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Viva Survivors Select 09

Update

Cover for Viva Survivors Select 09, The 2025 Issue, April 2026 - by Nathan Ryder Cover shows a red game piece/pawn looking at a wall with twelve calendar pages with various tally marks.

Viva Survivors Select is back!

You can find The 2025 Issue on my Payhip store now: a curated collection of some of my favourite pieces of writing from 2025 covering a range of topics. I’ve brought together posts about the PhD journey, viva expectations, viva prep and building confidence. You’ll find reflections, practical posts, lists and more!

Page 1 of The 2025 Issue, an introduction page that says HELLO! at the top.

The 2025 Issue contains twenty posts from the Viva Survivors archive along with two original pages of viva help. I’m particularly pleased with Keyword Prep – a helpful little game to prompt viva prep! If you’ve read previous issues of Viva Survivors Select (or even got the complete Volume 1) you’ll know that I really like making little games. I’m making more for the other seven issues of Volume 2.

If you’ve read previous issues you’ll also notice a change in the art style from this issue onwards. I relied on interesting public domain art for the first volume but from now on I’ll be creating every piece of art, including the covers. I’ve been creating digital art for the last four months – no AI, all me! – and this felt like a good way to continue learning and practising. I hope you find the illustrations a helpful part of the zines!

Page 12 of The 2025 Issue, showing a post titled The Buddy System along with an illustration of two simplified people talking.

Viva Survivors Select 09 is out now for £3. If you like the blog, want more help and want to support what I do then please take a look at and consider buying The 2025 Issue. If it helps then do please pass on details of this issue and Viva Survivors Select to anyone you know who is looking for viva help!

Thanks for reading!

Nathan

 

PS: save the date! The next Viva Survivors Select, The Submission Issue, is due out on Wednesday 13th May 2026! There’s a sneak peek of the cover on the back of The 2025 Issue 🙂

Nathan

Coming Soon: Viva Survivors Select 09

Update

Cover for Viva Survivors Select 09, The 2025 Issue, April 2026 - by Nathan Ryder Cover shows a red game piece/pawn looking at a wall with twelve calendar pages with various tally marks.

Coming Wednesday 15th April 2026!

Viva Survivors Select returns with the first issue of Volume 2, The 2025 Issue. I’ve curated twenty of my favourite Viva Survivors posts from last year, written two new pages of viva help and created original art and illustrations!

I had a lot of fun making Volume 1 last year – still available to buy as individual issues in my Payhip store or as a complete collection here – and I have all of Volume 2 planned out between now and November. I’m so excited to be sharing more of these zines soon.

If you find the Viva Survivors daily blog helpful then please take a look at Volume 1 and watch out for the upcoming issues from Volume 2. There is a lot of help in each issue, curated collections of posts from the archives plus new reflections and resources to help you get ready for the viva.

Look out for The 2025 Issue releasing on Wednesday 15th April 2026 – and please share this news with anyone who might need it!

Thanks for reading,
Nathan

Nathan

Viva Survivors Select 08

Update

This month’s issue of Viva Survivors Select is the last of Volume 1. I’m taking a break from the zine for a few months and aim to return in April 2026 with the start of a new monthly run. It seemed appropriate that this final issue (for now!) should be The Survival Issue.

Cover of Viva Survivors Select 08, The Survival Issue. Dated November 2025 by Nathan Ryder Foreground text boxes show details of the issue title etc. Background image shows a mountain path with rails, more mountains in the distance and a blue sky with a few clouds

We tend to think of survival as life and death. This is why so many PhD candidates who hear the phrase “surviving the viva” think that it must be a terrible ordeal that they’ll barely make it through. To survive means to manage to keep going in difficult circumstances. To survive your PhD means to work and make it through the challenges you face. To survive the viva means to rise to the particular challenges after the journey you have been on.

The Survival Issue contains twenty posts from the Viva Survivors archive exploring many aspects of survival. The issue is reflective, proactive and looking ahead for a candidate’s future. Surviving the viva is a topic I’ve been exploring for fifteen years in seminars, books, blog posts, discussions and pretty much every working day. It really did feel like this had to be the final issue of this volume!

I also share memories of how I survived my viva and what still stands out to me seventeen years later. Finally, I offer a simple reflective series of questions to help unpick the difficult circumstances of a PhD journey – a helpful activity for viva prep.

