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Nathan

Questions About Examiners

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If you have questions about your viva examiners there are lots of places to find answers.

  • Consult regulations to get a real sense of what they do and how they do it.
  • Explore viva stories to get a feel for how examiners examine.
  • Ask your supervisors about your potential examiners…
  • …and ask them again when your examiners are confirmed.
  • Check your examiners’ recent publications to find out more about what they do.
  • Find their staff pages to explore their interests.
  • Talk with friends and colleagues who might know about them.

Whatever your questions about your examiners there will be a way to find out more. If you’re worried for some reason there is always a way to do something to help move past your concern.

Nathan

Their Focus

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The two academics who examine you and your thesis at the viva are first of all focussed on doing the job well. They are taking on the responsibility of being examiners and do it carefully.

Your examiners, internal and external, are focussed on exploring your contribution, discussing your PhD experience and examining your capability as a researcher. While they have a big picture focus they have their own work and ideas as well. Taking a little time to understand what they do as researchers can help you to think about how they read your thesis and what they might want to talk about, what they will understand and so on.

 

One more way to grasp their focus is to remind yourself of your focus. Whatever you did during your PhD and whatever you’ve presented in your thesis is the focus of the viva.

Nathan

Different Words

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The viva is a purposeful discussion or series of them: sparked by your thesis, made deeper by your contributions and aimed at providing enough evidence for your examiners to confirm that you’ve earned your PhD status.

What you and your examiners say helps to move the conversation along. Of course, different prompts and different responses mean different things.

A question has a different impact than a statement. An answer means something different to an opinion. A big general question is different to a finely-focussed small question about page 72. Saying “I don’t know” means something different to a three-minute monologue about something you do know.

Different does not mean better or worse. It’s just different.

Whatever your words, be clear. Be thoughtful. Take your time. Check the details.

Nathan

Qualified

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Three qualified people is what you have, at a minimum, at your viva.

Every viva in the UK has one candidate and at least two examiners.

The latter are qualified because of how they are selected. They need to meet criteria, such as having a doctorate, experience and training. There will be a specific reason why they were asked to be your examiners rather than someone else.

You are qualified because you did the work. You invested the hours. You made something. So you’re capable now and qualified to be at your viva.

 

Remember: qualified is not a synonym for perfect. No-one at your viva is perfect or is expected to be perfect. You’re all just continuing to demonstrate your best and most capable selves.

Nathan

Learn About Examiners

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An effective strategy for feeling better about the viva is to take steps to know more about the academics examining you.

  • Ask your supervisor about them. Find out why they are good choices for your viva.
  • Research their recent publications. Find out more about their specific research interests.
  • Search on YouTube to see if there are recordings of their conference talks. This can help remind you that they are real people!

It will also help to read the regulations and remind yourself what your examiners are there to do. They have training to be examiners and they want to do the job well. They’re there to examine, not tear your work apart or break you down. They’re focussed on finding the good, not amplifying the bad.

Find out a little more about them and you can encourage yourself towards a good viva.

 

Many thanks to Sarah F from Bristol who shared the idea of searching YouTube for conference videos at a recent webinar!

Nathan

Common Ground

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A small part of viva prep is making sure that you know who your examiners are and what they do.

This does not mean that you need to become an expert in everything they do. As part of viva prep, unless you really know a lot about their work already, take time to read their most recent papers. Look for recurring ideas, themes, questions and methods. Look at their staff pages for their research interests.

Try to explore the common ground that your research shares. Look for the connections between what you do and how you do what you do. If you need to, take a little time to understand any differences between your research.

Again: a small part of viva prep is knowing who your examiners are and what they do. It helps, but make sure you spend your time well.

Nathan

The Unknown External

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If your external isn’t known to you – and there are lots of reasons why might this be the case, as well as lots of degrees to which this might feel true – then the best thing you can do is find out more.

  • Ask your supervisor about them.
  • Ask anyone in your network about them.
  • Check your memory to see if you’ve met or seen them at a conference and you’ve just forgotten.

And of course, more than anything, read their most recent work.

 

It helps to know your external a little but it’s much more helpful to know about what they do: their knowledge, biases and research will bring perspective to how they read your work, ask questions and consider what you’re saying.

Read their last two or three most recent papers. Look for themes, ideas, questions, methods and anything else that might be relevant. You’re not trying to become an expert in them. You’re looking for points of connection – or the lack thereof!

The more you know, the better you’ll feel – and thankfully it won’t take much to feel good about your external, even if they’re a stranger to you at the time of selection.

 

(and of course, if you’re not that familiar with your internal, find out more about them too!)

Nathan

Fear Of The Unknown

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There are two steps to removing fear or worry about unknown aspects of the viva.

The first step is to try to accept that your viva will be an unknown in some ways until you experience it. You won’t know how long it is, you won’t know what questions will be asked and you don’t know how you’ll feel until you’re there.

The second step is to build up a reasonable sense of the general expectations before you get to the viva. Read your university’s regulations, learn about other viva experiences and ask your colleagues about their recent experiences. These different aspects can fill in many of the blanks you might have.

You can have a good sense of what happens at vivas. This is a massive help both practically and emotionally, even if you can’t know the exact details of your viva until it’s your time.

Nathan

Questions For Examiners

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The viva is a discussion. While your examiners lead with questions and comments to get you talking there is plenty of space within the conversation for you to ask questions too.

Before your viva think a little about what you might ask. You don’t have a specific limit but it could help to give this some thought beforehand. For example:

  • “What did you think of Chapter X?”
  • “Can you think of any interesting areas related to…?”
  • “Is it a good idea for me to publish something on…?”

You might not get to ask every question you have considered, but thinking ahead of the viva will help you make the most of the opportunity.

You could ask what they liked about your thesis but that’s probably going to come up anyway!

Nathan

Who Are Your Examiners?

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Unless they are both well-known to you before you submit your thesis, take some time in your viva prep to find out more about both your internal and your external.

  • Ask friends and colleagues what they know of them. What work do they do? What are they known for?
  • Explore their recent publications to get a sense of their interests and research focus. Is their work similar to yours or very different? Are there interesting connections between your areas?
  • Talk to other academics about the role of the examiners. How do they approach the task? What do they look for in a good thesis?

Your examiners, whoever they are, are not just two random people. They are chosen for particular reasons. Explore that choice with your supervisors, explore your examiners’ work and explore the role of the examiner to be well-prepared for meeting them in your viva.

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