I am a pragmatist, both as a researcher and as an individual. I start this note with this declaration to make clear to the readers that what follows is the product of a specific paradigmatic belief.

A month prior to my DBA viva I learnt of the Mock Viva service offered by the DoctorateHub. I decided then to request the service because I was not sure of my ability to defend my thesis verbally. I was looking for weaknesses in my defence style. That said, I was very sure that my written thesis quality was beyond doubt.

The DoctorateHub team was very responsive and managed to conduct the Mock Viva at very short notice. The Mock lasted around two hours and it was full of engaging debate. The examiners profoundly interrogated the thesis in matters of thesis objective, clarity, methodology and analysis. Acknowledging that every thesis is unique, it might be noted will that in every Viva the questions differ substantially.

So, how would I know that a Mock Viva was helpful to me and might be helpful to others? The basic answer is that doctoral research is mostly a lonely journey. It is very likely that during this loneliness the traveller falls under a sort of illusion that his direction is correct beyond doubt. And this is why such reality checks provided by a scholarly team who are strangers to your work can help you recognize how your real examiner (strangers too) may perceive your work.

The result of my formal Viva was resubmission. The examiners in both the Viva and the Mock Viva were not convinced of the rigor of what I still believe is an original piece of action research. However, as a pragmatist, if I had a Mock Viva further ahead of the official submission, I may have changed it to satisfy the examiners point of view.

So, in a nutshell, I suggest that the Mock Viva with strangers-scholars is worth doing. To gain the most from it, you should have it at least three months before your intended submission date. This will allow you to incorporate new insights that you believe should be addressed.

Another benefit of the Mock Viva was to sharpen my verbal defence style based on the feedback from these professional scholars.

Considering those important components above, I would say a Mock Viva like the one that I experienced can make the difference between a minor and a major revision, or even between a minor and a direct award of your doctorate degree.

Ahmed S.

12 January 2019

Very insightful and good guide to successful completion of the PhD thesis.

Hearing others facing the same issues doesn't solve my specific problem but it has a reassuring and positive impact!

Positive impact on clearing the mist on the subject.

Now I have a better framing of the PhD process. It surely helps.

Well organized presentation. Provided us a lots of examples and business cases.

This session helps me in preparing for my interview & FGD scheduled in March.

I am really enyoing learning from you.

I'm glad I know DoctorateHub. The coaches and mentors are doing an excellent job. They keep inciting thoughts during the Q&A session and find ways to help collaboratively. You are awesome. All the best.

22nd Jan interactive was a good meeting and good lesson for me. Thank you Prof. Bostjan

I had reached high levels of procrastination but now I have opened more.

As am developing my PhD proposal I became stuck at some point because of the methodological issues. The support and guidance I received from Doctoratehub has been instrumental in addressing the challenge and at the same time shaped my thoughts on how to manage large literature in my area of study.

This is more than a testimonial; it is a declaration.

The DoctorateHub’ outstanding learnings are permanently ingrained in me. They form part of my spinal cord, brain, heart, nervous and circulatory systems. Consequently, the entrenched excellent learnings positively affect my daily thinking and behaviour beyond the academic realm. 

This extensive transformation process occurred gradually from November 2018 to July 2021 due to unrelenting coaching, mentoring and course work. The coursework included: 1. Wicked problem tackling. 2. Thesis writing up. 3. Viva preparation. 4. Virtual Residency. 5. Post Viva - Major modifications and 6. Numerous thesis- stage-based learning teleconferences. 

Whilst Dr Meiszner provided an estimated 80% of the academic ‘gymnastics’ instructions and discipline, Professor Gomišček provided an intense 20% that forcefully dragged out the ‘church-mouse’ silence element of my behaviour. Within their combined focus, there was no hiding spot for this learner. 

In all sincerity, perhaps I might have miraculously attained an empty ‘Doctor’ label in time. But most assuredly, I wouldn’t have achieved the doctoral level of thinking and behaviour that I have today without their excellent mentoring and coaching. 

I remain forever grateful.

Dr Bongi Mkhize

I am going to graduate on 17th July 2020 and would like to reflect a bit on my DBA (Doctorate in Business Administration) journey and incredible role the DoctorateHub played in it.  

