Successful first writing retreat for doctoral students

The Graduate Research School's first writing retreat for doctoral scholars, run earlier this month, has generated such positive feedback it will be repeated – possibly twice – next year.

School Dean Professor Margaret Tennant says the retreat was for doctoral candidates who had started writing their thesis. It was an opportunity for intensive writing time away from the normal demands of work and domestic life, interspersed with optional workshops on such topics as polishing the thesis, maximising the impact of research, and preparing for the thesis examination. 

From November 16-21 13 doctoral candidates were based in Craig Lockhart hostel on the Manawatu campus. They are working on topics as varied as natural resource management in Fiji, Maori pedagogy in tertiary institutions, models for predicting airport business success, and the mastication of food.

Group exercises involved the students working on abstracts and citations, and thinking about the purpose and content of a thesis conclusion. For those wishing to attend, the retreat overlapped with one the regular Taking Charge of Your Doctorate workshops, but the aim was for largely uninterrupted writing time and the completion of a specified writing goal. For most of those attending, this involved a thesis chapter, but others were working on an article or conference paper related to the thesis.

There was a social event at Options Cafe on the Thursday night of the retreat, and pizzas and wine on the Friday, but the students otherwise enjoyed working in their rooms in the historic hostel, one of the region's original homesteads, or in a communal writing space in the Monroe common room. They also found time to share experiences, something those based at a distance from a campus said they found immensely valuable. 

The final evaluations were enthusiastic. Participants liked the quiet space, the affordable accommodation, the multi-disciplinary workshops and proximity to campus facilities. All said they would recommend the retreat to others.
 
Professor Tennant says the feedback was so positive that she plans to run another next year, with a second retreat possible if demand continues to grow.