Writing Sprint 

Step away from your daily routine. Make space for writing. Make real progress.

Finding enough uninterrupted time for academic writing can be challenging. Between experiments, meetings, emails, and everyday responsibilities, writing often gets pushed aside. The Writing Sprint gives you as doctoral researchers dedicated time and space to focus intensively on your own writing project as it combines extended writing sessions, short inputs, individual writing consultation, peer exchange, and reflection on your own writing process. 

What is the Writing Sprint?

The Writing Sprint is not a traditional writing workshop. Most of the time is reserved for your own writing. Short inputs and exercises provide new perspectives and practical tools that you can immediately apply to your current text. During the days, you will work in several focused writing sessions and define your own writing goals and milestones. 

Who is the Writing Sprint for?

The Writing Sprint is designed for doctoral researchers who already have a concrete writing project. You might join the Writing Sprint if you are:

• drafting or revising a scientific paper,
• working on a chapter of your dissertation,
• finalizing your dissertation,
• preparing a written report for an upcoming Thesis Advisory Committee meeting,
• or working on another clearly defined academic text.

You should already have material, results, or ideas that can be developed into a written contribution. The Writing Sprint is therefore not intended for participants who are still defining their research topic or do not yet have sufficient material to start writing.

Interested in joining the next Writing Sprint?

The Writing Sprint experience – In their own words

Doctoral researchers who have already joined, share what helped them, what they took away, and how the Sprint moved their project forward.

"I joined the Writing Sprints twice. The first time was while I was writing my first paper, and because I made such good progress during the workshop, I decided to join again the following year when I was working on my thesis. What helped me most was learning how to focus better and use my writing time more effectively. Spending four days in a place completely dedicated to writing, together with other doctoral candidates, was very motivating. It created a productive atmosphere and helped me organize my work much better. I also really appreciated all the practical tips, shared experiences, and support from Janine and the other participants. The individual consultation was especially useful because I could talk about my own writing process and receive advice that was directly relevant to me. Overall, the Writing Sprints helped me become more focused, organized, and confident in my writing. They supported me during two very important stages of my work: writing my first paper and later completing the first draft of my thesis." Sahra Homaee (HZDRi), participant in 2025 and 2026

"I enjoyed my time during the writing sprint and was very happy with the progress that I made on my paper. I think the concept works so well for me because you are in this primary-school-like setting where, for 8 hours, you are told if now is 1) deep focus time 2) learning time or 3) relaxation time (with the first consuming the biggest portion of the day). As a busy PhD student who struggles with scheduling, it is nice to turn off all parts of your brain that handle mundane tasks such as planning, coordinating or thinking about when is an appropriate time to have lunch. So all you have to do is show up and all your brain power can go into the task at hand: writing. This makes you work extremely efficiently (well, at least it made me work extremely efficiently). I got work done in 3 days that I would have gotten done in at least a week in the office otherwise - and I went home at a reasonable time! (I know this sounds like an advertisement slogan but I swear that it is true.) In addition to that, and most obvious, having a setting that allows focused work without interruptions by office mates, supervisors or spontaneous meetings is also a definite advantage of the writing sprint. And during the offered learning sessions on certain topics (we had a session on AI tools) you learn about new methods and approaches to daily problems or in the discussions that evolve from that, you discover how other students handle certain problems. This broadens your own horizon and leaves you with a nice set of new tools. And finally, it is very nice to work among a small group of PhD students that all face similar goals and challenges. Writing a paper or your thesis can get pretty frustrating, but knowing that you are not alone lightens the mental burden a little bit. So overall, I enjoyed the writing sprint as a time for deep focus, but also as a learning experience." Franziska Paschke-Brühl (FWKT), participant in 2025