Cambridge International PhD student - failed first year viva and looking for advices

Hi everyone, I'm an international PhD student at Cambridge, now in my 3rd year. Despite making progress on my research (including submitting a paper for peer review), I still had been struggling with my first-year probationary review. Looking for urgent advice from anyone who's been through something similar…

My initial submission of the first-year report was in Year 1, and the first viva was in 6 months later. The result of that viva didn’t come back to me until three months later. Assessors said my work was good and asked for specific revisions to my report. I did exactly what they asked and submitted revised report on time. However, after 4 months I was told that assess panel was be changed because the original panel was not the experts in my field. (I don’t know why were they appointed in the first place then??)

Then the second viva took place in the beginning of Year 3, which judged the same project as very terrible and recommending exit. The main assessor rated all four aspects as “Unacceptable” before the viva (It seems highly unusual for any report to get such bad results, especially when another assessor even gave a “Excellent” for an aspect). And the main assessor even stated they did not know why I had spent two years on such work. However, what they reviewed was a revised submission, which was intended as a targeted response to the remedial actions specified in the first assessment, rather than a comprehensive rewrite, incorporating all follow-up research progress. This follow-up work, which builds directly on the first-year report, has developed into a new manuscript that has been submitted for peer review, but they did not give me the opportunity to present this progress in any detail during the viva. Besides the procedural irregularities, I felt the assessors showed impatience and prejudice. They constantly interrupted me and expressed their own thoughts of my project (sometimes even factually wrong!), which really made me nervous. They even criticized my language in their report, but I’ve met the required language condition and communicate well with my supervisor and my colleagues daily. I'm concerned there may have been some bias in the assessment as well.

I have spoken to my college tutor, who agreed that the situation appears unusual. I submitted comments to my DC raising concerns about the process, and my supervisor (who was also surprised by the outcome) supported me with a further statement. However, the DC upheld the very negative recommendation. This has dragged on for so long and its making me constantly anxious. I don not believe my work deserves such negative outcomes, and I'm urgently seeking any information or suggestions that could help me to navigate the Examination Review. :afraid: