The viva voce and beyond
Learn more about how to plan your viva and the possible outcomes of your examination meeting.
The viva voce – literally translated as ‘with living voice’ – is the final assessment in your doctoral process. It is an oral examination, where you will explain and defend your research to examiners with expertise in your field.
The process for your supervisors
While you were preparing to submit your thesis, your supervisory team will have submitted your Examination Arrangements, liaising with your examiners and finding a suitable date. This will be ideally within three to six months of your submission date: once this is submitted, the Doctoral School will be able to start planning your Viva, so it's important that it's submitted in time to avoid any delays to your examination.
Your external examiner is sent a contract formally inviting them to act as your external examiner: once they return their signed documents, we are able to release the thesis to them. Your examiners will both be asked to complete and submit a preliminary report on your thesis before your viva, which helps them identify key points and decide on the questions that you will be asked, to ensure that you have a thorough and fair examination.
The examination meeting
Your viva exam will involve one internal NTU examiner, one external examiner and an independent chair, who is an experienced NTU colleague unconnected to you and your research. If you wish for your supervisor to observe the meeting – to take notes, or support you afterwards with any amendments – you can make a request via email to the PGR Administration team.
This meeting is your chance to explain your research process, defend your findings, and demonstrate your knowledge.
The length and format of your viva will differ depending on your academic discipline and thesis, but you can talk to your supervisor about what to expect and how to prepare. You might find a ‘mock viva’ with your supervisors helpful, and there are sessions planned throughout the year, as well as previous recordings, via the DETD programme.
The outcome
After the discussion, your examiners will likely take a short recess to discuss your answers and their final thoughts on your project. You will then invited back to the exam and informed of your outcome and any amendments.
Remember! Amendments are not a failure: many doctoral candidates receive corrections.
If you receive corrections, you will have a specified amount of time to complete these and resubmit your final, amended thesis.
- Minor corrections: 3 months for full time candidates, 6 months for part time – this is generally small amendments such as grammatical and formatting issues, minor tweaks to data or additional evidence for some statements.
- Major corrections: 6 months for full time candidates, 12 months for part time – this usually consist of sections that may require some additional reading or rewriting, in addition to grammatical and formatting issues.
- Revise and Resubmission: 12 months for full time, 24 months for part time – this is when the thesis requires substantial rewriting or additional data and is then re-submitted and re-examined, with or without another viva.
Your examiners will discuss any corrections with you, and will often offer you advice for the future such as publishing your research.
What happens next?
Submitting your amendments
Receiving amendments is a normal part of the doctoral process, and your examiners will explain any amendments they recommend in the outcome meeting. You will also receive a full list after the viva by email.
You will need to submit your amended thesis to the correct Dropbox on NOW within the agreed timeframe. This is a separate dropbox specifically for amendments, not the one you originally submitted your thesis to. When you have your updated TurnitIn report, save your amended thesis as a PDF and upload them both to the Candidate Declaration on the PGR Dashboard.
Once your amendments have been accepted by your Progression Board, you will receive your official confirmation and be eligible for graduation.
Thesis Embargo
Your amended thesis will be uploaded to the NTU online repository, an open access database that houses work by researchers at NTU. In some cases, you may wish to request your thesis to be embargoed or exempt from submission to a repository. Reasons might include:
- Confidentiality agreement
- Inclusion of commercially sensitive material and/or honouring commercial contracts
- Negotiating a publishing contract whereby the publisher considers public access to jeopardise the intellectual property. If you are considering publication, check the guidelines for the publishers you are interested in. Most major publishers (e.g. Elsevier, Wiley, Palgrave Macmillan, Sage) will accept publications from institutional repositories, as they require significant revisions and reformatting for publication.
If your work was funded by a research council or other funding body, check their access requirements. There may be an expectation to make your thesis accessible online no later than 12 months after the degree is awarded.
Be sure to discuss the possibility of an embargo with your supervisory team before you submit. Embargo requests will be raised at the relevant School Research Degree Committee (SRDC) meeting, so you and your supervisors will need to provide supporting evidence for your request.
If you request is successful, only the details of your thesis will be submitted to the repository. The full text will be made available after the embargo has expired. The default length for embargo is 12 months, but longer periods can be requested in certain circumstances.
If an embargo or exemption request is approved, the University will make the thesis available if it considers that it can no longer maintain a successful defence of the restriction if challenged under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
Graduation
Depending on the date of your thesis submission and/or Viva, you may have already received an invitation to the next Graduation ceremony. The Graduation team liaises with the Doctoral School to identify which candidates are likely to be eligible to graduate in the next session, so that invitations can be sent.
The eligibility criteria for graduation are as follows:
- Candidate must have submitted final amendments
- Final feedback from examiner/s must have been received or expected
- Candidate must have been approved for conferment by the Director of Doctoral Programmes
- Candidate must have returned signed conferment paperwork to the Doctoral School (sent via email to candidate after approval by DDP)
The conferment paperwork must be submitted at least one week prior to the deadline for each session (usually one month before the ceremony) to allow time for processing. Candidates are invited prior to conferment to reduce the time individuals who are likely to complete in time have to wait between conferment of their award and their graduation, similar to undergraduates being invited before they have received their final grades.
If you have received your invitation but are unlikely to be conferred in time for the next ceremony, don't worry! You will be automatically transferred to the next round of ceremonies, and you can also transfer any gown or photography bookings. We advise you not to book any travel or hotels until you are certain that you will be conferred within the deadline.
For more information about Graduation at NTU, you can visit the website or email them at NTU.Graduations@ntu.ac.uk.