Reading your thesis is useful. Speaking it is different.
Most PhD viva preparation involves reading — going back through your thesis, reviewing the literature, making notes on the questions you expect. That's genuinely useful. But the viva itself is a spoken conversation, and the gap between being able to recall something and being able to explain it clearly under questioning is larger than most candidates expect.
Spoken rehearsal closes that gap. When you explain your methodology out loud, you find the points where your reasoning isn't yet crisp. When you answer a follow-up question in real time, you build the kind of flexibility the viva demands. Defensia is designed to give you that practice — privately, repeatedly, grounded in your actual thesis.
What the viva will cover
Your research contribution
What does your thesis add to the field? Can you articulate it precisely, without hedging? Examiners will press on this until the answer is clear.
Methodology and design choices
Why did you choose your approach? What alternatives did you consider? How did you address limitations in your design? These questions often take up a significant part of the viva.
Engagement with the literature
Can you situate your work within existing research? Can you defend the literature you included — and justify what you left out?
Limitations and future work
Every thesis has limitations. Examiners expect you to acknowledge them, explain them, and place them in context. Being honest and precise here builds credibility.
Results and interpretation
What do your findings actually show? How confident are you in your interpretation? Could they be explained differently?
How Defensia supports your preparation
Thesis-grounded questions
Every question comes from your specific work. Not generic prompts — questions grounded in your methodology, findings, and arguments.
Real-time spoken sessions
You answer out loud. The examiner listens and responds. You rehearse the actual format of the viva, not a written version of it.
Structured feedback
After each session, scores and notes across five categories show you where to focus your next session.
How it works
Upload your thesis
Upload your thesis PDF. Defensia indexes the full text so questions can be grounded in your specific work.
Choose an examiner style
Pick the type of practice you need. Supportive for confidence-building, rigorous for stress-testing your defence.
Speak your answers
Run a live session. Answer out loud, respond to follow-up questions, and let the examiner probe your reasoning.
Review and repeat
Review your scored feedback and practise again. Track your scores across sessions.