Zooming into online vivas
The Covid-19 pandemic has forced academics to adopt a new model with some unexpected advantages
When rumours of imminent lockdowns started spreading, many graduate students were faced with the possibility of postponing the end of their PhD. However, amid the uncertainty about how long restrictions associated with the Covid-19 pandemic will last, most institutions have been understanding and supportive, adapting regulations to accommodate online PhD vivas and thesis defences. A new generation of proud digital doctors is out there.
‘I was really worried that they wouldn’t allow [online exams] and they would force me to delay my defence,’ says Molly Sung, from the University of Toronto, Canada. Sung found out just a week after her university shut down that she would be able to defend online. Over in Europe, Stefanie Kickinger, from the University of Wien, Austria, had started planning for an in-person defence when it became obvious that examiners would not be able to travel. ‘We contacted them three weeks before the defence, and everyone agreed – an online thesis [defence] was the best solution,’ she explains. ‘Luckily, it all went very well.’