Facilitator: Dr Kate Carruthers Thomas 

Finding time and concentration to produce high-quality academic writing pre-COVID was challenging enough, but according to a rapidly expanding literature, female academics have been particularly disadvantaged in this respect by the additional pressures of the COVID pandemic and lockdown.  If COVID-19 has been brutal in many ways, it has been particularly merciless at exposing long-standing social inequalities. ‘All the juggling and the hidden labour of domesticity that is part of many academics’ real lives is now being brought into view’ (Fazackerley 2020).  Yet the academic treadmill trundles on and deadlines loom.

THIRDSPACE offers female academics a facilitated framework of protected space for their writing over a six-week period.  Using Zoom/Micrsoft Teams as our meeting place, it asks participants to commit to regular writing in the company of others.  It therefore also offers the opportunity to become part of a temporary writing community; a ‘third space’ in the sense of ‘a space we frequent that is neither work nor home … a familiar setting for social interaction among regulars’ (Low 2020).  Such spaces are valuable in working contexts newly characterised by distance and fragmentation. 

The programme begins with a one-hour Introductory session where participants meet one another online, discuss their approaches to writing and any particular challenges.  The main programme consists of five two-hour intensive writing sessions, each session starting and ending with a brief visual/verbal check in/out.  We’ll also make use of separate online spaces for optional breaks and conversations during sessions.  Between sessions, participants can maintain contact via an online forum if they wish to do so.  Female academics with any level of experience are equally welcome, they key requirement is to be able to commit the time to the programme.    

The programme facilitator is Dr Kate Carruthers Thomas and the programme design is underpinned by her previous experience of running in-person and online writing sessions for female academics at Birmingham City University (2017-2020).

Programme Aims

THIRDSPACE aims to

o   provide protected space for productive academic writing over a six-week period

o   create a temporary writing community of female academics beyond institutional and national boundaries

o   identify and share resources, challenges and successes. 

o   enable participants to review their approach to academic writing and learn from others