Most PhD and DBA candidates who struggle aren't failing because their research is weak.
They're failing because no one has ever shown them what the examiner is actually looking for.
I work with directors, senior managers, and working professionals completing a PhD or DBA alongside a full-time career. I'll show you what your institution won't: what the examiner is actually assessing.
Book a Complimentary Discovery Call20+
Working Professionals Mentored to PhD/DBA Completion
45+
Doctoral Theses Examined Across 15+ Universities
130+
Peer-Reviewed Publications
£9M
Research Funding Secured
THE CHALLENGE
You're Juggling Three Jobs. And It Shows
A full-time career. Family responsibilities. And a PhD/DBA that demands academic rigour you haven't exercised in years. You're not alone in feeling overwhelmed.
Unsupportive Supervisors
Your supervisor is either too busy, doesn't understand the working professional context, or provides vague guidance that leaves you more confused than before.
You're Working Hard But Moving Slowly
You're reading papers, attending meetings, and producing drafts. But without someone who knows what the finished product needs to look like, effort doesn't always translate into progress.
You're Doing This Alone
Unlike a full-time PhD cohort, you have no peers navigating the same challenge. No one in your professional network truly understands what it takes to balance doctoral rigour with a senior career, a team, and a family.
Academic Writing Takes Time You Don't Have
It's been years since you've written at doctoral level. Relearning the language, structure, and standards of academic writing while managing a full-time role is one of the most underestimated challenges working professionals face.
Weeks Pass Without Meaningful Progress
With competing priorities and no external structure, it's easy to let a week become a month. You need accountability from someone who understands both your professional commitments and your academic obligations, not just a supervisor who checks in occasionally.
You're Making Decisions Without Examiner-Level Knowledge
Every structural choice you make, how you frame your contribution, how you position your methodology, how you write your discussion, will be assessed by an examiner. Without knowing what that assessment looks like from the inside, you're navigating without a map.
THE SOLUTION
What Working with Me Actually Looks Like
Bi-Weekly One-to-One Sessions
I work exclusively with a small number of working professionals pursuing PhDs and DBAs. You'll never be one of fifty names on a list. Every session, every document review, and every email exchange is built around your specific situation, your specific examiner, and your specific stage.
You're already investing $25,000 to $80,000 in your doctorate. The mentoring investment is the part that protects everything else.
Document Reviews with Expert Feedback
You come to each session with your current challenge. You leave with a specific, actionable plan for the next fortnight. No vague guidance. No generic feedback. Just clear direction built around what your examiner will actually assess.
Accountability That Works
I read your drafts the way an examiner would, looking for what's strong, what's weak, and what will generate questions in the viva. You get written feedback with specific examples, so you understand not just what to change but why an examiner would care.
Publication Strategy
For candidates who want to publish from their doctoral work. I'll help you identify which parts of your thesis have publication potential, which journals are appropriate, and how to adapt doctoral writing for peer review.
Responsible AI in Your Research
I've tested many AI tools with doctoral students. I know which ones save time, which ones hallucinate references, and which ones will create integrity problems you won't discover until the viva. I'll show you how to use AI in a way that strengthens your research rather than undermining it.
Email Support Between Sessions
Questions don't wait for fortnightly meetings. If something urgent comes up, a supervisor comment, a structural decision, a deadline, you can reach me by email and get a response while it still matters.
Your Path to Completion
Step 1 - Discovery Call
A 45-minute conversation where I assess your current stage, your biggest obstacles, and your timeline. I'll tell you honestly whether I think I can help — and if I can, exactly how. No sales pressure. If we're not the right fit, I'll tell you that too.
Step 2 - Examiner-Informed Personalised Plan
Before we begin, I map your thesis against what a doctoral examiner in your field will actually assess and we create a personalised plan. This becomes the strategic frame for everything we do together; your writing, your methodology, your viva preparation.
Step 3 - Structured Progress, Fortnight by Fortnight
Bi-weekly sessions, document reviews, and email support create a rhythm that keeps you moving. You always know what you're working on next and why it matters to your examiner.
Step 4 - Submission and a Viva You're Ready For
You submit a thesis you understand and can defend. Not just a document you've written, but an argument you can take into the viva room with confidence, because you know what the person on the other side of the table is looking for.
YOUR MENTOR
Professor Emmanuel Tsekleves
I was a lost PhD student. Confused. Overwhelmed. Sitting in my office at 2am, drowning in papers, I made a promise to myself: if I somehow got through this, I'd help others navigate what I was struggling with.
I got through it.
Today I'm a Professor at Lancaster University with 130+ publications, £9 million in research funding, and 45+ doctoral theses examined across 15+ UK and international universities.
But the number I'm most proud of is the working professionals I've helped complete their PhDs and DBAs. Directors, senior managers, healthcare leaders — people who had the intelligence and the commitment but were missing one thing: someone who could show them what the examiner was actually looking for, not what the textbooks say.
That's what I do. I've sat on the other side of the viva table 45+ times. I know what makes examiners nervous in the first chapter. I know what separates candidates who pass comfortably from those who struggle. And I know it rarely comes down to the quality of the research.
A senior manager came to me eight months into her literature review. She'd attended two workshops. She was still paralysed. Within three weeks of working together, she had submitted the chapter. Her message afterwards: "You're the first person who explained it from the other side of the table."
That's exactly what I want to be for you.
Join 225K PhD/DBA Candidates who follow me on LinkedIn.
20+
Working Professionals Mentored to Completion
45+
Doctoral Theses Examined
130+
Publications
£9M
Research Funding
"Emmanuel spotted something in my methodology that my supervisor had missed entirely, not because my supervisor isn't good, but because Emmanuel is reading it the way an examiner would. That one conversation saved me months of potential rework."
- Sarah, United States
Part-time PhD Candidate
"Eight months into my literature review, I'd attended two workshops and was still completely stuck. Emmanuel showed me what he actually looks for when he examines one — not what the textbooks say, but what examiners genuinely assess. I submitted the chapter three weeks later."
- James, Senior Manager, NHS
DBA Candidate
"I had a tendency to let weeks slip by without meaningful progress. The bi-weekly sessions with clear expectations between them changed that completely. I've made more progress in three months with Emmanuel than in the previous year alone."
- Ahmed, United Arab Emirates
Part-time PhD Candidate, Final Year
This Is Right for You If...
You're a director, senior manager, consultant, or healthcare leader pursuing a PhD or DBA alongside a full-time career.
You've invested real money and real time in your doctorate, and you can't afford to waste either.
You feel like you're working hard but not moving forward, and you suspect the problem is that no one has shown you what an examiner actually assesses.
You want feedback from someone who reads doctoral theses as an examiner, not just as a supervisor.
You're willing to show up, do the work between sessions, and act on specific direction rather than waiting for inspiration.
You want to finish, not eventually, but on a timeline you can actually commit to.
This is not right for you if...
You're looking for someone to write your thesis for you, or to tell you what you want to hear rather than what you need to know. My mentoring is honest, specific, and sometimes uncomfortable. That's why it works.
The next step takes 45 minutes.
Book a complimentary discovery call. I'll listen to where you are, what's blocking you, and what your timeline looks like. Then I'll tell you honestly whether I think I can help, and what that would look like in practice.
I work with a maximum of ten mentees at any one time. When a place becomes available, I fill it. There's no next intake, no scheduled start date, just a conversation now while there's still a spot open.
If you're considering it, the time to have the conversation is now, not after the next deadline passes.
Book Your Discovery CallNo obligation. No sales pitch. Just an honest conversation about your doctorate.