Through the past years I have been a regular at the DoctorateHub and engaged in various services for my thesis development such as thesis review; informal community discussions during the webinars; conducting a Mock Viva; or reaching out to them with ad-hoc questions related to my studies. 

So it happened that after the proposal preparation I was matched with a professor outside of my university to be my primary supervisor. He was able to provide me with a number of recommendations and review draft of chapters. It became clear however after the second supervisor’s feedback that the first draft of the thesis needed to be considerably reviewed, else I would not have been able to pass through the stringent Viva examination. This is where I decided to approach the DoctorateHub to see if they could provide help. I have been attending some of the webinars, which were very insightful and instrumental in the further progress throughout the journey and clarified many of the research challenges. It was also an interesting exchange with fellow students that shared their own experiences at the Viva and various research stages.  

It was necessary though to have the thesis submitted within a very short period of time and taking into consideration substantial second supervisor’s feedback. I acknowledge that I needed help in turning around the thesis before the final submission. This is where the Full Thesis Review service came to rescue, followed by providing detailed feedback on the re-written thesis and the Mock Viva. In comparison to the ‘light tough'  feedback from my primary and secondary supervisors, the in depth feedback and discussion with the team at the DoctorateHub allowed me to re-construct a weak version of the initial draft thesis into a more professional and presentable version before the submission. 

I now can confidently say that I would not be able to make through the Viva without these two services. The DoctorateHub team was extremely helpful and thorough with their feedback and detailed suggestions during the thesis review and Mock Viva. The Mock Viva itself added a lot of confidence and helped with the strategies on how to answer difficult questions. I am very happy how I dealt with the questions at the real Viva, it was even complimented by the examiners and major part of it was due to the rehearsal with the Doctorate Hub. 

The DoctorateHub always delivered what was promised for the services, helped to be engaged at the webinars and stay persistent and motivated during the stages when I was almost about to quit. And I will continue to attend the Learning Cafe interactions organised by the DoctorateHub to continue the journey of a researcher-practitioner and perhaps inspire other DBA students and stay connected.

Dr. Sona L.

It was a good session with experts. Such friendly where you can ask about anything. Feel welcome from them.

I was glad that I got additional learning about research. Truly your service can help many individual especially the researcher.

Thanks

Good presenter and presentation.

I will recommend Doctorate hub to my mates.

It was a very enlightening session. It certainly clariffied which aspects of my dissertation I should highlight when aiming at being published. Thanks.

DoctorateHub was an essential pillar during my DBA journey. It provided the needed support at all stages and was a platform for collaboration among peers.

Well planned and structured presentation.

Excellent learning experience, I look forward to attending next Webinars.

Webinar was very interesting, and helped me in my preparation for my thesis

This was a great opportunity, for someone like me, seeking to mentally prepare for my doctorate journey, to listen and learn more about what it all entails.

I am a PhD candidate and I'm in my 2nd year already. At first, I was expecting this journey to be difficult and confusing, but sometimes it's even beyond my expectations. Sometimes I feel that the guidance I receive from my scientific coordinator alone is not enough. That's why I'm grateful for these DoctorateHub webinars. I'm happy I get to know other PhD candidates and to receive some extra guidance. Thank you, DoctorateHub team for your work and efforts! Your help is much appreciated! P.S. Special thanks to Dr. Andreas!

Could see the clarity of the subject matter. It was a really interesting session. It was Sunday (26/09/2021) early morning to me, i.e. 0100 hrs. I was in this meeting till 0240 hrs. Couldn't see the flow of the workshop since participants jumped and thrown questions. Since this was a time-boxed event, it could be nice to work on allocation.

i have improved my proposal, and methodology and i hope to have a better literature review

It was educative, informative and insightful

Seminar was quite useful

Doctoratehub has guided us well in understanding and simplifying the research process.

I am so glad to have found your site. I found DoctorateHub to be very responsive. The passion of your staff for helping doctoral students shows very clearly by the time and advice that you all so willingly give and share. I very much appreciate your kindness and help. Thank you.

Enjoyed it... Hope you will be doing more such seminars

The session helped me in two ways. 1) it showed me that I am on the right track, thus it boosted my confidence 2) I learnt new things. I look forward to join in another session. Thanks

It was an enriching session I wish I can have again.