Viva Survivors Select 08 is out now for £3 and joins the previous seven issues in this volume. If you like the blog, want more help and want to support what I do then please take a look at and consider buying The Survival Issue.

Please do pass on details of this issue and Viva Survivors Select to anyone you know who is looking for viva help – and look out for the first issue of Volume 2, coming in April 2026!

Thanks for reading!

Nathan

Nathan

Viva Survivors Select 07

Update

It was a few years after my PhD before I started to feel confident. It took me time to find a way to build it up for myself. I didn’t find it during my PhD or ahead of my viva: I thought my thesis was pretty good but didn’t think I was a good candidate. I knew something was missing on my viva day but didn’t know what it was.

After my PhD I started to listen to podcasts, read blog posts and found books that helped me assemble a jigsaw of confidence from myself, borrowing ideas from many different places and finding what worked for me.

I’ve had the good fortune to spend my post-PhD life exploring confidence for myself and how to help other people find it for themselves. I’m glad to have the chance to share some help, encouragement and ideas in this month’s issue of Viva Survivors Select.

Cover of Viva Survivors Select 07/The Confidence Issue/Nathan Ryder. Background image shows a pair of hands holding a small plant growing in soil.

The Confidence Issue contains twenty posts from the Viva Survivors archive exploring confidence in the PhD, helpful practices to try during viva prep and how to respond to questions in the viva. This is a topic I’ve explored a lot over the last fifteen years and it’s great to share a curated resource like this zine.

Every issue of Viva Survivors Select also contains new help too. This month I share my thoughts on making a playlist to help promote confidence. I love using music to prompt a shift of feelings and know I’m not alone in thinking it’s a useful nudge – and nudging confidence is the theme of my other new piece, a short game to help people getting ready for their viva.

Viva Survivors Select 07 is out now for £3 and joins six other issues in this ongoing series. If you like the blog, want more help and want to support what I do then please take a look at and consider buying The Confidence Issue.

The final issue of this volume, The Survival Issue, will be released on Wednesday 12th November. I’m also considering releasing a bundle of all eight issues of Volume 1 for a special price. Let me know if you think that’s a good idea!

Please do pass on details of this issue and Viva Survivors Select to anyone you know who is looking for viva help.

Thanks for reading!

Nathan

Nathan

Viva Survivors Select 06

Update

I worked hard for my PhD and spent a long time writing my thesis. I dove head first into the waters of viva preparation when I submitted and probably spent more time than I needed to get ready. I asked my supervisor for advice on how to explain my work and the interests of my external examiner-

-and never once asked what vivas were like. I had lots of friends who had had vivas by that point. I didn’t ask them either. It felt like an unwritten rule: the viva is an event that you have to just face it as it comes. Don’t ask, don’t tell.

 

Of course, after my viva – and particularly when I started working in this area – I found out that every PhD graduate seemed to have a similar story. They hadn’t known quite what to expect beyond “it’ll be OK” and then had been OK. Everyone’s viva story was different but the more people I asked the more I saw that there really were patterns of experience – information that future candidates could helpfully use as they got ready.

All of which is to say I’ve spent a long time learning about and sharing viva expectations and that’s what this month’s Viva Survivors Select is all about.

Cover of Viva Survivors Select 06, The Expectations Issue, September 2025 by Nathan Ryder Details in foreground text boxes; background shows a weather vane atop an old tower.

The Expectations Issue contains twenty posts from the Viva Survivors archive digging into what vivas are really like. What can you expect? What are these patterns of experience? How do you find out more and what do you do with the information when you have it? As with previous issues of Viva Survivors Select there are two new pages of help as well: a breakdown of what to expect from a video viva and a helpful little game to encourage calm reflection ahead of the viva.

Viva Survivors Select 06 is out now for £3 and joins five other issues in this ongoing project of monthly viva help. If you like the blog, want more help and want to support what I do then please take a look at and consider buying The Expectations Issue.

The seventh and eighth issues will be released in the next two months, rounding out this first volume of the zine. Please do pass on details of this issue and Viva Survivors Select to anyone you know who is looking for viva help.

Thanks for reading!

Nathan

Nathan

Viva Survivors Select 05

Update

In 2012 a little spark came to me: “I wonder if people would be interested in hearing viva stories from PhD graduates?”

Eight years ago I realised I couldn’t continue the podcast but wanted to use this space to still do something helpful. A spark: “I wonder if people would be interested in daily viva help?”

