Writing Across Boundaries Workshop

I am writing to invite applications from PhD students for the 2026 Writing Across Boundaries workshop to be held in Durham from the 25th to the 27th of March 2026. 

Writing Across Boundaries is an intensive, two-day, residential workshop + one day optional writing retreat for social science PhD students in their third year. The aims of the workshop are to explore analytical and practical approaches to ethnographic writing and to offer participants an opportunity to reflect on the writing process itself as a form of social science thinking. The final day (optional) writing retreat enables focused and supported writing and an opportunity to put the approaches you’ve learned into action.

The workshop is for PhD students in the social sciences in their third year of study, who are interested in ethnographic writing as a particular way of conveying a contextual understanding of lived reality by drawing on a range of specific methods including, for instance, participant observation, semi-structured interviews, archival research, visual analysis, and life-histories; Are at the point of translating this data into written chapters for their doctoral thesis; Have completed their fieldwork and have data that they have begun to work through.

The provisional programme for the workshop will be available soon and will include input from a number of anthropologists from Durham University and Newcastle University, including Dr Michael Crawley (Durham), Dr Skyler Hawkins (Newcastle), Professor Tom Yarrow (Durham) and Dr Leo Hopkinson (Durham).

There are only 30 places available for our 2026 workshop. If you are interested in attending please complete the online registration form below by 5pm on 13th March 2026. Candidates will then be contacted by the Project Team as to whether they have been selected to join the workshop. Applications received after the deadline will not be accepted.

There are 30 places available for our 2026 workshop.

Please complete the online registration via NINE DTP Inkpath.

Register via this link: https://webapp.inkpath.co.uk

If you don’t yet have access to NINE DTP Inkpath:

Select Northern Ireland North East DTP from the drop down.
Register your account using your institutional email address.
Once verified: Click on “Find” to browse and book available sessions or navigate directly to
the course.

You will be prompted to outline a brief case for attendance at the point of registration. In the event that the course is oversubscribed or the course materials do not meet your criteria then the project team will notify you.

The workshop registration is free for those from our regional and Northern Irish universities (Durham, Newcastle, Northumbria, Teesside, Sunderland, Queens and Ulster). For those from outside the Northern Ireland and North East Doctoral Training Partnership, we are charging £60. This includes lunch on both days and an evening meal in a local restaurant on the 25th March. If you require accommodation you will need to book this and pay directly yourself. There are a number of hotels available to suit most budgets in and around the city. Unfortunately, we are not able to assist with accommodation or travel costs for participants; NINEDTP students have access to the usual funds for claiming travel and accommodation if needed.

‘I felt stuck in my writing process but this workshop gave me some structures to craft the writing. It was amazing to meet everyone and talk here as it made me feel I am not alone in this PhD situation.’

‘A set of inspiring and useful sessions that felt encouraging and opening’

‘Space to write and be nurtured with good food, tea and conversation’

Please contact Michael Crawley (michael.p.crawley@durham.ac.uk) or Skyler Hawkins (skyler.hawkins@newcastle.ac.uk) if you require any further information about the Writing Across Boundaries workshop.

We hope to see some of you in Durham in March!All the best,

Michael and Skyler