Writing Together Across Europe: A Look Back at the ERUA/ZLL Writing Retreat for Teachers and Researchers
What happens when 15 researchers from across Europe come together to write for four days? According to those who were there: sometimes a small miracle.
The ERUA/ZLL Writing Retreat for Teachers and Researchers took place at the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder) from 4–7 May 2026, bringing together academics and doctoral researchers from ERUA member institutions in a newly opened co-working space on campus. Organized as a collaboration between ERUA and Viadrina's Center for Teaching and Learning (ZLL), the retreat was led by Franziska Liebetanz, Co-Lead of the ZLL, who guided participants through a structured yet collegial programme of focused writing time, peer feedback, and collegial discussion.
The format was deliberately simple and effective: clear daily rhythms, protected time for individual writing projects, and space for exchange among colleagues across disciplines and academic cultures.
Voices from the Retreat
The impact was tangible — and personal. Matilda Appiah, a doctoral researcher from Ghana currently completing an Erasmus doctoral stay at Mykolas Romeris University in Lithuania, came with her dissertation on developing a communication service quality tool for student services. She described how the retreat gave her something beyond writing time.
It gave me the confidence that I can do it. A lot of people have the same challenges. I thought I was the only one who did. At the end of the week I achieved what I wanted to achieve — completing one chapter of my dissertation.
Matilda Appiah, Erasmus doctoral researcher from Ghana at Mykolas Romeris University in Lithuania
The retreat offered exactly what many academic writers need: the knowledge that they are not alone.
Hristo Chukurliev, Director of Central University Administration at New Bulgarian University and currently working on his habilitation, arrived with measured expectations — and left with something he described as a "miracle":
I was hoping the writing retreat would be useful, but I didn't expect a miracle — and yesterday, one happened. It helped me tremendously with my text. I will take the concept of the writing retreat home with me: it is well established at Anglo-Saxon and German universities, and I look forward to bringing it to Bulgaria.
Hristo Chukurliev, Director of Central University Administration at New Bulgarian University
For him, the experience was not only personally productive. The format proved professionally transferable.
Snippets from Writing Retreat
More Than a Writing Workshop
What made this retreat distinctive was precisely that combination: individual progress and collective inspiration. Participants brought articles, dissertation chapters, and research texts — and left with revised work, new collegial connections, and, in several cases, a format they intend to introduce at their own home institutions.
The retreat was hosted in Viadrina's brand-new co-working space — a fitting setting for an initiative designed to open up new ways of working together across European universities. ERUA and the ZLL look forward to building on this experience and offering further writing retreats in this space.
Fritz Schlüter
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