I am grateful for the assistance rendered by Doctorate Hub as it added more knowledge on my research skills. Thank you for simplifying the complexity of conducting research.

I was thrilled with the way resources demonstrated the research question and research problem and bridge between both. allowed us to asked questions and clarified really well. hoping to attend the next session on coming Saturday.

The program was well organized and I am looking forward to attend future programs. I also recommend DoctorateHub's programs to PhD students at all levels.

The instructor was very usefull and he gave responses to all questions, his english was very understandable.

After I finished my course work, I was supposed to start writing my outline for my research proper. I became stuck at this point. I had no clue how to start or what to write. I was introduced to DoctorateHub by another student and the very first week I attended a meeting, I was able to write down my initial thoughts and I have been writing since then. DoctorateHub helped me to start my thinking process and they are constantly available for any additional help required.

I just wanted to share a quick note and let you know that you guys do a really good job. I’m glad I decided to work with you. It’s really great how professors engage in and create a cordial atmosphere for exchange.

Doctoratehub is a great source for helping you to get focused and stay focused. The feedback and the information provided is invaluable.

you people are really well mentoring us. please conduct more programs

I discovered DoctorateHub at the time I was seeking guidance and looking for a place where I can get in touch with scholars and learn from their research experience! This platform enriches the PhD journey and makes it less complicated by providing free and comprehensive support through: webinars, courses, trainings and much more!

The webinar assists in reinforcing ideations on research, that assist in my thesis writing, to be more organized in my thinking.

I am not a postgraduate students but a professor supervising MA and PhD theses at Cairo University, Egypt. I decided to attend so that I may get hints and pointers as to how to help my students develop their thesis writing skills. This session was important, especially in its relevance to the process of developing a literature review. Thank you very much for offering this quidance free of charge. This is exceptionally useful and accessible to postgraduate students in less privileged parts of the world, such as Egypt, where I come from.

Where there is a will there is a way.

The Doctoratehub has really helped me to shape my research thinking process as I plan my research. The tips and feedback has really been insightful.

Improved my understanding a lot in identifying the issue from the literature and framing the research question. Practical solutions provided during the question-answer session to manage the complexities within time were helpful.

Am learning a lot from the webinar and it is helping me in developing my research proposal. I do not have a thesis supervisor and here is the only place where am being guided in such task.

This platform is so beneficial on so many levels. Training, discussions and research is available on all levels of the doctorate journey through this platform. It has been so beneficial to my current processes and preparation for my future application on this doctorate journey. Thank you so much DoctorateHub team.

A platform that supports the researchers to be on the right track - Good to be part of this hub.

The sessions and materials are great and interesting.

Your webinars are very informative and supportive for junior researchers, I really appreciate.

Question framing is the most obvious yet deceptively difficult part of research in my personal experience. The presentation took it head-on and explained well how questions can be framed and evolved as research progress. Most importantly it pointed out common mistakes and unrealistic expectations.

I am learning a lot indeed - thanks.

Your services is very helpful for junior researchers. And the facilitating approach is very good, it is participatory. Great.

Thank you for teaching about the research problem and the solution bias. And how to avoid the temptation to focus on the solution, rather than the research problem. I'll watch this over and over again. Until I get this right!!

I am enjoying the sessions.

This is my first time to attend the webinar and I am looking forward to joining again in the future.

The two session I attended really help me in organizing my thoughts and moving forward with the literature review.

Excellent free service, attracting outstanding international speakers, and connecting on a global level.

I felt way better after the session especially that I got to talk to other PhD candidates that are struggling like me. I felt hope because my advisor never answers so I felt like I could have some guidance here.

Really helpful to focus on the viva process. Thanks for your knowledge and experience in this process as it is helping me to prepare for this event.

Your support is greatly appreciated. Many thanks for your consideration.

Thank you for your insightful.

The fact that you are readily available and providing the needed support is what I consider invaluable. So many lessons learned. It helps students because they no longer feel isolated. Keep up the good work.

I will keep in contact through out the course of my study, the webnar enlighted me even though I am at an advanced stage.

As a postgraduate supervisor, who is already a Ph.D. holder, I was delighted to find a resource that I can continue to develop from. I will continue to share information about DoctorateHub with my students and peers. Thank you.

