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Tag: the PhD journey

Nathan

This Time Next Year

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The act of planning helps us to think: when change does come along there might be new work to do or challenges to overcome but we’ll be better placed for the planning.

If you’re working towards submission then plan for getting there. What milestones are along the way? How will you measure your success? And how will you remind yourself of your progress and what that means?

If your viva is in the near future then plan to be ready. What are the key tasks you have to do? How are you recording your progress? And how can you build up your confidence for the viva?

For both, what can you do to help when things change?

This time next year you might have submitted and had your viva – but what else will be different? What can you do today to help you be ready for the future that’s on the way?

Nathan

Lots Of Reasons

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There are lots of reasons why a PhD candidate might not get to submission.

When I did my PhD I knew someone who didn’t get on with their supervisor and he left, thankfully to do his PhD elsewhere. Sometimes a person’s funding isn’t secure and they aren’t able to continue. Sometimes people start a PhD and it’s only through doing the work that they realise it’s not what they want to do, so they stop.

For these and many more reasons, some people who start a PhD journey don’t work through to submission and the viva.

 

There are also lots of reasons why PhD candidates who get to submission go on to succeed at the viva.

They did the work. They have made a contribution to knowledge. They are knowledgeable. They are a capable researcher in their discipline. They learn what to expect from the viva process. They do the necessary work to get ready for their viva.

For these and many, many more reasons, PhD candidates who work to submission then go on to pass their viva.

Nathan

Getting The Platinum

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A little over a month back I got my 40th platinum trophy on my PlayStation account.

(please keep reading, I promise this is really related to the viva and getting ready!)

PlayStation games typically have trophies of various kinds: bronze, silver and gold. These might be awarded in parallel to progress through games for simple things like finishing a level or reaching a certain stage. Some, typically gold or silver, are awarded for doing difficult or time-consuming things in games.

A platinum trophy is then awarded for successfully obtaining all of the other trophies possible for the game. It’s common for a trophy list to include a variety of achievements: some linked to simple progress and others to more difficult or time-consuming aspects. Some involve incredible demonstrations of skill and dedication.

Typically you don’t need to collect the platinum to complete the game.

You don’t need the platinum to have enjoyed the game. The platinum is just another layer of self-imposed challenge. You don’t need to have done everything to succeed.

 

Which is how we get to vivas, viva prep and PhDs.

The thought of getting everything right, collecting all the results, reading all the papers, answering every question, getting no corrections and being finished in under 90 minutes can be really attractive to some candidates! This is the platinum trophy equivalent: I’ve got it all!

But you don’t need that. You don’t need that to succeed. You don’t need to focus that way to be ready.

You can do that if you want to but it’s most likely a distraction from being able to prepare well and engage well.

Nathan

Compromises, Choices, Reasons

Daily Post

I’ve very rarely met PhD candidates who describe their research journey as completely smooth.

I’ve also, thankfully, very rarely met candidates who say that it was a total nightmare!

Most PhD candidates made plans, worked hard and did enough.

Sometimes plans worked out well. Sometimes their plans had to change for reasons that were not obvious beforehand or circumstances that changed suddenly. Perhaps a candidate couldn’t do all of the research they wanted. Perhaps the questions or processes had to change. Perhaps they had to do something else entirely.

 

I’ve seen candidates approaching their viva worry because they frame changes or shifts as compromises. “I wanted X but I had to do Y.” “This could have been great but that wasn’t all it could have been.”

But compromises are still chosen and choices are made for reasons. Examiners might want to unpick circumstances and choices at the viva, so it helps to review those reasons as you get ready.

A better reason for reviewing your choices though is that they help you to remember that you did the work. You were not always in control of the situation but being a clever and capable researcher you made a reasoned choice.

Unpick the whys to help explain your PhD journey to your examiners.

Unpick the whys to help you explore your capability and build your confidence.

Nathan

Significant To Who?

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When thinking about your significant original contribution it’s natural to think about why something matters. The results and conclusions in your thesis have value and it’s right that someone – like your examiners – would want to explore that in your viva.

It makes sense to reflect on why your work matters and how you explain that as part of your viva prep. It’s also a good idea to think about who your work matters to as well.

For example, my thesis contained algorithms I’d developed for calculating certain properties of mathematical objects. That’s my simplest explanation without invoking fancy terms and funny symbols! This work mattered because these properties were typically very time-consuming for people to calculate. My algorithms had limits but they were very quick and easy to use.

