Video conferencing VIVA examinations

The Department of Orthopaedic & Trauma Surgery at the TORT Centre held two VIVA examinations remotely utilising a professional video conferencing facility on the 14-15th January 2016. Diaa Attalah (MSc in Orthopaedic & Rehabilitation Technology) and Lianne Bissel (MSc in Sports & Biomechanical Medicine), both from Australia, were completing their studies on each distance learning course and gave oral PowerPoint presentations on their respective research topics prior to their VIVA examinations; “Differences of management of carpal tunnel syndrome” and “The prevalence of overuse injuries in non-elite netballers”, respectively.

The viva examination board consisted of Dr Derek Santos and Mr Peter Briggs as External Examiners, Dr Graham Arnold and Professor Rami Abboud as Internal Examiners, respectively, and Dr Tim Drew as exam Convenor.

“This is the first time I have conducted a viva by video conferencing and the experience was rewarding and equal that of a face-to-face viva, especially that Lianne was excellent in defending her dissertation well with a good level of knowledge about her topic”, stated Professor Abboud. “We are grateful to our external examiners, Dr Santos and Mr Briggs, for taking the time to travel to Dundee regularly to undertake theses viva examinations, we will always be indebted to them”.