The inputs that you impart in each session I attended is enlightening. It helps me focus on the essentials and gave me confidence during my proposal defense. The consequence of attending is I passed.

Reallly helpful space.

Excellent resource especially as my university doesn't put on anything like this.

Thank you so much for the priceless knowledge. It is extremely helpful in my research journey.

Learning from people from different parts of the world is exhilarating. May there be more of this kind of endeavor in the future.

I would highly recommend working with DoctorateHub. In the past, I have benefitted from the webinars that DoctorateHub organises periodically. When the time came for me to prepare for the final submission of my thesis as well as my viva voce, I reached out to the team at DoctorateHub to see about a more formal engagement that might allow me to prepare for my upcoming viva. Over the course of eight weeks, I had the opportunity to work with a viva coach who challenged my research through a close examination of my write-up and in a series of mock viva engagements. All of this was done in a tough but collaborative way with my viva coach. As a result, I feel more prepared and grounded going into my viva. My thesis write-up is better now too. For me, the timing was perfect as I was able to go through the entire eight weeks before the final submission date of my thesis write-up. Overall, my viva coach helped me to see things through the eyes of the examiner and what they would likely question in the document and, importantly, in the context of the viva examination. I found the programme well worth the investment of time, effort, and treasure.

I have enjoyed the journey of being with you in my study.

Excellent.Thanks a lot.

I am privileged to have attended the webinar by DoctorateHub where I learned VIVA Feedback as a very good mechanism to ensure that research paper of the students will have a better impact in the society if they are properly guided by their supervisors. Given this scenario, inclusion of this as a policy must be in place including monitoring and evaluation of the same.

It's a very good forum, keep it up.

Great and excellent In-Residence at DoctorateHub, Porto, Portugal! Very well organised and particularly useful learning and information delivered in a brilliant style. I would highly endorse and recommend the Porto Workshop to research students that are interested in improving their research thesis and in growing their research “scissor”. Overall, the learning environment was conducive and Porto, a beautiful city.

I recently joined the Webinars, only attended four sessions and I am finding them very useful for my PhD study.

I am going to engage more of DoctorateHub webinars in the future and even review past webinars because I know these will help me a lot in my research journey.

For the more than 15 years (with the last 10 being in consultancy), I had been looking for ways to contribute to organizations that are interested in growth and broad-based development. I graduated from the DBA programme last year (2019), the course has accelerated my progress in understanding of organizations and now the doctoratehub is assisting me in sharpening these skills towards my interesting journey...I thank the providers of knowledge in the doctotratehub in providing this platform. Dr Ahmed M. Ibrahim

Very enriching content, meaningful and applicable.

I have just signed up to this hub and it has been insightful. It was quite daunting at first and I’m thinking if do-able. But with me in this platform I can foresee a clearer future. Thanks to the organisers.

The residency was very well run. I think you are providing a very valuable service and the sharing of information with other students was very helpful.

I have been attending several webinars of DoctorateHub and also used the Full Thesis Review and the Mock Viva services. DoctorateHub always delivered and it was extremely helpful for me. I could not make it through the Viva without these 2 services. The DoctorateHub team were extremely helpful with their feedback and suggestions during the review and mock exam. The Mock exam added lots of confidence for me and also helped with the strategy on how to answer difficult questions. I am very happy with how I dealt with the questions at the real Viva, and major part of it was due to the rehearsal with the DoctorateHub. I have had a bit of 'light touch' feedback from my primary supervisor and the Doctorates Full Thesis review helped me a lot to re-construct the thesis to achieve much more professional and presentable version before the submission. Overall I am very happy that I have been referred to DoctorateHub services and this has helped me a lot during my thesis stage. Many thanks to all involved !

Each webinar and contact with Doctorate Hub has always been instrumental in my progress throughout my thesis journey. I only wish the service had been available at the beginning of my DBA, as I would have participated in every support aspect on offer including the mock viva. On the other hand, the DoctorateHub has been key in clarifying the research challenges I was facing and always met my urgent deadlines with prompt supportive responses. This is an excellent service and I highly recommend it to other DBA students at any stage of their studies. I am very thankful for the team at the DoctorateHub and wish continued growth and success.

