As writing is an important skill in a researcher’s life, in June, we PhD students (Regina, Matt and Peter) organized for the first time a short writing workshop for PhD students of the SWE. We went to a monastery in the infamous pilgrimage site of Trois Epis in Alsace, France.

For three days, we worked on our respective manuscripts or posters, discussed research and gave feedbacks to each other’s progress. The personnel’s care and reverent calmness of the place supported the productive atmosphere during the time.

Due to the quiet and peaceful environment, I could concentrate more thoroughly on my current manuscript and wrote the whole method and result section for this paper. Additionally, I focused on the introduction part of another paper where I also made a huge progress. In the late and early hours of the days in Trois Epis I read a couple of important. – Matt

During the writing week, I started to give a form to the paper from my first PhD project. First, I prepared the outline and then I continued on writing the introduction, methods and results sections. Moreover, I conceptualized and finished a poster for a summer school. – Regina

I used the time to design a conference poster about one of my current projects. After I finished that, I used the remaining time for writing up a methods section for a future manuscript. All in all, it was a very productive time with no external distractions. I am really grateful for this opportunity. – Peter

Before the writing week started, we attended a “guided writing mini-workshop” in which a writing coach of the University of Basel gave useful recommendations about the style of our manuscripts.

In sum, all of us appreciated the progress we’ve made under these special working conditions and we therefore hope to establish the writing week as an annual event of the SWE doctoral program.