Planning and Passing Your PhD Defence

A Global Toolbox for Success

Olga Degtyareva, Eva O.L. Lantsoght

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9780367366667
• eBook ISBN: 9781000475999
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

This book is a toolbox for PhD students to plan and prepare for the PhD defence regardless of their scientific discipline or location. The authors discuss various defence formats that are used internationally and identify the main differences and similarities.

With international examples, practical strategies, and tips from former PhD students and supervisors, this book unpacks the principles and unwritten rules underpinning the defence. Addressing planning and preparing for the doctoral defence, and what to do afterwards, this book covers topics such as:

• understanding your defence format
• preparing for committee questions
• preparing mentally and dealing with anxiety
• dealing with corrections, finalizing your graduation requirements and marking the end of your PhD trajectory.

This book is crucial reading for students across the world looking to defend their PhD thesis, and also for their supervisors and examiners.

The 'Insider Guides to Success in Academia' offers support and practical advice to doctoral students and early-career researchers. Covering the topics that really matter, but which often get overlooked, this indispensable series provides practical and realistic guidance to address many of the needs and challenges of trying to operate, and remain, in academia.

These neat pocket guides fill specific and significant gaps in current literature. Each book offers insider perspectives on the often implicit rules of the game -- the things you need to know but usually aren't told by institutional postgraduate support, researcher development units, or supervisors -- and will address a practical topic that is key to career progression. They are essential reading for doctoral students, early-career researchers, supervisors, mentors, or anyone looking to launch or maintain their career in academia.

1IntroductionThe PhD defence as the pinnacle of the PhD trajectory

DOI: 10.4324/9780429347900-1

Your PhD trajectory will typically take a minimum of three years and can take as long as ten years. In any case, it is a huge intellectual and organizational endeavor that will occupy you fully for years and will require an immense effort. And yet there is a pinnacle to this journey! What is it exactly? You say: thesis submission?… Ah yes, that too! Indeed, that is a culmination of all your research and writing up. However, your thesis submission is followed by another (real) pinnacle; that is your thesis defence. Your PhD defence is an event where you defend your thesis in front of experts in your research area. You will present your research, show your contribution to your scientific field, demonstrate that you actually can do an independent research study, and show that you have done it by yourself and that you know what you are doing. You will be examined on how well you can present and communicate your work and how deep is your understanding of the subject and of the results you have produced. You will be assessed and evaluated during your PhD defence and you will receive the final judgement at the end of it. You will be pronounced a Doctor of Philosophy (a PhD). This is the moment when one of your life’s dreams comes true, the moment of accomplishment and relief.

We hope that this book will help you navigate a path full of uncertainties towards your thesis defence by giving you guidance on how to prepare for it and what to expect, how to plan it and how to succeed. We will show you some differences in how it is done in different universities and countries. A major part of the preparation for your PhD defence will take place close to the time of the event itself, but there are some aspects you need to work on throughout your whole PhD journey. For example, you need to develop your presentation and speaking skills: these take years to learn and practice. So do not leave reading this book until just before your defence. Start reading it today and begin preparing yourself for the positive completion of your PhD journey: a well-planned PhD defence that you successfully pass; it will be the pinnacle of your PhD trajectory.

Scope

The topic of this book is the PhD defence, sometimes also called the viva voce or, in short, viva. We will use the term “defence”, which is commonly used in the United States and continental Europe, throughout except when we discuss national practices and associated terms (e.g., the viva for the United Kingdom (Share, 2016)). The term “defence” may imply that the candidate has to “defend” and “battle for” their main hypothesis (Tinkler & Jackson, 2000). As some institutional guidelines contain references to the role of the examining committee in making the candidate feel at ease and avoiding aggressive questioning styles, this term may not be accurate. However, we have opted to stay with “defence” for the writing of this book, placing a side note here on the possible connotations of the term.

While you may think that a book about the PhD defence is limited in scope to an event of just a few hours at the end of your PhD journey, we wanted to write this book because the PhD defence is the pinnacle of your PhD trajectory, and because of the mystery that surrounds the defence in some universities. Depending on your university, your defence may influence the outcome or grade of your PhD or may simply be a formality. We will discuss the differences between defences in various countries in Chapters 2 and 5. Regardless of the official weight associated with the defence, it is an event with a significant emotional value for you as a PhD candidate: it is your moment to celebrate with friends, colleagues, and family. Even when the defence is simply a formality, the emotional stakes are always high.

This book addresses planning and preparing for your doctoral defence and briefly touches upon the topic of what to do afterwards. Most of the activities we describe will take place in the last year of your doctoral journey. In terms of planning, we discuss how you can plan for your defence and set yourself up for success. In terms of preparing for the defence, we discuss practical steps, such as selecting your committee, making your presentation, and preparing for committee questions, as well as preparing mentally for your defence. On the topic of the defence itself, we discuss a wide array of subject matter: from the logistics of the day of your defence, to dealing with spur-of-the-moment anxiety, to addressing unexpected committee questions and difficulties, and how to own the day of your defence. We have included advice from former PhD candidates and committee members. Finally, the last topic in this book is what to do after the defence: how to deal with corrections, how to finalize your graduation requirements, and what to do to mark the end of your PhD trajectory.

