Length of time for a PhD viva in humanities?

[Ineedcoffeenow]

I don’t have a huge amount of experience with doctoral vivas (my own + 4 I’ve examined) in the humanities. My sense is that 2-3 hours is normal. Is that about right? What’s the most extreme time you know?

My own and all the ones I have conducted as examiner were done and dusted (including discussion between examiners and feedback to candidate) within two hours. That being said, I have heard of longer ones (and i am a nice examiner :-)!

@atriskacademic many thanks. Can j ask how you ran them? I vaguely remember that for mine I was asked to step out of the room for 10 mins while the examiners discussed things and then called back in and told that I would have minor corrections. I don’t know how common this is.

The student always has to step out for 10 minutes at the end while the examiners discuss.

90 minutes to 2 hours, with a break in that time in the Humanities. 3 hours is extreme and I would think could become unproductive.

Yes 90 mins to 2hrs is about normal for the humanities.

This is interesting! It’s 3-4 hours at least for biomedical vivas. I heard maths ones were very short too

I'd say 90 mins to 2 hrs 30 for the exam. I'd then allow up to 30 mins for the examiners' discussion as they may get refreshments then if it's a longer viva and 10 mins afterwards for the outcome if it's given on the day. Your university registry, or PGR office (whoever organises and books rooms at your university) will be able to tell you what time they allow.

Agree. We're advised that there would have to be a really good reason to go beyond two hours

interesting - i m closer to biomed, and 3h is our suggested max duration. However, it is extremely rare for viva to be shorter than 3h - 4h is more "normal".
Beside the chapter by chapter questions and corrections, there is also a holistic conversation on the candidate's experience, their ambition, publication plan - with very much the emphasis to give them the opportunity to acknowledge their learning journey, and for us to celebrate it.

My viva was very short - less than 2h, which i thought was very insulting. We had an international student who had a similarly short viva and was also very offended.

In the humanities, an especially long viva would imply there was something problematic about the PhD, that passing was a marginal decision, and/or the examiners suspected plaigiarism or incompetence and were trying to verify that it was the candidate’s own work.
So a candidate would likely be offended by a longer viva in a humanities subject!

I’m guessing that in the sciences there would be more discussion of the processes of coming to the conclusions of the PhD, problems, experimental setup etc., whereas in the humanities the finished draft should really explain itself on its own terms.

I’d be exhausted after 3-4hr viva, never mind the candidate!

Mine was 3.5 hours long, and I didn't need to step outside the room before I got the results - when later I got the examiners' pre-viva report it stated that they were planning to recommend minor corrections. I guess if I'd really messed up the viva or something unexpected came up it would have changed the pre-determined outcome, but luckily it didn't!

Mine was an hour and a half. They're capped at that length in our department. Out for an hour, then back in for the results. It took an hour because the examiners decided to get lunch but didn't tell us! We were well panicked that something had gone badly wrong.
I've examined elsewhere and it's been up to a couple of hours, then candidate goes out, we get the key feedback notes agreed and back in they come for the result.

Mine was about two hours. A friend’s started at 10.30, broke for lunch and went on for another two hours — apparently touch and go. However, he’s now a full professor in a highly-regarded department, so it didn’t impede his career.