Category: Examination (Thesis Viva /Panel/Annual Review )

… on the sterling A2 Viva outcome today

A big congratulations to Paul Breen on passing his viva on his birthday today with very very minor corrections. The examiners were impressed by his performance as he managed to answer all their (challenging) questions. Well done! 🙂 All best wishes to our fellow Doctors-to-be: Achilleas, Eljee, Lou and Helen. Mariam  

A friend of mine passed her viva on Monday. She told me the 40 questions below were very useful as she was preparing for the day. I thought I would share them with you, especially since several members of the Community will be having their vivas soon.   http://www.open.ac.uk/blogs/ResearchEssentials/?p=156  

Emily and Parneet are in the hot seat this coming Tuesday (30th Sept). D Couns Psych researchers (rather than TESOL/LTE) but narrativists to the core 🙂 And then coming in dates across the autumn: Paul Breen, Achilleas, Eljee, Lou and Helen. Best wishes to them all.        

Susan, Olga, Bona, Duygu and Dylan are all being reviewed this week (Tues?) in terms of their proposal for their main studies. I’m sure we’re all rooting for you in the background. In due course, it’ll be great to hear your stories of being panelled, but for now, “break a leg” as they say 🙂

This month (June 2014), we have five of our own going through the Panel experience – Susan, Olga, Bona, Duygu and Dylan – and I hope that, in due course, we’ll hear here their reflections on the safe passage through this process. But meanwhile, if any old-hands have advice to share, that would be welcome, I’m sure. I never had […]

Tanya submitted yesterday and her viva is provisionally set for June 12th. Another significant step in the life of one of our community. As I celebrate this achievement, I am mindful of those following hot on her heels (Achilleas, Eljee, Lou, Helen, Parneet, Emily) and looking forward to celebrating the next steps in their doctoral journeys too.

It took me quite a while after my panel day (January 16th) to write this blog post. There have been lots of things going on after the big day and I don’t know where the time has gone! The following is what I have learned from presenting at my panel review. On the panel day I didn’t sleep well the […]

Pre-panel review: 9 outlines, 27 proposal drafts and 4 mock presentations! I have talked to many PhD students who passed their panel reviews and everybody said ‘You’ll be fine’. Deep down in my heart I know that I will, but all the nerves and worries I have don’t seem to go away. It’s my nature, I think, to be worried […]

Home and dry with just minor corrections 🙂

This year, for the first time, my annual progress review involved an independent reviewer. Initially, I was unsure about what it meant for me personally, e.g., I immediately thought, is there something wrong my research progress so far? And, of course, panicked, thinking there might be… Also, I didn’t really know what the new format might entail in terms of […]

Before the Annual Review, I had a mixed of feeling: nervous, curious, worried and excited. Although I already had some information in hand about what happened in my colleagues’ AR, preparing for mine was still quite daunting. “Have I prepared enough? What questions will the reviewer ask? Will I be able to answer the questions? Have I had enough knowledge […]