​​Lecturers and researchers from the School of Accountancy at Stellenbosch University (SU) and the College of Accounting at the University of Cape Town (UCT) recently attended a three-day writing retreat at the Mont Fleur conference centre near Stellenbosch.

The writing retreat was aimed at promoting research collaboration between SU and UCT, while allowing participants to focus on their own research projects. Prof Ruth Albertyn of the Department of Curriculum Studies at SU acted as writing consultant and facilitator.

According to Prof Pieter von Wielligh, Director of the SU School of Accountancy, it is the first joint writing retreat ever held by the School and the College of Accounting. “Research collaboration between our institutions is invaluable. Given the success of this initiative, I foresee many more."

Participants agreed that the cross pollination enriched their understanding of their research fields and approach, that engaging with other academics inspired research and helped with motivation, and that both the input and the feedback from the facilitator enhanced the research process. As one of the participants remarked, “This is an excellent approach with practical value".

Said Dr George Nel, Deputy Director of Research at the School of Accountancy, “Writing retreats are especially useful to create an atmosphere of trust and safety for productive research writing".

• ​​Photo caption: Participants used their time at the retreat to work on articles, research proposals and to share research ideas with each other, fostering an environment for future research collaboration and high-quality research.