This PhD Writers’ Week was one for the books!
“It was a great week. I found it beneficial” – participant of PhD Writers’ Week
We welcomed seven PhD candidates to the Writing Centre on 12 August 2024. The participants were from a variety of disciplines ranging from law to artificial intelligence, but they were joined by a mutual goal – to work on their PhD thesis.
Everyone was required to arrive at our Writers’ Space for 9am each morning. Lawrence began each day with ‘writing about writing’ prompts, allowing the candidates time to get their writer juices flowing! This gave the writers time to reflect on their research and writing processes, their understanding of their writing situation and the strategies they are using to overcome cognitive, affective and social obstacles. The feedback from this section of the week was positive “The 5 min free write was very helpful at the start of each day”
The group worked on their writing process and strategies. They motivated each other to be productive throughout the week and shared advice on how to improve as a writer and on how to approach parts of the doctoral thesis. Each candidate engaged in a session with either Naa or Damian, our brilliant peer tutors. This gave them the opportunity to discuss their work with a fellow PhD candidate and to seek guidance in areas they were struggling with.
Coffee and biscuits were an essential to our PhD Writers’ Week. We had plenty to go around! Aramark provided lunch for us on Monday and Friday. We value inclusivity at the Writing Centre, so we catered to all dietary needs from Halal to Vegetarian.
Our candidates were extremely hard working and gave the week their all. The event was successful with all the candidates leaving on Friday feeling accomplished! Members of the group expressed interest in joining one of our regularly meeting Writers’ Groups to maintain momentum.
Stay tuned - We will be running another PhD Writers’ Week in January 2025 😊