Research culture as a collective practice: how writing retreats build a sense of community

Posted on: 6 August 2023 in Researchers

Dr Stella Morgana is a British Academy Post-doctoral Fellow in the Department of Politics at the University of Liverpool

Research culture is a collective practice. Promoting an inclusive, supportive and positive research culture embracing scholars’ interests, attitudes, and values nurtures ideas and triggers mechanisms of community building. In the writing process, being surrounded by a supportive community can really make the difference. According to dr. Morgana, this is one of the reasons why writing retreats and writing groups represent a source of inspiration and encouragement for researchers.

Stella participated in a two-day writing retreat co-organised by the Heseltine Institute and the Department of Politics at the University of Liverpool, thanks to the initiative of prof. Catherine Durose and dr. Claire Pierson. She found the experience empowering, fruitful and inspiring for several reasons.

If scheduling time to write can be a straightforward task, protecting time to actually write is much more challenging, as heavy workload-related issues intertwine with the emotional component of procrastination. A writing retreat blocks writing time, while providing a venue to meet in a distraction-free space. Sharing a common goal, and – more importantly – sharing what might be a common struggle immediately creates good synergies among the participants. In Stella’s experience, getting into the writing flow and breaking down what often are self-imposed barriers came as natural results and eventually led to kick the imposter syndrome away while building more confidence in writing.

When researchers have a good plan and specific goals, it is an inclusive and stimulating research culture that creates opportunities for scholars to thrive. According to Stella, this means framing research practices as community-focused instead of merely achievement-oriented. The main success of the writing retreat was fostering knowledge-sharing practices and effective writing strategies at different career stages, without fuelling any competitive mechanisms based on productivity. The structured writing sessions, along with scheduled moments for collective reflections on how to enhance the feeling of a research community, eventually lead to generally getting more writing done.

Another valuable initiative in this direction is the Shut-up-and-write SUAW group at the UoL with mid-week and Friday morning online sessions, which are meant to crack on with writing and meet fellow scholars for a couple of hours on Teams.

To conclude, this case shows that a sense of belonging is crucial to build a healthy academic environment where dedicated writing time to progress on individual projects becomes also an opportunity for collective reflections on research practices and culture (with no e-mails to check).

Key Takeaways

• When researchers have a good plan and specific goals, it is an inclusive and stimulating research culture that creates opportunities for scholars to thrive
• A writing retreat blocks writing time, while providing a venue to meet in a distraction-free space.
• Sharing a common goal, and – more importantly – sharing what might be a common struggle immediately creates good synergies among the participants.