{"id":3972,"date":"2015-04-21T13:21:15","date_gmt":"2015-04-21T00:21:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesislink.aut.ac.nz\/?p=3972"},"modified":"2016-08-01T10:08:06","modified_gmt":"2016-07-31T21:08:06","slug":"the-viva-aka-oral-defence-doctoral-defence-doctoral-examination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesislink.aut.ac.nz\/?p=3972","title":{"rendered":"The Viva! (aka Oral Defence, Doctoral Defence, Doctoral Examination)"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Emma Kelly<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the week before your Viva you will get many pieces of sometimes contradictory advice.<\/p>\n

\u2018Make your presentation absolutely watertight, you DO NOT WANT to make any changes to the thesis\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Be relaxed and open to critique \u2013 you do not want to seem defensive or inflexible about your work\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018It\u2019s just a great conversation with people who have actually read your work who are not your supervisors. Enjoy it!\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018It\u2019s terrifying\u2019<\/p>\n

In the event, mine really was a good discussion once I had relaxed enough to stop being terrified. These people were genuinely interested in pushing me to a serious discussion about what I\u2019d spent so much time and energy on over a number of years.<\/p>\n

So rewind a couple of months. I\u2019ve submitted the thesis, I\u2019m exhausted and trying not to think of that huge \u2018pass or fail\u2019 which hangs over me. I get an email from the University Postgraduate Centre inviting me to a Doctoral Examination Training Workshop. I went. So should you. Enormously useful.<\/p>\n

My observation from working in two universities as an administrator, from being a student (simultaneously with my paid work) and now, tenuously working as a part time short term contract academic, is that there is quite a lot of cynicism and distrust between administrative and academic groups. This may lead supervisors and students to feel pessimistic about the value of workshops such as this. I agree that bureaucracy for the sake of bureaucracy needs to be stamped out like an invasive weed, but the University Postgraduate Centre\u00a0are not paperwork junkies. (And they do not pay me to write this!)<\/p>\n

Over the last few years I have observed that this rather clever group of humans have worked very hard to support postgraduate students from the centre and improve their experience of study. Writing retreats (Free! Good food! Great company!) Funding workshops (I admit I\u2019ve facilitated some of these in a previous role), the excellent annual Postgraduate Showcase Week all offer free opportunities to talk to others and learn from a presenter who knows what she\/he is talking about. I\u2019ve studied at another university and I never received so much helpful and practical advice from the University Postgraduate Centre there.<\/p>\n

But back to the Doctoral Examination workshop. Prior to this I had no idea I would have to present at the beginning of the Viva for 5-10 minutes on my work. I had imagined I\u2019d receive the examiners\u2019 reports the week before, read them and think about what questions they may ask, walk in and they\u2019d start firing. Professor Marion Jones explained however that once you go to your pre-meeting with the convenor of your Viva and your supervisors, you take the reports away, review them, maybe have a \u2018mock oral\u2019 organised by your supervisor, then go into the defence ready to speak about your work.<\/p>\n

The idea of talking to these people who had just read my thesis in detail and had the power to pass or fail me seemed very daunting. I asked for ideas from trusted colleagues and seniors. I shared my examiners\u2019 reports with people I thought could provide ideas. People offered to help me practice by asking me possible questions, and I accepted their offers. This really helped me realise what I needed to say and how I should say it.<\/p>\n

Your examiners\u2019 reports may include observations of minor issues such as grammatical or punctuation errors. It was suggested to me that I fix these errors before the Viva \u2013 that way I could go in, thank the examiners for their thorough analysis and let them know I\u2019d already paid close attention to their suggestions. Brownie Points right off the bat.<\/p>\n

The 5-10 min introduction by you, the PhD candidate, is an opportunity to demonstrate your passion, to show the human side of the thesis, to provide context for your motivation. These people have been reading words on a page, now they get to read you. So breathe, arrange your limbs in an open fashion, look them in the eye and tell them why you\u2019ve worked so hard for so long. Remember your supervisors and the University will not send you to your Viva unless they are quietly confident that you are ready. Take comfort in this. Trust the process, and even though it\u2019s hard to believe, you may even enjoy yourself. Did I say breathe? Remember to breathe. Sip that glass of water when you need to gather your thoughts. Best wishes!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Emma Kelly will speak about her experience with the oral examination at the University Postgraduate Centre Writer’s Retreat this Thursday.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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