Sometimes before you have a concrete idea you have a spark, a what-if, an “I wonder…” that prompts action and leads to something good.

This kind of little notion is what lead to Viva Survivors Select 05, The Sparks Issue, which is out today. In over eight years I’ve written some very long posts and also quite a few short ones as well. For this issue I just wanted to look at those short posts with big helpful ideas.

Cover for Viva Survivors Select 05, The Sparks Issue. Shows two textboxes in the foreground with the title and author (Nathan Ryder) and the publication month, August 2025. Background is black with yellow-orange sparks stirred by a breeze.

The Sparks Issue contains twenty-five posts from the Viva Survivors archive covering a range of topics: viva prep, the PhD journey, building confidence and a lot more. As with previous issues of Viva Survivors Select I’ve also written two new pages: a helpful reflection on how the little things in your PhD journey can have an impact and an original reflective writing game to explore how you’re feeling as you get ready for your viva.

Viva Survivors Select 05 is out now for £3 and joins the first four issues in this ongoing project of monthly viva help. If you like the blog, want more help and want to support what I do then please take a look at and consider buying The Sparks Issue.

Please do pass on details of this issue and Viva Survivors Select to anyone you know who is looking for viva help.

Thanks for reading!

Nathan

Nathan

Viva Survivors Select 04

Update

Viva Survivors Select 04, The Focus Issue is ready and I’m very excited to release it into the world!

As with the first three issues, The Focus Issue is made up of twenty posts from the Viva Survivors archive and two new original pieces of viva help.

In this issue I wanted to explore the power of creating summaries as part of viva prep. I’ve loved sharing this topic in webinars and workshops for years. There’s a real value to thinking ahead for the viva, drawing useful information together and building confidence from really appreciating what you’ve done, how you did it and why it matters.

The Focus Issue is twenty posts from the Viva Survivors archive and two new original pieces: the first digs into the power of key questions for creating summaries and the second is an original prompt-based reflection game for reflecting on the PhD journey.

Viva Survivors Select 04 is out now for £3 and joins the first three issues in this ongoing project of monthly viva help. If you like the blog, want more help and want to support what I do then please take a look at and consider buying The Focus Issue.

Please do pass on details of this issue and Viva Survivors Select to anyone you know who is looking for viva help.

Thanks for reading!

Nathan

Nathan

Viva Survivors Select 02

Update

It’s really lovely to announce the second issue of Viva Survivors Select!

The Uncertainty Issue is the second curated collection taken from the Viva Survivors daily blog archives. I’m really happy to be working on this new ongoing project. I hope that it might be a great resource for candidates who need some really considered viva support.

Background: a wooden tabletop has a series of dominoes in the shape of a question mark. The dominoes are captured mid-fall. Foreground, two text-boxes, middle and bottom. Middle: "Viva Survivors Select 02, The Uncertainty Issue, May 2025" Bottom: "Nathan Ryder"

In this second issue I wanted to explore where the most frequently asked questions about the viva come from. As someone who has been supporting PhD candidates with their viva for fifteen years now, it’s my belief that a lot of questions and worries stem from the uncertainty about the viva – whether that’s real or only perceived by the candidate.

So The Uncertainty Issue collects twenty posts to help with common concerns: practical advice, encouragement and reflections to support getting ready despite uncertainty.

I like the post on the page below, which was originally published on the blog in January 2019. People often ask about what to wear out of a desire to fit in I think, but really it’s an opportunity to boost one’s confidence.

Page 7 of Viva Survivors Select 02; top half of the page has the text of a blog post entitled "What To Wear". Lower half has a black and white line drawing of a figure in armour.

Plus I really like that piece of art I found on the public domain image site Pixabay! You’ll find nineteen more posts, more fun public domain art and two new pages of original writing in Viva Survivors Select 02.

If you like the blog, want more help and want to support what I do then please take a look and consider buying The Uncertainty Issue – you might also want to take a look at last month’s issue too!

Thank you for reading, do pass this on to anyone who you think will find Viva Survivors Select 02 helpful – and look out for news about Viva Survivors Select 03, coming in mid-June! I’m already hard at work and there’s a sneak peek on the back cover of this month’s issue.

Nathan

Viva Survivors Select 01

Links, Update

I am thrilled to announce my new ongoing publication for PhD candidates: Viva Survivors Select!

