“…the research… at PhD level, it gets quite lonely…”: Creating a community of practice through a writing retreat

Research highlights the effectiveness of writing retreats in enhancing academic productivity by creating environments that are conducive to focused writing away from daily distractions. The current study evaluates a writing retreat that was organised in 2021 by the Father Connections Research Team (FACT), which is based at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits). Using qualitative semi-structured interviews, data were collected from seven of the nine academics and postgraduate students who attended the retreat. The findings reveal that the retreat provided a community of practice, which significantly enhanced participants' writing productivity compared to their usual home environments. This study adds to the growing evidence that writing retreats can benefit academics and postgraduate students by fostering productivity, encouraging sustained writing efforts, and supporting independent work within a communal setting. The unique contribution of this paper is its reflexive approach, where the authors, who themselves were participants in the study, use a community of practice perspective to offer critical reflections and deepen the understanding of writing retreat benefits.