Hi,

I had my viva in November and following the viva I was given major corrections. However, it was mainly the decision of my internal examiner (who was supposed to support me) and the external examiner agreed to that. It took sometime for me to digest this result as my thesis was corrected several times by my supervisor and no one expected that. I made the changes in 3 months and submitted the corrections. During the viva both of the examiners knew about my postdoctoral job offer which I could not join due to the delay. Now, I got another postdoc offer and they also need the certificate for me to start. I have told this to my supervisor and the internal examiner. Internal examiner has read my changes and waiting for the external examiner to respond. External examiner is a very laid back person and despite the internal examiner emailing several times, still there is no reply. So, I am just wondering is it okay if I email directly to the external stating my situation. Is this an option or I should just wait and may lose this job as well.

I don't think you are supposed to have contact with your examiners post viva, except to confirm corrections, especially if it is your internal that is supposed to sign them off. This a a very busy time of year for academics due to all the exam marking, so you might not hear for another couple of weeks. I would chase it with your internal and supervisor and tell them the importance of it.

It's not just the external you have to wait for either. If you miss the June exam board at my uni, you won't be officially awarded the PhD until the next exam board in Sept/Oct.

You should also explain the situation to your expected employer. Can't they take you as a Research Assistant and then upgrade you to a Research Associate once you are awarded the degree? That's what's normally happens.

On this note, my internal examiner (to be) and I are friendly with one another, and we have talked about meeting for coffee. Is this OK?!

I think that's okay.. As long as they are not directly contributing to your work/studies/exps (e.g., helping you design exps, discussing results and how to write-up things, co-authoring papers etc.)

Yeh... I'm thinking our conversation will probably stray to my project. Maybe I'll just avoid until after the viva!

Oh sorry for hijacking your post Dil. I defo wouldn't email directly. But you could meet with /contact your internal and explain the urgency of the situation. Ideally, s/he should give him/her a call...

Thanks a lot for the suggestions. I still have not heard from them. Everytime I contact my internal and my supervisor, they said they are in touch with the external and nothing after that. Yes, I dont want to miss this July graduation and I am afraid thay only few days left now for the deadline. My expected employer can not hire me without the certificate as I am an international candidate. So, I guess I have no other option except the wait.

Hi Dil, Have you explained all the above to your internal and your supervisor?

Hi Tudor_Queen, yes they know everything. I just wish this whole process to end quickly. Thanks for your comment though and all the best to your viva :)