Writing Retreat and Writing Groups
PhD School at the Faculty of Humanities at University of Copenhagen
Dates and time: 7-8 April and 2 June 2025 from 9:00-16:30
Doing a PhD implicates a lot of writing – on the thesis, on articles, writing papers, etc. At the same time, though, writing is something that many find difficult to set dedicated time aside for – constantly negotiating and prioritizing between tasks.
The PhD School at the Faculty of Humanities at UCPH and TEACH, the Teaching and Learning Unit at UCPH South Campus, offers a three-day writing retreat on-campus for PhD students at the Faculty of Humanities at UCPH. If places are available, PhD students from Law, Social Sciences, and Theology at UCPH are welcome to participate.
What are the benefits of a writing retreat?
- Prioritizes writing.
- Leads to achievements and outputs.
- Develops discipline of writing.
- Provides emotional containment and demystify writing process challenges.
- Supports participants in becoming part of a community of writers.
Content of the writing retreat
- Writing on your self-selected writing task.
- Setting writing goals.
- Reflection on the writing process.
- A minimum of lecturing
- Setting up writing groups and feedback activities
By the end of the second day of the writing retreat in April, we will establish and scaffold writing groups of 3-4 participants. Before the one-day writing retreat in June you will meet in your groups twice providing feedback on each other’s text and/or writing process.
Preparation: Decide what kind of a writing task you want to work on at the retreat. It could be an article, a proposal, thesis writing, a book chapter, or something different. Read and prepare as much as possible beforehand so that you are ready to write when you join the retreat.
Bring: Your laptop and any relevant material to your writing task (notes, books, downloads, etc.).
Catering: Coffee/tea and something to eat in the morning + a lunch sandwich + coffee/cake in the afternoon will be provided.
Language: The retreat is held in English unless all participants prefer it held in Danish. Your writing can be in both Danish and English.
ECTS: 1.5 ECTS.
Course organiser and teacher: Signe Skov, PhD, TEACH
Max. numbers of participants: 25
Registration: Please register via the link in the box no later than 3 March 2025.
Further information: For more information about the PhD course, please contact the PhD Administration (phd@hrsc.ku.dk) or the course organiser.
Required reading:
Murray, R. & Newton, M. (2009). “Writing retreat as structured intervention: margin or mainstream?” Higher Education Research & Development, 28(5), 541–553.
Guerin, C & Aitchison, C. (2023). “Finding Confidence in Writing: Doctoral Writing Groups”. In D. L. Elliot et al. (eds.), Developing Researcher Independence Through the Hidden Curriculum, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-42875-3_13