Viva!

To my surprise, I actually enjoyed my PhD viva.  For the week before I barely slept from nerves, and spent a lot of time fooling myself that there were major mistakes in my work.  I came to Bath on Wednesday evening, after spending the morning doing randori at Camberley and the afternoon resting and doing some revision.  On Thursday I went to the University early and had breakfast at the Sports Café, what a long time since I’ve been there!  I then went to the library to wait for the afternoon to arrive.  I was so nervous I couldn’t concentrate on anything, and despite reading over my notes a few times nothing sunk in, and I couldn’t remember the first thing about my research.  I went to the room early, and set up my laptop for my presentation.  I had been asked to talk about my research for about 30 minutes before being asked questions, and I found preparing this presentation was actually a good way to revise my work.  I was very early so waited a while for my examiners to arrive.

In the UK PhD vivas usually have one internal and one external examiner, with the internal being from the same university and the external not.  In my case my internal was from Bath, in the same department and similar very broad area (theoretical computer science/mathematics) but not a specialist in my work.  My external was from France, and she is one of the most eminent researchers in my field; it was a pleasure to meet her.  I used her work frequently in my thesis, so it was great to put a face to the name.

It was just the three of us in the room, and there were no time limits, we had as long as it took for them to be satisfied.  I started with my presentation, and found that the examiners had many questions on most slides.  I found the benefits of having two examiners with different knowledge bases, as the internal examiner would ask questions that would tend to be asked from a general mathematical audience, and the external would ask very specific questions related to intricate details of my work, and frequently ask why I took certain approaches.  It was an enjoyable challenge to explain my work to people with varying levels of base knowledge.  To prepare for this exam I had given my presentation to some of my non-mathematical friends, and I have to say it was a good feeling to present to an audience who was somewhat interested in and comprehending of what I was talking about.  I found I was able to answer almost all the questions with relative ease, and there were no major issues.  A few minor technical and style issues were brought up, which I will be able to resolve easily enough.  My presentation lasted for almost the entire viva, as it seemed a good way to work through the thesis.  There were a few questions after, and then I was asked to return in about half an hour.  The whole viva lasted only about 90 minutes, I was prepared for a lot more.

When I returned the examiners informed my supervisor and I that they recommend that I should be awarded a PhD on the condition of minor corrections being made, with three months being given to do this.  I was extremely happy, and extremely relieved!

Later that evening we enjoyed a dinner in Bath with our respective partners, which was a great experience.  I am not often lucky enough to spend time conversing with academics.  Good food, good wine, good company.

I was due to fight in the British University Championships that weekend, but I had some paperwork issues, and I was extremely tired from my viva, almost at the point of collapsing.  I felt guilty for letting down my university, but decided not to fight, as I could not be sure I’d put in my best performance.  Instead I slept the whole weekend, and boy did I need it!  Monday morning training started again, I will be competing in the English Open on Sunday so am bringing my weight down.  Otherwise I am training through this weekend; I am using it as a preparation competition for the Oceania Championships three weeks later.  I’m loving this life!

I want to thank my examiners for agreeing to asses my work; it takes a lot of time and effort to read over a thesis, and also to run a viva.  I also want to thank my supervisor Nicolai for all his hard work and patience, and my second supervisor Guy for his help.  Thanks to Lance for being a rock.  Most of all I want to thank Luke for driving me everywhere, calming my nerves during the small hours, and generally being brilliant.