After about 5 years, I was finally in the position in November 2018 to submit my EdD thesis.. A lot of time spent on creating 50,000 words. But was it good enough?
In January 2019 a day after my birthday, I had my Viva… I have never had to undertake a viva before and had read and listened to people about the viva before going in…
It was an interesting experience to say the least. It was great that there were two academics that had taken the time to read my thesis, and had considered what I had to say and prepared questions to explore the thesis and the research with me. So on that level, it was a really good experience. The questions and the viva went on for about 1 1/2 hours, although time seemed to fly.
I enjoyed the mental workout of answering the questions set and justifying what I had written or what approach I had taken.
The outcome of the viva was a pass with major corrections, and 6 months in which to complete them. It was an odd feeling as people were congratulating me, but I didn’t really feel like I had passed yet. That feeling still hasn’t gone away, but I am sure it will do, once I have had the final ok from the examiners.
I decided to use the extra six months as a time to reflect and make the thesis better, rather than see it as a failure to pass first time. I have taken the time to explore a slightly different angle and to approach the thesis with fresh eyes. This has kept me going.
It also helped that all my corrections were in red, so I could see the progress that I was making. So with just under a month to go, I am almost there…. Just one more chapter to slightly edit and check for typos and then its sending it back to the examiners!
Geographical reflections 