It is a pleasure compiling this recommendation for the Doctorate Hub. Its Professors are vigilant and strategic thinkers with an eye for detail and a devotion to their careers. They have the capability and expert knowledge to teach a variety of subjects across a faculty, and their curiosity of expanding the horizon never diminishes. The Hub has an incredible ability to draw on their own experiences and observations to develop thoughtful opinions on a variety of encounters.

The learning on this course has been phenomenal as it has brought to view a number of blind spots in research, in fact they are not even blind spots, they were complete unknowns. The main one relates to what is broken in any given situation, if there is nothing broken then it is unlikely that it worth researching, at least for a DBA. Finding the broken pieces, added to the rigorous challenges from yourself, have highlighted my shift in thinking about problems in general, particularly digging deeper into the problem by asking why of the problem. I moved out of a comfort zone around what I have interpreted as action research. The why RQ allows for the superficial or surface layer problem to be problematised with relevant stakeholders, who in turn, (and as a collective) can penetrate to the deeper domains with a view to establishing the actual causes of such problems. In other words, the problem can be properly 'ventilated and saturated' which I have termed as key to staying on the problem side instead of jumping into the solution without properly understanding the problem. All of which is key learning for me and for participants involved in the exercises on this course. 

Once I shifted away from strategy formation (rejected by supervisor) and shifted to observing what was going on in practice, and ended up on a lack of strategic thinking and had to source the literature for what was a new topic for me, I battled timewise to shift gears from strategy formation and strategic thinking literature and would have preferred more time to get immersed in the new literature to get the 'objects' under control through reading. I felt that I rushed it and it became messy. The strategic thinking literature that I have been immersing myself in is highly theoretical and conceptual which worries me as there is very little in terms of experiential. This is likewise with already established RQ's, there are none that I have found, and also, the literature refers to hypothesis testing which petrifies me as there is a fairly big chunk that is quants orientated.  

I won't go as far as saying that the above didn't work out well when it actually has, I have learned about how the mirroring and juggling works in practice. 

In all, I have learned more about problem identification, RQ's and framing than on all of the earlier coursework in this doctoral program - I am very grateful for your time and efforts, Sir. Much appreciated!

Hi final week, of a great course. My only regret is not having access to this programme earlier. Andreas, I have to congratulate you and thank you very much. I do hope you /Doctoratehub find a means to market this to students in the Thesis phase. It is a pity about the other participants not completing but I think it’s the challenges of work/study. However, I do think they would have benefited from finding the time now, rather than not finishing or having a difficult Viva.

Thank you for your invaluable input on my thesis journey.

I acknowledge the sacrifice in time and effort you made to help me grow as I learn to adopt an academic perspective of my work-based problem.

It was rigorous but worth it.

May your journeys yield great success.

It was a good 8 weeks, though I would have loved to have had this module during my DBA programs theoretical stage ...or even during one of the DBA DDP’s (Doctoral Development Plan).

A key learnings for me was to keep the focus on the problem, and not get diverted towards a solution based approach. 

The mirroring technique and the table shared in the module will be an useful tool for candidates to compare and ensure that relevant points have been reflected on and addressed in the respective sections of the thesis.

I see myself using the table for communicating how triangulation has been supportive both at the data collection and analysis stage of the thesis. 

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you and the team at the DoctorateHub for your time and patience and appreciate your feedback and comments that have ensured further clarity in my thesis. Wishing everyone the best in their future endeavours.

The course has been invaluable in:

1. Understanding problems as "wicked",
2. Assisting with my Thesis and,
3. For practice.

Despite the difficulty in balancing work, completing the Thesis and the course, at first the 8 weeks could appear to others as taking time away from Thesis development, but actually, it enhanced mine.

I would highly recommend it. Thank you. I do wish you the best with taking the course forward.

The wicked problem course was very fruitful for self-development and thesis progression.

Its structure facilitated progressive learning that built up well for the final write up in week 8.

It has enhanced my understanding of the thesis requirements.

Overall, the course was of great value because the resultant knowledge gain can be leveraged into thesis chapters.

Working with the DoctorateHub, a range of webinars have been presented and scheduled to cover topics of interest to Doctoral students.

The content and benefits have been invaluable as we progress through our doctoral journey.