• Training Room

    Power Hour of Writing Summer Retreat
    Provider   Researcher Development Programme

    Join us in for an in-person writing retreat this summer! This will give you a full day of protected time to to write distraction-free, build community, & celebrate progress.

Duration 1 full day

Course Type Classroom

Booking Status Now Booking

Is this course right for me?

Target Audience: Postgraduate Research Students

For academics, researchers, and knowledge exchange staff looking for protected time and space to work on writing.

Sometimes, we all need a chance to break away from our normal routine. A writing retreat is the perfect opportunity to spend some concentrated time on your writing. 

This is led by Strathclyde's Power Hour of Writing (PHOW) team and is based on PHOW structure of goal setting, writing, and celebration.  

Power Hour of Writing was created by Dr Stephanie Zihms*, currently at Glasgow Caledonian University, and is designed to help researchers carve out protected time for writing, foster a sense of community, and celebrate progress together. This hour is yours to write without distractions, whether you’re drafting a grant proposal or finishing your thesis. 

At Strathclyde, this is a joint initiative between the Researcher Development Teams for both postgraduate researchers and research staff to foster a supportive and inclusive environment.

 

In-person summer retreat event details 

Date: Wednesday 19th August 2026

Time: 10.00 - 16.00 

Location: Doctoral training room, TIC 721

Agenda (subject to change):

10.00 - 11.20 First writing cycle

11.20 - 12.30 Second writing cycle

12.30 - 13.20 Lunch

13.20 - 14.40 Third writing cycle

14.40 - 16.00 Last writing cycle

Please note: tea, coffee and biscuits will be available; lunch is not provided

On-campus activity

  • Full access information for the venue is available via AccessAble 
  • Hybrid provision is not available 
  • There will be (optional) audience participation
  • There will be multiple breaks
  • You do not need to stay for the whole session
  • The session is relaxed – this means you can stretch, move around, stim etc.
  • Please contact pgr-ead@strath.ac.uk to discuss any further access requirements

Delivered By: The Power Hour of Writing Team (Dr Hollie Jackson Ireland, Debbie Meikle & Dr Molly Jameson)

 

*References 

Zihms, S.G. and Mackie, C.R., 2023. The Power Hour of Writing: An empirical evaluation of our online writing community. Journal of Academic Writing, 13(1), pp.22-34

The evidence it works 

Dr Stephanie Zihms (Glasgow Caledonian University) and Dr Clare Reid Mackie (University of the West of Scotland) found that researchers attending the Power Hour of Writing reported greater writing-related confidence, an improved sense of belonging within academic communities, and felt the initiative enabled them to legitimise time writing (Zihms and Mackie, 2023).  

For more information about the Power Hour of Writing, see their website. 



Delivered By: Researcher Development Programme

Prerequisites

N/A

Additional Information

In-person courses are typically held in the Doctoral School Training Room - TC721, level 7 of the TIC Building.

Online courses are held on Zoom - details of the Zoom meeting will be sent the morning of the course.

Please note, there is a no-show policy, and facilitators will deny entry to those arriving 15 minutes or more after the course starts: https://strath.sharepoint.com/sites/PGRDevelopment/SitePages/No-Show-Policy.aspx

All postgraduate research students are eligible to access the Researcher Development Programme workshops. These workshops can contribute towards the PG Certificate in Researcher Professional Development (PG Cert RPD).