My PhD viva story

Emma Burnett (@EmmaBurnettx) is the Associate Dean, International, at the School of Nursing and Health Sciences, University of Dundee. Here, she opens up in detail about her enthralling PhD viva experience.

This story was published on May 17, 2015, on Emma’s blog (available here), and has been republished here with her permission.

My alarm was set for 6am on Monday, 1st May, 2015 — my Viva day; but I was wide awake by 5am. The sun was shining so I took my dogs for a long walk while I contemplated the day ahead.

My Viva team was meeting at 10am and I was to be ready to start at 11am so I had plenty time to get ready and have breakfast (even if all I could manage was a couple of bites of a piece of toast). Alana, my teenage daughter drove me to the University because I knew whichever way the day went, alcohol would be needed afterwards. I arrived about 8:30am, which in hindsight was silly. I was having coffee with one of my supervisors at 10am, but until then I swear the clock was going backwards. Coffee with my supervisor was nice and she kept me relaxed.

The chair of my Viva came to get me at 11am. I know some supervisors sit in on the Viva, but we decided this would only add to the pressure. I took a copy of my thesis in with me, which had post-it notes at various points in each chapter. As it happened, I only opened it a couple of times when my examiners alluded to something I had written.

We did have a meeting room booked but the coffee machine was broken so it was held in the Dean’s office, which was nice. I actually felt ok at this point, and it was lovely seeing my internal and external examiners. This was the first time I had seen my external examiners face-to-face and they both met me with a friendly smile and a firm handshake. I do like a firm handshake. However, when I sat down, nerves hit me hard and I could actually feel my whole body shaking.

So how do you think Emma’s viva finally turned out? Read the full story here.