NOSTER Writing Retreat 2024

This is your chance to submerge yourself in your research for a full week amidst the contemplative silence of the Dominican Abbey in Huissen: NOSTER is organising a week-long writing retreat for PhD candidates and early career scholars at the Abbey. All topics and disciplines within theology and religious studies are welcome.

The retreat will start on Monday morning, 2 December, and run until Friday afternoon 6 December 2024. If your application is accepted, we will ask you to send us an excerpt (maximum 4,000 words) of what you will be working on two weeks before the retreat starts. That excerpt will be read by two or three peers in preparation for a peer review session on Wednesday afternoon.

Apart from the review session and shared meals, you are free to work on your research project. Participants are also welcome to join the Abbey’s three daily moments of silence and reflection, which are optional.

Who can apply?

Junior NOSTER members (PhD candidates) and senior NOSTER members with a temporary position who earned their doctorates no earlier than 2020. A maximum of ten participants will be accepted. It is possible to provide the names of one or more colleagues whose help you would value during this writing retreat and who are also applying on the application form (details below). Please note that every participant must submit their own application.

What does it cost?

Participants are offered 4 nights of accommodation at the Dominican Abbey in Huissen (private rooms) including all meals, for an attendance fee of €100. Please email us if this amount presents a problem for you.

Application Procedure

To apply, please fill in this Google Form. The application deadline is 15 October 2024. Decisions will be made by 1 November 2024 and will take into account demonstrated need, availability of funding and the distribution of grants among NOSTER’s partner institutions. Any funding decision is final and not subject to appeal.