My supervisor moved 500 miles away to another university. I had the option of following him to the new uni, though at a distance. But I decided to stay at my current one. He also technically carried on as my supervisor, for funding purposes, though near the end another supervisor stepped in to provide more face-to-face contact. So I ended up with joint supervisors.

I had 2 supervisors, with my original one who moved away continuing to act as a joint supervisor at a distance. Both told me that if they gave me conflicting advice I was to make my own decision, and they would support that. They were obviously expecting to disagree (!), but didn't disagree in the end too much. At this late stage if you have to choose one over the other I'd go with the primary sup, not least because they're probably the person who has to sign off what you've done prior to submission. But you should also raise this issue with them.

Thanks! And good luck to you too with your article.

I'm online, but not PhD-ing (all completed now). Just wondering how hubby's going to get home tomorrow with Scottish airspace closed down ... Surfing all sorts of alternative travel options!

I had a similar list Rick, based on what I'd read in Tinkler & Jackson.

- originality of my thesis
- contribution to knowledge
- methodology
- weaknesses/gaps/mistakes
- and what would I do differently if starting again

Those areas were what I focused on in my pre-viva thinking. I preferred this to the alternative approach of revising for dozens of potential similar viva questions. I have huge memory problems, and the pared-down approach was more effective for me.

If you can get hold of the Tinkler & Jackson viva book look at page 148 for advice on summarising the thesis. I'd give you the Phillips & Pugh pages too, but they vary by edition. But Tinkler & Jackson describe the technique, as well as others you can use.

Have you tried summarising it? There's really good advice on how to do that in the Tinkler & Jackson viva book, based on the Phillips & Pugh "How to get a PhD" book. I summarised mine into two-column pages, a short line (well half line!) or two per thesis page. That helped me engage with it.

I was really concerned about remembering my thesis because I have brain damage and huge memory problems as a result from neurological disease. But I found actively summarising it helped. But don't try that until 3 weeks or less before your viva, lest you forget it.

I didn't need the summary in the end, and wasn't asked anything that required me to look up my thesis at all, even though I had it with me. But having summarised it like that, rather than just reread it more casually, made me a bit more confident when I went into the room.

I didn't mark up my thesis at all, or stick post-it notes in it. I read it beforehand, and summarised it, and took the summary in with me (a sentence/line for each page number, arranged in two columns). So that would have helped me find things. But I didn't mark up the thesis at all. And I wasn't asked to refer to it once.

You have plenty of time to prepare for your viva. June is ages away :) Good luck.

Wow! 7 years! Good luck! My uni deadline was 6 years, and I managed to come within that, just. So I can understand your long slog. Good luck for the last push. I found things accelerated very near the end, in case that's any comfort. But I still didn't think I'd make it until suddenly I did.

I'm in a department where a lot of students are doing PhDs part-time, including many while working. For history students (as we are) it is a really hard option, because you need to make the time to go to the archives to do the research. Archives are often only open Monday-Friday, so that means working less than full-time hours, or the PhD isn't possible. And then masses of time is needed for the writing-up as well. It's far mor time consuming than just a few meetings. Also you may have essential training events that you have to go to the uni as well, and those are typically geared around full-timers, so during the day, Monday-Friday.

The other drawback with a part-time PhD is that it is a long slog. My university puts a limit of 6 years on part-timers, and I submitted just weeks within my 6 year deadline. But you need an awful lot of perseverance to get to the end of such a long degree programme.

Sorry to sound a bit negative. A part-time PhD was the only way I could do it, but it can be difficult.

Do your corrections need supervisor feedback? Mine didn't, though they were mostly typographical ones, or adding source information below tables.

Congrats Nxsfan! I didn't sleep the night before my iva either, though I managed to nab 3 hours sleep in the morning. Adrenaline got me through it as well. And I didn't even sleep the night after. my mind was still racing so much!

My best tip is to read Tinkler & Jackson's book, to demystify the process. And reread your thesis, and note any errors. I took a list of them into the viva, and it was fine. And perhaps think about your answers to 5 key questions: originality of thesis, contribution to knowledge, methodology, weaknesses/gaps/mistakes, and what would I do differently if starting again. I found that much more helpful than thinking about dozens of potential (but often similar) viva questions.

I've started a PhD twice. The first time, after my computing degree, I didn't want to work in industry as a programmer, was keen to work in academia, and would quite like to have been a lecturer.

Obviously that didn't pan out, because I developed a life-changing illness and had to leave.

The second time I started a PhD because I found a topic that I absolutely adored, and wanted to research. That was quite unexpected: I didn't intend to follow the history Masters with a PhD, but then this topic came up in my Research Assisting work, and I absolutely loved it. So I signed up. And it was a strong enough topic to sustain my interest and enthusiasm through to the end.

If I was to compare the two PhD experiences I think the second one was clearly the better reason for doing the PhD. But if I'd stayed healthy I would have completed the first time, and would probably be a lecturer now, which I would have loved. Ah well!

Yes, and my supervisor had to re-sign my corrected hard bound thesis, ready for absolutely final submission (which happened yesterday).

It's certainly worth trying to find out the relevant rules for your uni/dept before your viva. I found this helpful for me, to know what options to expect. There were 7 possible viva outcomes at my uni, all specified precisely in terms of time-scales, corrections needed etc. I ended up passing with option 2 (option 1 being a perfect pass with no corrections) which I was really chuffed with.