Emma

My PhD research was focused on improving teenage girls’ physical activity levels through home-based exercise interventions. I used qualitative and quantitative methods, and my three studies were published at the time of submitting my thesis. My thesis consisted of a short(ish) Introduction of 60 pages, the 3 papers, and finished with a 25-page General Discussion.

I submitted my thesis on January 28th 2022, and had my in-person viva on April 1st (nine weeks). I took about a month off between submitting the thesis and starting viva prep. During this time, I started a postdoc position, so my viva prep consisted of a couple of hours dedicated time 1-2 days a week (which was absolute OVERKILL!!).

* Before diving into how I prepared for the viva, I wanted to include a quick note about how I picked my examiners and things to consider. Both my internal and external were physical activity researchers, with one being particularly interested in physical activity measurement and the other having experience working specifically with teenage girls. My internal examiner was a full professor and Head of the department. This was very intimidating initially, but it was the best thing to have happened. Because they were in such a senior position, they had perspective on what was important and not so important during the viva process. They could see the big picture and asked questions that truly explored the depth of my knowledge, rather than just focusing on superficial questioning. So don’t be intimidated if you have a superstar in your field as your examiner – it's such a compliment that they agree to it and no doubt you will have a great conversation!

** If there is an option to have an independent chair sit in on your viva, I recommend you take the offer (I know in some universities this is mandatory)! It's already scary having two+ people examining you, but the chair is only there to make sure the viva is conducted in accordance with the university policies and that the regular process is followed. They are there to support YOU, not as an additional examiner.

The preparation

At the start of my preparation, I printed off a copy of my thesis and used coloured tabs to mark where each chapter began so that I could easily flick to it during the viva. I used post-it notes to list key points, potential questions, limitations etc., so that I could refer to them in the exam if I got stuck. I also marked any typos or errors throughout the thesis so that I could fix them before the final submission. I can’t tell you if I used the thesis at all during my viva because it’s all a bit of a blur, but it was a nice comfort knowing it was there with all my little “cheat sheets”.

I had a whole bank of questions I prepared (as above, SUCH OVERKILL!), and pretty much none of them came up. I think going through them was still helpful and made me feel more confident going into the viva. In general, I think it’s important to be able to explain why you did things the way you did them. It’s also important to be able to identify and talk about the things that went wrong or the limitations of your work. Showing you’re aware of the long-term implications of your findings (to society, research etc.) is also important. Ultimately, they want to know you did the work and understand why you did it, rather than you just followed instructions from your PI. I had prepared for a lot of questions around my philosophical stance and epistemology, deep questions about theories and frameworks, but to be honest not much in this line of questioning came up. Most were quite surface-level, logistical questions around my intervention design.

I harassed everyone I vaguely knew asking them about their viva experience. It felt like a massive unknown and I wanted ALL the details. Having a few quick Zoom calls with friends who had gone through the experience really helped my calm my nerves.

I also did a mock viva with my examiners about 1 month before the real thing. It was semi-formal in that we scheduled it a few weeks out, we booked a room and there were 3 supervisors present. For me, this was way harder than the real thing and was so beneficial. If this isn’t something you feel would be useful to you, maybe try a couple of little practice sessions with friends. I did this too and asked friends to read a particular chapter and then we had a 30-minute Zoom call where they’d ask me questions on it. Another thing I did was send my husband a list of questions, so he would fire questions at me when we were out on a walk or cooking dinner etc. Just having the practice of someone asking you a question and getting used to verbally responding really helped me.

Reading wise I had a flick over my examiners papers to figure out specific areas of my thesis they might grill me on. I also scanned over new papers that came out in my area to make sure I had a broad awareness of new trends.

I looked back at all the peer review comments I received (and my responses) when publishing my work. This was MEGA helpful because I had an idea of the areas that might need more explanation, or limitations of my work. This included comments I got back from editors who desk-rejected my work!

I attended the Viva Survivor workshop hosted by my university. This was a nice morning of someone soothing my nerves and I definitely recommend if you have the chance to attend one.

I used Notion to manage all my prep (again, this is TOTAL OVERKILL) but it helped me make to-do lists and feel like I was actually making progress in my revision rather than just reading my thesis over and over again.

Lastly, I made a 1-page mind map for each of my studies. If you’re a visual learner like me, this could be useful for you rather than writing big paragraph summaries. I had about 8 pages in total – one for the broad overview of the project, one for each study, one for the theory I used etc.

The actual viva

I had to fly over to Liverpool for my viva, so I got in the afternoon before and settled into the hotel. I went for pizza, packed all my bits for the morning and got some sleep (after setting 55 alarms). I didn’t look at my thesis. The next morning, I met one of my supervisors in a coffee shop just beside campus where she helped me calm my nerves. The viva was to take place in a boardroom directly opposite my PI’s office, so after coffee I went to the office to wait until the examiners called me in. *Sidenote, I scoped out the room before the viva. I wanted to make sure I knew where I was going and the layout of the room. Maybe this is a weird step, but it helped reduce my nerves!

When I went into the room, they had my thesis printed and it was covered in stickie notes, so I naturally assumed they hated it and I had failed. They began at the start of my thesis and worked their way backwards, asking questions about each chapter (the external examiner led most of the questioning). They had a couple of icebreaker questions but predominantly concentrated on my research chapters. I heard the viva is like a conversation, but in my experience it didn’t really feel like that. It was more of a back-and-forth Q&A. They took notes throughout, which was a little jarring (and adds to the general feeling of “omg they hate it”) but I now know it’s just to speed up the reporting progress at the end.

At around the two-hour mark (when I thought we were wrapping up!), they suggested a 5-minute comfort break. Once we reconvened though, it only went on for another 30 minutes or so. Then I was asked to leave the room so back to my PI’s office I went. This was maybe the best part because when I went into his office all three of my supervisors were there waiting and whispering like little children. They were so hyped for me so it was nice waiting with them before I got called back in about 10 minutes later (my academic gang of supervisors came in with me, so we all got the news together) - I passed with minor corrections!

After we had the customary champagne with examiners in plastic cups, the mandatory photo shoot, relatively awkward lunch with PI and external examiner, before flying back home and sleeping for 100 hours.