DR Fadia Dakka
Associate Professor in Philosophy and Theory of Higher Education
We led a three-day reading and writing retreat, a highly successful joint initiative between 天美传媒 and Coventry University. The session was led by Dr Fadia Dakka聽and Dr Luca Morini (PGR Lead, GLEA, Coventry University). Building on a previous collaborative retreat hosted by Coventry University earlier in the year, our December retreat contributed meaningfully to strengthening a shared regional research culture, in line with the ambitions of the BCU 2030 strategy.听
By bringing together postgraduate researchers (PGRs) from both institutions in a deliberately low-pressure, inclusive, and dialogic environment, the retreat supported doctoral researchers not only as writers working towards outputs, but as scholars actively shaping their academic identities. The collaborative, hybrid format created a sense of belonging that extended beyond institutional boundaries, enabling PGRs to situate their research practices within a wider intellectual community and to engage in peer-to-peer exchange across disciplines and universities.
Student feedback illustrates how the workshops offered as part of the retreat supported doctoral identity formation through collective reflection on reading, interpretation, and voice. One participant described the workshops as聽鈥渟o thought-provoking and useful,鈥�聽noting that the聽Circle of Voices聽workshop was聽鈥渋mpactful and thought-provoking, giving us space to both speak and listen and gain insights into layered meanings within texts.鈥�聽This emphasis on dialogic interpretation and attentive listening helped foreground the relational and situated nature of doctoral scholarship. The same student highlighted the longer-term effects of the constrained writing workshop, observing that聽鈥渢he 100s workshop was incredibly productive 鈥� who knew constraints could be so helpful?! I have used the method almost daily since the workshop, and think it will become part of my habits when reading and preparing written work.鈥�
Such reflections point to the retreat鈥檚 success in embedding sustainable research practices that shape doctoral researchers' understanding of themselves as readers, writers, and contributors to academic knowledge. The retreat was made possible through the generous support of Researcher Development at BCU聽and Coventry University, whose commitment to fostering inclusive research cultures and meaningful inter-institutional collaboration was central to the initiative鈥檚 impact.