If you are a PhD candidate, you may also find this book valuable in other situations during your PhD journey where you have to present and argue in favor of your (proposed) research. Examples of such occasions are the Go/No Go Meeting after the first year of PhD studies in the Netherlands, the Confirmation of Candidature in the first 6 or 12 months in Australia, and the presentation of the proposal in North America. This book could also be insightful for PhD candidates and supervisors in Australia, where an oral defence may not be common: we have included information on the written defence in Australia, and for those Australian universities that are moving towards an oral defence, the testimonies and literature insights in this book can help develop best practices.

We wrote the book for an international audience and find that this approach sets it apart in the literature on the PhD defence. Both within existing textbooks or advice books for PhD students, as well as in the scientific literature on the topic of the PhD defence (see Chapter 2 for our extensive review), most authors consider and investigate only the national context of the PhD defence. However, we wanted to write a book that is useful for students and supervisors worldwide. We included several topics that allow us to have an international outlook: the different formats of the PhD defence (Chapter 2), and a description of the defence in different countries (Chapter 5, based on my (Eva’s) PhD Talk blog series “PhD Defences around the world”). This international approach can be particularly valuable if you are defending your PhD in a country that is not where you did your previous studies, or if you are a supervisor who will participate in a committee abroad. This book is suitable for students, supervisors, and committee members in all research fields.

Chapter structures

In writing the book we’ve brought together various sources: our own experiences as doctoral students, our later-career professional experiences, the literature on the topic of the defence, as well as testimonies from former PhD candidates and committee members from the “Defences around the world” series. You will find that, in referring to our own stories we use the first person, that we refer to testimonies using the citation of the relevant blog post, and that we refer to the literature by citing the reference. In the longer chapters, we’ve used subchapters to identify and bring together insights from these different sources. In the shorter chapters, we used paragraphs to group the insights. We’ve followed this sequence: general overview, then former student experiences, then committee member experiences, and then (where relevant) a deeper dive into research insights.

How to use this book as a PhD student

If you are a PhD student, consider this book as a toolkit. We have included information that is useful for PhD students all over the world. Not everything included may be of direct practical value for you: pick the tools you need for your particular situation.

We invite you to read this book from cover to cover first, so that you have a better understanding of the PhD defence and its international context and can assemble your toolkit. Highlight passages that are of particular interest to you, and put placeholders on the pages that contain the most practical information for you. Look out for possible pitfalls ahead. If you are aware of those potential difficulties, you can make life easier for yourself as you sail through them.

As with every book that contains advice, you need to put that advice into practice if you want to reap the benefits of the book. Consider the book your pocket-sized mentor. If you find it useful, set aside time for “meetings with your coach”, during which you can actively work on the topics in its pages. For example: reread and reflect on the subchapter on “making your presentation” when you start working on the presentation for your defence.

The caveat with advice books is that it may sound as if there is a single solution that works for everybody. We disagree with this idea: we understand that each thesis, each PhD trajectory, and each PhD candidate are unique (Kamler & Thomson, 2008). From that perspective, our toolbox-based approach aims at serving a wide range of PhD candidates. But, for this approach to work for you, you need to do the work of self-reflection. We are not offering a step-by-step guide to success. Instead, we are presenting food for thought. While this process requires extra effort from you, we are convinced that a deeper understanding of your situation will make you a better researcher.

How to use this book as a supervisor

As a supervisor, you can use this book for two purposes: to help your students plan and prepare for their defence (i.e., as a supervisor for your student) and to prepare yourself to be a committee member abroad (i.e., as an examiner of another student). If you help your students plan and prepare for their defence, you may go through the following steps:

1. Ask your student(s) to read the book to understand the expectations around the defence and associated research findings.
2. Ask your student(s) to revise the chapter on planning towards the defence and prepare a planning for the final year (or other relevant time period) before the defence.
3. Meet each student individually to discuss this planning and expectations, and agree upon a planning and dates for the different milestones towards the defence.
4. Ask your student(s) to revise Chapters 4 and 6, and to list their main contributions as well as list possible committee members.
5. Meet each student individually to decide on the committee (if your institution requires you to select committee members at this point) and discuss the main strengths and weaknesses of the thesis.
6. Ask your student(s) to make a list of possible questions, make a draft presentation, and check institutional requirements.
7. Meet each student individually to go through the possible questions, linking them back to the main strengths and weaknesses of the thesis. Discuss any doubts they may have regarding the procedures, as well as any general concerns regarding questions, committee members, or other worries your student may have.
8. Organize a mock defence or (at least) a rehearsal presentation for your student. Ask faculty members and other PhD students to be present and ask questions, and give feedback.
9. Enjoy your...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• series page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• 1 Introduction: The PhD defence as the pinnacle of the PhD trajectory
• 2 Overview of defence formats
• 3 Planning for a successful defence
• 4 Preparing for your defence
• 5 Defences around the world
• 6 Your PhD defence
• 7 After the PhD defence
• Index