Active Projects

Spaces to Write

Female academics writing through and beyond the pandemic

The Project

Principal Investigator: Dr Kate Carruthers Thomas
Project Dates: December 2020-December 2023

This is a group of interlinked enquiries over a three year period in which I have gathered and analysed data from participants of four academic writing interventions for female academics, two online, two in-person. Each intervention constituted a temporary academic writing community for female academics and each investigates:

  • the challenges participants encounter in producing high-quality academic writing and the impact of the COVID pandemic/lockdowns, including in working contexts newly characterised by distance, fragmentation and increased workloads;
  • the potential for online writing communities to create links beyond institutional and national boundaries, share resources, challenges and successes;
  • specific outcomes of participation including changes to academic writing practices, sense of identity;
  • wider implications for academic career development and gender equality in the academy.

Methods

  • written testimonials
  • post-programme surveys
  • individual, semi-structured interviews
  • facilitated online discussions
Spaces to Write