How to prepare for your PhD thesis defence

0:00 The preparation for your defence begins on day 1 of your PhD
0:40 Know the format
2:00 Presentations
3:58 Answering awkward questions
5:49 You set the syllabus for your own PhD defence
6:55 Updating your knowledge of the core literature after you submit
8:17 Dealing with nerves before the defence
9:12 If your defence is online
10:57 If you lose your train of thought or forget the question
12:12 You might actually enjoy it...

[doctorhannah_]

2:05 "It's better to say less and focus on your strongest content [...] and let them ask you questions about what they want to ask about" <- Awesome advice!!

[theannareich]

Thanks a lot! Although I'm not doing a PhD (yet), I have been using your advice for my master thesis which has been of enormous help :) This video was great to calm my nerves before the final defence!

[dr.bangura]

Thank you, Dr Hayton for your vital videos throughout my time-3 years of doing PhD in China. Your videos helped me a lot. I have just passed my external experts' thesis review examination.

[aspenanderson]

Wow thank you so much! My defence is in less than a week and you really hit the nail on the head, I have stressed myself out so much because I don’t know everything and there is no way to know everything. Your video has assured me that I’ve done all the right things to prepare and I am feeling much less anxious. I appreciate your video and the advice.

[apple-qizk]

This is extremely helpful especially for someone like me who gets super nervous during presentations. Thanks James.

[edwardwu]

I'm so glad that I see this video 10days before my viva. The last part gives me confidence and wipes all my stress out. Thank you for sharing~

[hassanosman]

Thank you very much, today is my defense

[jimohololade]

Thanks very much, this is very helpful as I am preparing to defend my DBA in few weeks time. The video and the delivery of the subject was good too. Much appreciated.

[Ilhemworld]

I'm having my PhD thesis defense in a month and this came in the right time, thank you

[anniochan]

Thanks for this! I will be defending early next year and will definitely be following these golden nuggets of advice :D

[liqurice]

Thank you so much for this information, James! My defence is coming up in 5 weeks from now and I'm so grateful I found your precious advices. :)

[theaussiewhinger]

We are lucky in Australia that oral theses defences are not usually done. That said, this is also very good advice for discussion one's research in other contexts as well, like at conferences etc.

[saidteacher]

you said in other countries its common to have a panel defense, I do not know which countries you mean, maybe the US is one of them. In my country Algeria ( and i believe Morocco and Tunisia alike) two exterminators required and the discussion is usually very tough. I did not really like it when I first attended a phd defense at no other than Harvard, seemed a lot like a very friendly environment, though I do not know what really did happen when asked to leave.

I have much appreciation to how things are done very differently in the US!

[thank_you]

I was asked to advise PhD students for their defense. So, your video is very helpful for my preparation. Thank you 😊

[megabigblur]

Great tip on finding recent relevant literature! I usually just do a keyword search for recent papers but didn't think of going to the "cited by" of core papers I already saved.

[laure]

The channel name sounded familiar, until I realized I bought your book three years ago when I started my thesis - now about to defend!! XD

[pamelamashiane]

I have an upcoming defence and this session was exactly what I needed. Thank you soo much!

[tesscherlin]

Thank so much for this helpful and calming video on PhD defense! I will defend next week and your tips for preparing for the day of were very useful to me. I also really like your jacket, where can I find one?

[marianachrispim]

Thanks for the helpful video and interesting perspective!👏👏👏 My defense is this Friday, online 4 examiners and public audience. I am trying to prepare :)

[umangvarshney]

Can't agree more on last part. Talking about work you are passionate about to receptive well read people should be pleasant.