PostDoc Discussion Forum

Hello all.

I had my viva yesterday and have been referred to resubmit. This is the only option my university is now offering other than minor corrections (i.e., we don’t have the major corrections route anymore). I was generally expecting it and am not too shocked, however I did have an unexpectedly difficult experience with my external examiner. This involved a lot of making faces and shrugging when I’d try to make a point in my defence/answer a question, and a lot of general negativity from them, that contrasted so much with my internal examiner, who also had many criticisms but delivered them highly professionally.

My main concern is that I really got the impression that my overall research orientation is simply not of interest or convincing to my external examiner. Not having an ideal viva examiner arrangement is a problem that has arisen from the fact that my research is interdisciplinary, and we had to decide to take an internal or external examiner from “either side,” if that makes sense. However, I was under the impression from my primary supervisor that my external examiner would find my research in an overall sense more compelling and convincing than I am left feeling they did. So, my problem moving forward is that I’m struggling to feel secure that - even if I meet the corrections expected of me/communicated via the report - my external will be satisfied.

To add to this sense of unease, my external examiner gave me their annotated version of my thesis at the very end of my viva (after I heard my outcome). Now, I am confused. How can I possibly not internalise every little thing they’ve written in there? How am I supposed to heed only what’s in the report and not feel that I must satisfy every concern in their annotations? Is it standard procedure for an examiner (internal or external) to provide their annotated version of your thesis like this?

Thanks for your help!