Vivas in action: Exploring the practice of viva voce examinations

Viva voce examinations ('vivas') play a key role in the assessment of research degrees (Masters by Research and PhD), with previous research leading to a range of improvements to policy and practice. Nevertheless, knowledge of how vivas actually unfold is limited and research on real-life examples is scarce. This project explores recorded vivas through conversation analysis and related approaches to show how vivas work in practice, with the aim to develop training for examiners and research students.