We will run one or two 5-day dissertation-writing retreats for graduate students each year (two in Year 1). The retreats will take place at Loon Lake Lodge and Retreat Centre, a UBC-affiliated retreat site in the Malcolm Knapp Research Forest, Maple Ridge, BC. Alongside these retreats, we will also run productivity and wellbeing assessments before, immediately after, and six months after the retreats, to determine the medium- and long-term benefits of participating in a retreat.
As co-PI on this initiative, I drafted the funding proposal, recruited an interdisciplinary advisory committee, and will supervise a graduate student trainee who will support the logistics for our first retreat, scheduled for February 2020.
More details about our planned retreats are available at the Loon Lake Retreat website. Information about our funding is available at the UBC TLEF website.