Internal examiner

A PhD is supposed to end in a successful viva. For a UK viva, you need a chair, an internal examiner, and an external examiner. And a candidate, of course. And now I've been asked to be the internal examiner ('internal' for short) for my old office mate Stella! What an honour.

The job of an internal normally starts earlier; there are yearly progress meetings, and in these the internal leads the discussion. The thought is that they are nearby so logistically easy to involve, but they are not directly involved in the work so they have a fresh outsider view. I'm not sure who was her internal so far, and why this person isn't performing the task anymore, but I'm happy to take up the baton.

Stella has gone part-time, which means that she gets eight years to finish up rather than the more usual four, so the actual viva might be far away. But still! I've recently become a clearing contact person and a book reviewer; bring on the internal examiner...