PhDs are hard. Really hard. They take a big chunk of time and energy out of your life, and you end up with a big book full of words, and hopefully, a Doctorate. However, a Doctorate is by no means guaranteed. You slog away for years with a varying amount Read more…
So, the first post of Clutter. What shall I write about? Something cheery? That would be ideal. But I’d instead like to write about my PhD viva. ‘Viva’ is actually an antonym for ‘cheery’, in case you didn’t know (note: untrue, but feels like it should be true). My PhD Read more…
I have at one time or another, been on every side of a PhD viva. In about 4 months time I’ll be in another one, watching one of my students hopefully produce a vigorous defence of his thesis. Which is good because I’ve read the thesis and it certainly needs Read more…
So, last week I had my viva, where I presented my thesis on “Fibre-optics sensors with molecule coatings”. It was, if you can believe it, quite good fun and I thought it might be helpful to share a blow-by-blow account of how it went. So below is as detailed an Read more…