Review: Writing Retreat 2022 at Refugium Hochstrass

From 7-9.2.2022, the PhD Writing Retreat for PhD students of the Institute of Spatial Planning (TU Wien) took place at Refugium Hochstrass in Stössing, lower austria.

Group photo in front of seminar hotel

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[Translate to English:] Raum mit Schreibtischen und Doktorand_innen bei der Schreibarbeit

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[Translate to English:] Landschaftsbild Refugium Hochstrass in Stössing

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After several Covid-related postponements, 12 doctoral students were able to spend three days in February 2022 working undisturbed on their dissertations in a seminar hotel in the Viennese Alps. While mornings and afternoons were used for concentrated writing work, lunch and evening breaks were dedicated to exchange and support in the writing process of other PhD students.

The content of the Writing Retreat was realized by Johannes Suitner (Urban and Regional Research Department) as part of the course "280.977 Doctoral Seminar Scientific Writing & Publication Process". Johannes Suitner took over the leadership of the writing times, which included daily uninterrupted writing sessions of 60-90 minutes each in the morning as well as in the afternoon. Each day, as well as each writing session, was framed by individual goal setting and reflection on the achievement of one's goals. A comprehensive input on writing strategies and the publication process by Johannes Suitner rounded out the program. For performance assessment purposes, the resulting work will be collected after the Writing Retreat, and feedback on the learning process will be provided.

If you have any questions about the organization of the retreat, please contact Astrid Krisch, opens an external URL in a new window and Lucas Barning, opens an external URL in a new window, who took care of this year's realization. We would like to express our sincere gratitude to the Institute of Spatial Planning and the Faculty of Architecture and Spatial Planning for funding this year's Writing Retreat. We consider the implementation of such a concentrated writing workshop to be an essential component for the success of doctoral students. We would be pleased if this offering could take place regularly in the future as part of the program of study and are happy to support such endeavors.