Hello everyone. I have just had my viva this past week and passed with minor corrections. I am in shock - albeit a very nice shock!

I just wanted to thank everyone who helped me on here over the years, both with finding articles and providing excellent advice and encouragement when I was flagging (which was often!) You really are a lovely bunch. I found the whole process really hardgoing at times (I had two babies during my candidacy which was great but certainly didn't help!) and was mainly working from a distance so this forum really helped me feel like I was actually a "real" student.

At several points I thought about giving up as I really seemed to be making no progress at all and between work and family commitments it seemed like it was taking over my whole life. However, I changed to part-time status and kept on plugging away at it and I got there in the end. I really want to encourage anyone else feeling the same way to keep at it as, even though it might seem that you are not getting anywhere, mine only really started coming together in the last six months!

The viva was fairly brief (about an hour and a quarter) compared to some I have read on here and I have to say it was actually quite pleasant! I haven't had much chance to talk about my research so it was good to finally get to do that. The questions were thoughtful and probing but not at all aggressive. I was mainly asked to explain my thought processes behind the methodological choices and what impact they had on my results.

I now have a few months to make the corrections (mainly small omissions and typos) and I am actually looking forward to making the corrections and "polishing" it.

Best of luck to everyone still going through it - and especially to the parents of young children who are trying to complete with a million distractions!

Congratulations! It really is 'time for tea', or a beverage of your choice :-)

Congratulations.
I feel inspired.

Congratulations! I am so in awe of PhD students who manage to keep tiny humans alive whilst doing their thesis. I'm so glad you hung in there and thanks for sharing your story.

Congratulations! Thanks for the encouragement!

Congratulations!!

I am struggling to do a full time job and a full time Ph.D, how on earth did you manage to do a Ph.D and have two kids in between. Fair play to you. Your new title is well deserved.

Congratulations! How does it feel Dr Tea?