That’s the why. The who, the people who would be interested, was a little more niche.

People interested in my work might be people who needed a tool. Or people who were looking to develop their own. Or even people looking for a little inspiration. But my work wasn’t for everyone.

Explore why your work matters as you get ready but remember to think about who it matters to as well.

Nathan

Eight Years

Daily Post

April 18th 2017: I published the first daily Viva Survivors post.

April 18th 2025: today!

What’s in-between? A lot of words.

 

It’s been one of the best decisions I’ve made to do this daily blog. It helps me to think through what I need to say at work, finds new ways of exploring the viva, unpack questions that people ask and also just help me think.

I’ve had almost 3000 attempts to say something helpful. I’ve been writing Viva Survivors for over twice the length of my PhD journey.

After eight years a few things occur to me:

  • Writing a daily blog isn’t a lot of work so much as it is a lot of practice.
  • Writing a daily blog is a great way to develop ideas.
  • Writing a daily blog is not a fool-proof plan for fame and fortune!

And writing a daily blog for eight years is a lot like a PhD in many ways: the amount of work required is enormous but spread out over a long period of time. It can be easy to tell yourself at the beginning that it’s impossible because the scale is vast – but it’s also easy to tell yourself at the end that you just kind of bumbled your way to success because you can’t remember so much of what you’ve done.

In both cases you can only do it by doing it. It only exists because someone did the work.

I’m very happy to be eight years in on this ongoing project and looking forward to many more. I hope the same is true for you dear reader, whoever you are and whatever your project.

Thanks for reading!

 

PS: On this eighth anniversary post I have to mention the first issue of Viva Survivors Select – my curated zine series drawing from the daily blog archive! Issue 01 shares twenty posts from 2017 on viva prep, confidence and the viva process. It feels great to start an exciting project like this but it’s made doubly exciting by doing it around the anniversary of the blog. Check out the issue here – and again, thank you for reading 🙂

Nathan

What Did You Improve?

Daily Post

There’s no one-size-fits-all way to define the value of a contribution to research. Expectations vary a lot between disciplines but perhaps one universal question could simply be “what did you improve?”

Do we know something new now? Do we know something more? What is clearer? What new questions do we know to explore?

A starting point to a response might be to reflect on the improvements in you: now more learned, more capable and more thoughtful.

 

PS: I share another helpful tool to help explore thesis contributions in the first issue of Viva Survivors Select – my curated zine drawing from the daily blog archive. As well as twenty posts from the past I share original writing, including a reflective summary process for breaking down thesis chapters. Check out the issue here.

Nathan

Why It Matters

Daily Post

Why does your research matter? If you can find a good way to explain that to others then you’ll start to feel ready for your viva.

Why does your PhD matter to you? If you can find a good way to explain that to yourself then you’ll start to feel motivated for your viva.

Nathan

The Tunnel To Submission

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I live in the north-west of England and a few times per month we have cause to travel through one of the Mersey tunnels.

It’s gloomy in there no matter the time of day: the rear lights of cars, the not-daylight of the tunnel lights and the monotonous blurring of the walls.

Then you hit the end. Daylight reaches in-

-and you have less than ten seconds to be sure of which way you’re going! There are two exits and you need to be sure because there’s no turning back!

Veer left or right? Towards the stadia or the city? There are two lanes and it helps to get into the correct one before you enter. That way you’re on track for the whole journey.

 

Which brings us to the PhD journey, submission, viva prep and the viva.

The final weeks and months before submission can be a bit like the Kingsway Tunnel. You’re going forwards but it’s all a blur. You have to focus to get through but if you’re not careful you can reach the other side and not know where you’re going next.

Plan ahead. Decide on your route to being ready for your viva. When you get to submission do you need to take a break or keep on? Will you take your time or power ahead? You can decide how you make your way to the viva.

Sketch out a plan for your viva prep and don’t be surprised when that time arrives.

Nathan

A Confidence Hint

Daily Post

“Confidence is not being strong; confidence is knowing your strengths.”

A webinar participant shared this observation with me a few months ago. There’s a lot of wisdom to it.

For the viva in particular, you don’t need to know everything. You can simply know that you are capable. You can simply reflect on what has brought you so far. You can simply know what you know.

Know your strengths and you’ll know that’s enough.

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