The Postgraduate Studies & Research Directorate (PSRD), Pentecost University Organises Its Maiden Writing Retreat.

Consistent with the vision of the University A+, to be a research-led University, the Postgraduate Studies & Research Directorate (PGSRD), Pentecost University, organized its maiden writing retreat at the Pentecost Convention Centre (PCC) from Tuesday 9^th May 2023 to Friday, 12^th May 2023.

The main aim of the retreat was to create an enabling environment for faculty members to write. This followed the recognition that, faculty members needed to write but their responsibilities and workload resulted in very little research and publications.

The strategy was therefore to isolate and free members from their usual workload and camp them for 3 days to write. Subsequently, twenty-two participants drawn from all faculties, schools etc., approved by Deans were privileged to be part of the retreat. Selected participants were those who needed to work on any of the following: grant proposal writing, research proposal, research concept note, conference paper, article for publication, research report, thesis writing etc. Some of the topics worked on in these areas included:

1. Digital technology adoption and communication in health care delivery; Are patients satisfied?
2. Suicide and attempted suicides in Ghana
3. Forecasting stock exchange market volatility using ANN-GJR and ANN-GARCH.
4. The emergence of the ride-sharing economy and its effect on the traditional taxi system: The Ghanaian perspective
5. Relationship between saving culture and attitude on generational poverty in Ghana as mediated by financial literacy.

The programme of activities at the retreat included at least 8 hours of writing per day, joint morning devotions and end-of-day feedback evaluations. At the end of the retreat, participants were made to complete an evaluation form that will be used to assess the impact of the retreat and inform improvement in subsequent retreats.

Some of the active benefits of the retreat were the establishment of a community of writing practice, the creation of healthy social connections and research groupings among participants. Participants left the retreat energized, and encouraged, with a renewed determination to sustain the pace to write. To facilitate this culture, PGSRD is to devise a follow-up tracking system that will push participants to continue working till the final output and individual objectives are achieved. As part of this, a post-retreat seminar will be organized in the shortest possible time during which each participant will do a summary presentation of the work done at the retreat.

Ahead of the processing of evaluation forms, participants were asked to describe their experience at the retreat with just one word. One theme emerged, “The retreat was overwhelmingly useful!”.

Enjoy some scenes from the retreat.

Thank you.