WRITING RETREAT 2022
08-12 August 2022, Spital am Pyhrn
This year’s Writing Retreat, organized by the ÖGP-JuWis representatives, was the first one to take place without a simultaneous Summer School. In total, 21 PhD students and postdocs working in different areas of psychology from Austria, Germany, and Switzerland participated at the event.
In the beginning, they had the opportunity to get to know each other in a World Cafe, to receive input on writing techniques and resources, and to set their goals for the Writing Retreat. In the following days, participants had secluded writing opportunities and optional guided writing sessions with active breaks (e.g. music, dancing). Throughout the event, participants had access to a collection of writing books and info walls on how to structure the writing process and steer motivation. Furthermore, participants learned or talked about exciting research during lightning talks.
In addition, there was lots of time for networking and fun at joint meals, coffee breaks, evening activities and social events including a scavenger hunt through the village and a hike to Dr. Vogelsang Klamm. The very nice hotel was surrounded by mountains and national parks and included a Spa area providing opportunities for relaxation after productive and/or active days. Participants, like in the past years, got creative and actively added valuable activities to the program by organizing groups for joint running, pilates, board game sessions, and other activities.
We of course asked participants for feedback and again received overwhelmingly positive feedback! Participants especially loved the guided as well as the unguided writing sessions, the lightning talks, the productive and friendly atmosphere, the sauna, the hike, the active breaks during the guided writing sessions, and the company of other JuWis. For future events, they asked to have keynotes and workshops not only for the Summer School but also for the Writing Retreat, which we are planning to include in our next event.
As early-career representatives, we are very happy to have met such wonderful people at the Retreat, are very excited about the positive feedback and are looking forward to meeting you at our next event!
The ÖGP-JuWis representatives
