Oh and your hubby will have had methodology, but it's a bit different. Thinking back to my maths / computer science days he will have gon through some design process, even if it was possibly a bit accidental / ad-hoc. He needs to be able to explain why he designed the model in a particular way i.e. the process that he went through, including why he rejected some routes, chose others etc.

I didn't prepare for my viva using a long list of potential questions. I wouldn't have been able to remember the answers on the day, and they would just have terrified me too much!

Instead I focused on the 5 areas that I identified as important, after reading Tinkler & Jackson's book: originality of my thesis, contribution to knowledge, methodology, weaknesses/gaps/mistakes, and what would I do differently if starting again.

If you (or rather your hubby) can meaningfully answer questions along those lines he wil have covered most of the general questioning likely to be asked.

I also think it's very difficult to predict the more specific questions you are likely to be asked based on your own thesis. Best just to know the thesis well, and be ready to answer anything.

Good luck to hubby. My hubby's PhD was in theoretical computer science. I freaked him out massively just before he submitted by asking what his "umbrella" was i.e. the context in which his work fitted. On the plus side he hadn't worked that out properly, and I prompted him to!

I'm really odd ;) I need about 15 hours every day at least, and sometimes nearly 18 hours. It's because of my progressive neurological disease and the brain damage from it. When the disease is more active I'm nearer the 18 hour mark (17+ hours is my record - still have to break the 18 hour barrier). But typically I need about 15 hours.

I sleep a lot ...

Good luck for the future, both with the teaching, and the book possibility.

Will you try to keep your hand in at all in the academic field? I can't work at all due to progressive neurological disease (severely disabling), but I'm turning my PhD thesis into more journal papers. It takes very little time. Or at least I'm spending very little time on it :p

Thanks for my mention :) Not sure I'm always so sagacious, but I appreciate the sentiment :p

My tried and tested ways were to draw up lists. Really detailed lists of things I could be getting on with. Don't make them too ambitious like "Write my whole thesis", but make each item in the list quite small and achievable. Then look at the list and start tackling the most appealing item - or least unappealing! Cross things off as you work through them. This will get you moving again, and boost your confidence. And take it from there.

I had to use this technique a lot through my part-time PhD. I have a nasty progressive neurological disease and am knocked out for much of the time. I could have very very long periods where I couldn't do any studying at all. List making helped me get going again, and to make progress, and to get to the end, and pass :)

Congratulations :)

Congratulations :)

Congratulations Dr Wally. So pleased for you :)

Glad you've got good support around you.

I wouldn't quit though. At the very least see if your department can find a suitable replacement examiner. You have nothing to lose by doing that.

In the meantime look for work, even short-term work to bring in some money.

And look after yourself. In a way the pressure is off you a bit now, even if you'd rather have got it out of the way. So do take the chance to have a bit of a breather.

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A cancelled viva doesn't spare your department from ramifications. Funding councils go on completion rates. So if you don't complete (and that means successfully pass your viva and come out with a PhD) within a certain timescale ESRC will penalise your department. So they will want you to pass, and should endeavour to work towards that end.

If you feel really really low please contact the Samaritans. Phone them. But don't be so low you think about doing anything silly.

Meanwhile give yourself a chance to take the news in. And contact your supervisors on Monday.

Personally I would also be looking for a job. You could start doing that on Monday too.

Yes speak to your supervisors and see what happens next.

Is your thesis way too long? If so maybe this will give you a chance to shorten it. And that may not be a bad thing.

But contact your supervisors urgently to see what happens next.

Good luck!

The only figures I have to hand are that out of those who apply for PhD funding from AHRC in the open competition the success rate tends to be 1 in 5. So a 20% chance of being successful. Some unsuccessful people will self-fund, so do the PhD anyway.

If you're contemplating suicide you need professional help. Honestly. Have you a long-standing issue with anxiety? If you do that will help you get more help. If not get help ASAP. Your GP is there to help, as are the university counsellors, and also the Samaritans. The latter are available at any hour, any day.

Please get proper help. Your viva is not that important. And I expect you will be ok. I have a devastating neurological disease which is severely disabling. I had very good cause to worry about being able to represent myself properly in the viva. But come the day, even with the nerves, you get through it.

Take a bottle of water with you to drink from. It will help if you get a dry mouth from nerves, and is good to glug from while you formulate your answers.

And you don't have to be able to answer every question.

It is tough. I went through a really bad phase with writing. My supervisor was 500 miles away by then, and was giving me feedback in writing which was saying my work wasn't up to scratch and he was really surprised, given past stuff. But he pointed out the deficiencies, even in writing feedback, and gave me constructive feedback that I could work on to move forward and improve things. Once I was over the initial shock I found I could move forward and do the rewrites.

It's easier said than done, but you have to become detached, and just get on with it, as others have said. The advice to leave it for a while after you look through the feedback initially is really good. That initial feedback can be the hardest to take, by far. So give yourself a breather before you even think about tackling it. If your supervisors have highlighted clearly the areas that you need to improve then that is really good, and will help you a lot. It's much harder if they give vague "oh it's not good!" feedback. It sounds as though you have constructive feedback though, even if it was very difficult to take.

You are also going to have to face this a lot through your PhD. It can be particularly hard at the closing stages, near the submission deadline, as they give you cutting feedback (speaking from personal experience here). But if you knuckle down, try to distance yourself from it, it's ok.

Good luck!