Successful writing retreat for university researchers – new opportunity in April

There, in the beautiful countryside next to a lake, they had the opportunity to write without distractions and had access to professional development regarding English and academic writing through workshops and individual coaching. There, the participants wrote articles for scientific journals, conference papers, and applications for research funding.

A new writing retreat will now be held in April. The facilitators are the same as last time: Eva Medin, Language Specialist at the Communications Office, and Melina Aarnikoivu, Department of Educational Work.

Melina Aarnikoivu, also Project Leader of the university's Centre for Professional Development and Education (CPE), explained: “Organising different kinds of writing events is always very inspiring. Not only do I get to talk about writing with researchers from different disciplines, but I also get to learn about all the cool topics that are currently being studied.”

This spring's writing retreat will also feature a specially invited guest, Mandy Bengts, Editor and Translator at Dalarna University. She will be available to participants as an editor during the writing retreat.

“I will talk about the editing process and what makes a text easy to follow and understand," said Mandy Bengts.

Creativity was awakened

Past participants have many good things to say about the university's writing retreat. One of them, Tugba Sapmaz, a doctoral student in the Resource Recovery research area, explained: “As a doctoral student, writing a scientific article can sometimes be quite a challenging task. The writing retreat gave me the practical opportunity to move my writing from a regular office to a fantastic environment in nature. In addition, I was inspired by working with native English-speaking facilitators, writing retreat enthusiasts, and other participants who also struggle with their academic writing.”

Sara Larsson Fällman, PhD in Technology and Health, was also pleased.

“The writing retreat was valuable for me in several ways. First, I gained a lot of knowledge about writing as a process, and second, I got to meet colleagues from other Faculties at the university, which allowed me to broaden my network of contacts. The leaders of the retreat were excellent and extremely professional. They offered several workshops and one-on-one coaching. We could also choose a time and place to sit and write on our own in a nice environment. I recommend everyone to participate.”

Eva Medin, who is arranging the writing retreat as an activity under Academic Communication, the university's forum for professional development in oral and written communication in English for professional and academic purposes, hopes that many researchers will take the opportunity to participate in this spring's writing retreat.

“Participants appreciated the writing retreat’s flexibility. You can write in peace as much as you want, but you also have access to presentations and workshops as well as individual coaching. The shared breaks, meals, walks, etc., are a great opportunity to meet across disciplinary boundaries and get inspired and energised. The only thing the participants thought could be improved was the length of the writing retreat: they thought it was too short. So that’s why this spring, you can participate for either two or three days, 24–25 or 24–26 April.”

Writing retreat in April – registration by 22 March

The deadline for registration for the spring writing retreat is 22 March (registration may close earlier if all the spots get filled).

More information about registration, cost, programme, etc.

An information session on the writing retreat will be held on 2 March via Zoom for those who want to know more.

Book the information session in your calendar