You Are Here

Tag: the PhD journey

Nathan

All The Opportunities

Daily Post

A PhD journey is not successful because you do everything perfectly first time or achieve 100% of your goals. You find success because you make enough of all the opportunities that you have found and made for yourself along the way.

You made the most of what you could and were able to do something with it. You didn’t find the answer for everything but you found enough somethings that you made something that mattered.

The goal isn’t that different for your viva. You don’t need to get 100% or avoid too many wrong answers. Instead you need to make the most of all of the opportunities you’ll find there. Every question or comment from your examiners is an opportunity and invitation to say more and do more – to show more of what you did, who you are and what you can do.

An I don’t know or I forget is a small thing. It won’t lead you away from success. Make the most of the opportunities you find at your viva and you’ll be fine.

Nathan

Different Ways

Daily Post

As you prepare for your viva it might be helpful to consider the alternatives you didn’t choose.

  • Were there other papers you could have cited?
  • Are there other possible methods to the process you selected?
  • Can there be other explanations for what you’ve presented in your thesis?

When you find something that could be different then unpick the situation to help you explain it to your examiners. Ultimately you made a choice so you have to explain why you made it.

  • Were there alternatives? If so, why did you choose this?
  • If there were no alternatives at the time what made you realise the possibility later?
  • If you would keep your choice, why? If you would change your choice, why?
  • What did you learn through the process?

It’s uncommon for there to be only one way to do something during a PhD (although it can be that different ways arrive at the same ultimate outcome or result).

If there was another way then reflect, understand why and consider how you could explain the situation to your examiners.

 

PS: I’ll be talking about viva prep, viva expectations, examiners and lots more at my live 3-hour Viva Survivor webinar on Wednesday 25th March 2026. Attendees get four-week access to a recording of the session and follow-up materials too. More details at the link – and you can save £10 on registration with code VSMARCH2026 before midnight tonight. Thanks for reading!

Nathan

Yesterday

Daily Post

Yesterday was a great day to reflect on your PhD journey so far.

Yesterday was a good time to consider how you’ve got as far as you have.

Yesterday was a good day to reflect, remember and build your confidence for your viva.

Today is the next best opportunity.

Nathan

Achievements

Daily Post

Think back over the course of your PhD so far and list five big achievements.

  • How did they happen?
  • What did you do?
  • Why do they stand out to you so much?
  • And what did those achievements allow you to do next?

Remember that all of your achievements are yours. You did the work.

You can’t be certain about the questions you’ll face at your viva or your examiners’ opinions but you can be certain of the work you have invested and what you’ve achieved.

 

PS: I’ll dig into more confidence-building viva prep at my live 3-hour Viva Survivor webinar on Wednesday 25th March 2026. Attendees get four-week access to a recording of the session and follow-up materials too. More details at the link – and you can save £10 on registration with code VSMARCH2026 before Sunday 8th February 2026. Thanks for reading!

Nathan

It’s Not The End

Daily Post

It’s really, really helpful to have the proper perspective for your viva.

The viva is a challenge. It’s not the biggest challenge, the nastiest challenge or the hardest challenge of your PhD.

Your viva is not the end of the world – it’s not even the end of your PhD journey.

You’ve come a long way to get to this point. You’ve overcome many challenges and many of them are bigger challenges! The viva is one more challenge.

It’s not trivial. It’s only one more challenge for someone who is experienced at dealing with challenges.

You’ve come a long way. Remember how you got this far as you approach the end of your PhD journey.

Nathan

Cut

Daily Post

What did you leave out of your thesis?

You can’t have included everything you did over the last few years. You read papers that aren’t listed, had ideas you didn’t follow, worked on projects that ultimately aren’t written about and probably even developed results that you’re not sharing.

Part of the work of writing a thesis is curation: you did a lot but only present the material you think is necessary. For your viva do a little work to remember why. Reflect on what you cut and remember why you didn’t include it.

More importantly, remember what you left in and why. All of the references you’ve included and their impact, all of the ideas and their value, all off the projects and their outcomes – and all of the results and their meaning.

You made a contribution by deciding what really matters.

 

PS: you’ll find more helpful reflections in Viva Survivors Select Volume 1 – my complete collection of helpful viva zines that I made in 2025. Volume 1 is eight issues containing 165 curated posts from the archives along with a lot of new resources to help with viva prep. Check out the introductory offer price available until 31st January 2026.

Nathan

Fair

Daily Post

What’s fair or unfair at your viva?

  • Is it fair to be asked questions at your viva that you’re not expecting?
  • Is it fair if your external examiner does something different to you?
  • Is it fair if your internal examiner was the only person available?
  • And is it fair if either of them expresses a different perspective to some part of your research?

What’s fair or unfair at your viva? And is “fairness” a useful thing to focus on?

Worrying about what questions might come up or whether your examiner is the best choice is at best a distraction. Instead, bring your focus on to what you can do and what you did.

Is it fair that your examiners have to examine you after a short amount of preparation compared to your years of work?

Nathan

The Vines

Daily Post

Imagine all of the preparations and planning for a big presentation to be like a jungle canopy full of vines. As you present your talk you are Tarzan or a video game character racing through: swinging from tree to tree and whenever you leap or reach out there is another vine to grab and swing you forwards.

With sufficient prep and planning you can’t get lost or go wrong. You can find key messages and ideas that stand out to you. There is always something to reach for. There are alternate routes and shortcuts you can take if you need to.

I’ve shared over 500 viva sessions now, both in seminar rooms and over Zoom; I’m not perfect but I’m pretty certain when I come to present. If someone asks a question then I have a vine to reach for. If there’s a technical issue then I can find a way to get back on track by reaching out for something else.

I have a plan. I have notes. I have slides. I have practice and rehearsal and more. These are my vines. I can reach out when I need to and be back in motion.

 

The jungle vines are a nice metaphor for a presentation or workshop, but they work well for being ready for the viva too. The years of work creates vines for you to reach for when you meet your examiners, but so does all of your viva prep:

  • Writing summaries creates vines.
  • Reading your thesis creates vines.
  • Annotating your thesis creates vines.
  • Talking about your work creates vines.
  • Having a mock viva creates vines!

Prepare and rehearse well for your viva. Remember the years of work you’ve invested. Then whatever direction the discussion takes you in your viva you will always have vines to reach for to help you respond to your examiners.

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

Conditions

Daily Post

What conditions can you create to support your viva preparations? Think about how you can plan your prep and get support from others.

What conditions can you find that will help your confidence grow? Reflect on your PhD experiences and what your development and work means.

What conditions do you need for your viva to be a fair examination? Be sure to inform your graduate school or doctoral college if you have accessibility requirements that must be in place.

 

What do the conditions and circumstances of your PhD journey – your growth, knowledge, talent, learning and work – mean for life after the PhD?

1 2 3 … 45