This is my new curated series of zines. Every issue will contain a themed collection of posts from the blog’s archive plus a few new pieces of writing. I plan to release a new pdf issue each month and use this project to help postgraduate researchers by sharing my writing about the viva.

Front cover of Viva Survivors Select 01. In the background is a series of blueprint diagrams for electronic devices. Images are pitched at an angle. In the foreground are two text boxes, one approximately in the centre of the image, one at the bottom. Box in the middle, centred text has three lines: Viva Survivors Select 01 The Prototype Issue April 2025 Text box at the bottom: Nathan Ryder

The first issue is my prototype issue and features Viva Survivors posts from 2017. The eighth anniversary of the daily blog is on 18th April so this seemed like a great reason to go back to my early posts and look for the best writing to share.

In Viva Survivors Select 01 you’ll find the post below and nineteen more on the viva, viva prep and building confidence. I’ve also written an exploration of a very helpful viva prep tool and a short essay on writing. The zine has colour covers, public domain art and a lot of help for PhD candidates in a small pdf package.Page 8 from the first issue of "Viva Survivors Select". The top half of the page is taken up by a blog post; the bottom half has a simple line drawing of a filament lightbulb. Title: Lightbulb I don't know that it's universal, but the lightbulb is a powerful symbol for making a connection. One second you don't know something important, the next you do. I remember being sat on a train in early 2005, less than six months into my PhD. I was waiting to go and visit a friend. Just as the train doors were closing something CLICKED in my head and I could see the answer to a problem. It was just a little one but one at the root of a bigger problem in my thesis. Just like that, it came to me. And while there was a lot more work to do, this one little insight allowed me to write three chapters of my thesis. There were harder problems in my PhD, but this is the time I remember when something just came to me. Weeks of reading, of doodling and noodling, and then CLICK. When you have a real lightbulb moment, be grateful. What else are you grateful for in your PhD?


If you like the Viva Survivors daily blog and want something with a little more viva help then please take a look at Viva Survivors Select and see if it might be helpful for you.

If you like the Viva Survivors daily blog and want to support what I do in a practical way then please take a look at Viva Survivors Select and consider buying a copy.

And of course, if you know someone else who could use a little viva help then do tell them about Viva Survivors Select.

Thank you for reading, do get in touch if you have any questions – and look out for Viva Survivors Select 02, which will be released in mid-May!

Nathan

101 Steps To A Great Viva

Update

I am very happy to share that, after my recent Kickstarter project, 101 Steps To A Great Viva is now available to buy! 😀

Cover of 101 Steps To A Great Viva

Thanks to the generous support of backers I was able to finish this project and create a small print run of this new guide. Copies are now available for purchase from that print run – and 101 Steps To A Great Viva is also available to buy and download as a pdf.

 

Wait, what is this? What are you talking about?

…are two questions you might be asking!

101 Steps To A Great Viva is a 24-page guide to what a PhD candidate could do to help themselves before the viva. From learning about expectations to researching examiners, and from planning viva prep to building viva confidence – this helpful little guide is my attempt to gather together useful, practical advice that any PhD candidate can put into action.

I’ve helped over 8000 PhD candidates with their viva prep in the last decade or so: all of that experience, the questions I’m regularly asked, the worries I hear, the advice I offer – it’s all in 101 Steps To A Great Viva, framed as clear steps for PGRs to take as they prepare to get ready.

How can someone get this?

There are two ways!

First, you could get one of the limited number of print copies still available after the Kickstarter. You can get these from the Books page on this site. For £7 you’ll get a print copy sent through the magic of the Royal Mail (but note that I can only ship to UK addresses).

Second, you can buy and download a pdf copy from my Payhip store for £5: there’s an infinite number of copies so you’ll always be able to get one this way, wherever you are in the world! 101 Steps To A Great Viva has an A5 page size so it will read very well on most screens and devices.

I am excited and happy to finally release 101 Steps To A Great Viva. It’s taken a lot of work but been a lot of fun and I’m delighted at the thought of it helping a lot of people. Take a look, ask me about it if you want to know more and please pick a copy if it sounds like it might help.

Thank you for reading!
Nathan

 

PS: if you’re looking for a lot of help, check out the Viva Help Bundle on my Payhip store, which brings together digital versions of 101 Steps To A Great Viva, Keep Going – A Viva Survivors Anthology and my new, short writing game for viva confidence, How You Got Here.

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