Candidates

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I’m enjoying a nice summer break, but while I do I am missing sharing viva help in webinars. Before 2020 I’d already delivered viva sessions and workshops for a decade.

With all of that combined experience – as you might imagine – I’ve been asked a LOT of questions about the viva. From the hyper-specific to the incredibly-vague and the super-practical to the ultra-hypothetical, thirteen years later I’m still asked questions that I’ve never been asked before.

And I’ve been asked more than a few questions that really surprise me. For example:

  • Can I have a break if the viva is long? Yes, in fact you can always have a break!
  • Can I take my thesis with me to check details? Yes, you’re expected to have it with you!
  • Will I know who my examiners are before my viva? Yes, this is arranged well before the date!
  • Will my examiners fail me if I forget something or don’t know something? No!
  • How mean will my examiners be? They won’t be, that’s not what they’re there to do!

Sometimes, when I’m asked a question, the person apologises, “Sorry, this might be a stupid question-” and I always cut them off. There are no stupid questions when you’re looking for information or trying to learn more, particularly at a webinar about the PhD viva.

There are no stupid questions, but there are questions that are surprising to me.

I’m surprised that some of what people don’t know about the viva isn’t just shared by supervisors. I’m surprised it’s not passed on through peer groups. I’m surprised that candidates don’t know that they can have a break, for example, or that examiners aren’t trying to be mean.

But they’re not stupid questions. I’m always glad to make a space that could help.

I would encourage you, to help your communities and culture, do pass on what your viva was like. Share to help build up the general sense of what to expect.

Nathan

Examiners’ Choice

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Candidates don’t choose examiners. For all the good ideas you might have about this person or that person to examine your thesis and you in the viva, you don’t choose them outright.

Your supervisors choose your examiners. They might ask you for your ideas and they might respond positively to your suggestions but they don’t have to. They are responsible for nominating the academics who will examine you.

Your university has to approve the nominations. They have to check the details of who your supervisor selects to check they are suitable. There are criteria that examiners have to satisfy.

And after all of this two people have to say yes.

They can say no if they’re busy. They can say no if, for whatever reason, they feel it doesn’t seem like a good fit for them to be your examiner. They don’t say yes to tick a box. They don’t say yes because they know your supervisor.

When your examiners are confirmed then you can prepare. You can make a choice at that stage to be ready to talk to them at your viva.

That’s the choice you make.

Nathan

Always Check The Rules

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A simple plea for a Saturday: always, always read the regulations for thesis examination at your institution. Read the rules for the viva at your university.

They might be a little dull in places, but you will get confirmation about who does what, when you find things out and see estimates on how long things like the submission period will take.

There may even be things you don’t expect: a candidate told me recently that they had to take proof of their identity to their viva!

Always check the rules. It won’t take much to find them and won’t take long to read them.

Nathan

Map, Compass, Landmarks

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A map can show you all of an area, but to use it well you need either a compass or to have sight of some landmarks. The map won’t show every detail, but can show things that you can’t otherwise see. A compass helps to give you a direction to follow. Landmarks are useful to highlight your position.

This situation is, in some ways, similar to how someone can get a feel for what the viva is like.

The regulations for your university show a lot, but to really get a sense of what they mean in practice you need to find out about the general experiences of PhD candidates – or find out more specifically about vivas in your department. Regulations describe the big picture. Viva stories can help you to understand what to expect – and knowing about vivas in your department can help you see the hyperlocal practice where you are.

Regulations help you to map out the way things are supposed to be. Viva stories give you a direction to follow. Stories from your department give you the landmarks to know exactly where you are.

Nathan

Unfair?

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Is the viva unfair?

It might help if you knew what your examiners thought about your thesis before the viva.

You could benefit by knowing what questions would be asked, or how long it was going to take.

You might feel there are certain things you would want to control about the situation.

Or perhaps you really wish that during your research more stuff had happened the way it was supposed to.

Even taking all of that into account the viva is pretty fair.

You get several years to do the work and one opportunity to have a conversation with your examiners. The process isn’t hidden. There are regulations for your institution and expectations more generally: if you don’t know, you can find out. There are kinds of work that help someone get ready, and they’re not too onerous: if you don’t know, you can find out and then get ready. If you need more support for any reason then it will be there. The viva is a challenge. It could be difficult – in a way it’s supposed to be.

But it’s also fair.

Nathan

Familiar Faces

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There are many qualities you might look for in examiners – their expertise, their reputation, their experience – but simply knowing that they are a real person (not just a name on a journal article) can be comforting when it comes to your viva.

If you can, try to make sure that your examiners are familiar to you. Aim for your internal to be someone you know from your department. Suggest that your external be someone you know from conferences.

The absence of strangers could help your viva feel less strange.

Nathan

Unique, Not Unknown

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Your viva, in a nutshell.

A unique exam, arising in response to a unique thesis, written by a unique candidate. There has never been a viva the same as yours before; there will never be another the same again.

But there are regulations: the rules that frame how vivas have to happen. There are academic practices: ideas from research culture about what makes a viva good. There are expectations: built up from all of the stories of past candidates, relatively probable situations, structure and outcomes for the viva.

Your viva will be unique, but not totally unknown, not totally unexpected. You can never have total certainty for it, but the more light you can shine on the probable circumstances the better you will feel for your once-in-forever experience.

Nathan

Remote Chances

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Most vivas go well, but there’s always a chance that something could go wrong a little. With the move towards remote vivas, over Skype or Zoom, there’s that little extra room for doubt and worry that something might go wrong. Video vivas were less common, until now, and so there aren’t as many easy answers for what to do or how to solve something.

In the absence of general advice, whatever the worry or potential problem, there’s three questions that come to my mind:

  1. How can I reduce the likelihood or the impact? You might not be able to avoid something, but you could soften it somehow.
  2. What is Plan B? Say the tech fails, what could you have on standby? What’s your backup?
  3. Who could help? In the viva the answer might be no-one – and knowing that helps because you know you have to get it done. Before the viva there are lots of people who can help you – you have to think about who might be best to ask.

The chances of something going wrong are slim. A little bit of constructive thought, just in case, won’t hurt your preparation or confidence.

Nathan

Check The Regulations

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Three words that need to be on every candidate’s to-do list for the viva.

The Regulations page I put together – a list of every uni in the UK’s thesis examination regulations – might be a good starting point for some. Given the changes brought on in the last five or six weeks, it’s worth digging deeper with your institution. Check to see if there is anything substantially different. I don’t imagine there will be: the purpose of the viva hasn’t changed, it’s only the medium that’s altered.

There may be constraints that a remote viva forces or suggests, but you know why you’re there and what your examiners have to do. Check the regulations to see if there are any particular conditions that have to be met to satisfy your institution. Ask friends and colleagues about their experiences for a better idea of what to expect.

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