The Justice, Insecurity and Fair Decision Making IRT are hosting a two day writing retreat, to be held at the School of Social and Environmental Sustainability, Dumfries Campus, on Monday 28 and Tuesday 29 August 2023. Accommodation is provided at the Holiday Inn, Crichton Estate, Dumfries.

The event is built around the themes of language, values and human rights, and there will be two round-table sessions bringing together external speakers to talk about the challenges of bringing together normative research, such as in philosophy and law, and empirical research in the social sciences, to address pressing human challenges.

The core of the event is individual writing – there are some larger shared spaces around the campus, and some smaller bookable spaces if you prefer to work in private, with 5 sessions of 90 minutes scheduled for writing. Participants will be given the opportunity to partner with one another, again aiming to partner with those whose shared interests extend your methodological approaches in some way, and there will be daily goal setting and reviewing.

Book your place:

Numbers are limited and will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis. 

To secure your place, please contact david.lundie@glasgow.ac.uk. To help allocate paired mentors, it would be helpful to have a brief summary of your writing goals for the event.

Please let us know if you have any access or dietary requirements. Travel is not provided, but if you are willing to offer a rideshare, or want to request travel to Dumfries, please let us know.

An overview of the event programme is provided below. 

Programme - Monday 28th August (day one):

11am - Welcome and introductions. First round-table event: Language and Value in Education

  • Khalil Akbar: University of East London - empirical research on value-languages and code switching among British Muslim youth
  • Alice Langley: University of Glasgow - how creative writing as a reflective tool can impact social change

12noon - One-to-one peer mentoring conversations, goal setting for the two days of writing

12.30pm - Lunch, on-campus catering

1.30pm-3.00pm - 1st writing session - individual

3.15-4.45pm - 2nd writing session - individual

4.45pm-5.30pm - Second round-table event: Human Rights, Language and Practice

  • David Lundie, James Conroy & Bob Davis - empirical and normative perspectives on data justice: insights from an ESRC Education Call project on teaching for digital citizenship

6.30pm – Dinner at “Home”, Whitesands, Dumfries 

Programme - Tuesday 29th August (day two):

9.30am-11.00am - check-in with mentors, 3rd writing session

11.00am - coffee break

11.15am-12.45pm - 4th writing session

12.45pm - Lunch, on-campus catering

1.30pm-3.00pm - 5th & final writing session

3.00pm-4.00pm - reading & editing session with mentors

4.00pm - close


First published: 29 June 2023