Hi,

I did my Viva yesterday and passed with minor corrections. They did say though that my defence was one of the best they had ever seen - this really surprised me as the viva was the one thing I have worried about since the start.

In the spirit of this forum I would like to give some advice that I feel might help.

First, don't rely too much on your supervisor. They are there for help and advice, but at the end of the day your PhD is your own, and you should be able to complete the PhD without too much external help. By all means ask for feedback, both off your supervisor and other staff / students, but don't be too surprised if you get less than you ask for!

Second, talk to people all the time about your PhD - one of the key requirements is to clearly define your research to an intelligent layman. If you can describe the gist of it to your friends / partner and get them to understand, then good. If not then it might mean that you don't fully understand it yourself.

Third, and this relates to the viva: don't try to predict any of the questions. I got this advice and it confused me, and I only understood after the viva. Yes you should be able to describe certain aspects (why it is unique, why it is important etc etc), but preparing for specific questions can pigeon hole certain answers. If you know your stuff then it doesn't matter what questions they ask.

I had a really positive time during my PhD - there were ups and downs, but by not asking too much of other people, and trying to overcome most problems by myself I was able to be confident at the end that it was my own work and that I could be fully responsible for the outcome.

I hope this helps (and doesn't sound smug or patronising... that's not my aim ), but there were times when I felt pretty insecure during my PhD and advice like this might have helped.

David

Very helpful advice, thanks. I think taking control of your own PhD is really important. Yes seek advice, but don't just rely on your supervisor, actively find the right people who can help you (but as you say don't be disappointed if some of them aren't as helpful as you thought).

Yes, thank you Away!!!, for taking the time to do this. Very much.

Congratulations David, (up)(up) Another success for the Postgraduate Forum-ites :-)

Well done David, thanks for your advice too.

Very good stuff altogether, David. Thanks a million (having mine next week).