Writing Retreats and Courses for Academic Writers

Renowned Author & Academic

Professor Rowena Murray graduated MA (Hons) from Glasgow University and PhD from the Pennsylvania State University. Formerly Professor in Education at the University of the West of Scotland, Head of Business Writing at Strathclyde Business School and Honorary Visiting Scholar at Liverpool University, she is now Adjunct Professor at Strathclyde Business School.

A Principal Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy, she was nominated for the Research Culture Award at Stirling University in 2021. She researches academic writing, the subject of her articles, books and chapters.

She does online and in-person writing retreats, courses and 1-2-1 sessions with academics, researchers, doctoral students and others through her company, Rowena Murray Educational Services (www.rowenamurray.co.uk), on FB (Rowena Murray Writing Group) and Twitter (murray_rowena).

Now, I’m freelance. I run courses: Rhetoric and Writing, Thesis Writing, Writing for Publication, Preparing for the PhD Viva and Training for Retreat Facilitators. I do workshops and retreats for groups and universities across the UK, Scotland and beyond.

I aim to bring the benefits of social writing to doctoral students, early career researchers, academics, practitioners and professionals. Through my company I support projects and charities, like the Lochwinnoch Arts festival and St Vincent’s Hospice.

Finally, I retired from volleyball some years ago and now do swimming, weight training, running, spin and fitness classes, badminton and cycle-commute. But I miss the volleyball, and if I still lived in the USA or Europe I’d probably still be playing.

Welcome to the video for the official book launch of How to Write a Thesis 5th Edition by Rowena Murray. The event was held in the McKillop Institute, Lochwinnoch on 8th March 2025.

Click to view my available Books on sale

Rowena Murray on writing retreats, academic friendships and dealing with discrimination

The Joy of Writing is a picture book about writing created by Maureen K. Michael in collaboration with Rowena Murray. Here the authors discuss their motivation and the key ideas behind their book.

Click to view my available writing retreats.

Why Write? Lecture by Prof Rowena Murray University of the West of Scotland

How to Write a Thesis

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How to Write a Thesis -

Feedback Thesis Endgame Course

I genuinely enjoyed the course and found it extremely helpful, despite being worries that I’m nowhere near the end of my thesis and that it’s way too early for me to be writing summaries of all chapters! But your course helped in clarifying my ideas and in finding (research/thought) directions.

Thank you

Writing my thesis summary and sending it off has been a game-changer for me in my relationship with my supervisor. I also feel I’ve taken a huge step in the process of getting started with the write-up. From my supervisor: Gosh! This is really, really, Really exciting stuff! I’ll get back to you soon. I think for the first time I have understood what you are doing and why.

Thank you

I have to share that I had a brilliant supervision this morning. I’m feeling so encouraged and motivated. My supervisor said that I’ve taken a massive step forward in this project. I sent him what I had written on Wednesday (after making some revisions) and he took time to help me make edits and clarify my thinking. I’ve really turned a corner and I had no idea what I could accomplish in such short bursts of writing.

Thank you