The DST biennial cohort building retreat took place in April 2018 at Gregynog Hall. Students from all four cohorts were split up into two different groups, giving everyone a chance to meet other diamond researchers from different universities.

Team Building

On the first day, and the morning of the second day, the two groups swapped activities. The first of these was a team building workshop with Michele Underwood, (Researcher Development Manager, Doctoral College, University of Warwick). She taught us about The Learning Cycle and how to categorise the different types of learners - activist, pragmatist, reflector and theorist.

Later, we got outside for a challenge - learning how to build a rope structure in 40 minutes, and then rebuilding it from scratch in just 2 minutes! Seeing how everyone approached the challenge helped us to understand how different people learn in different ways.

Canoeing

The other activity was a visit to Lake Vyrnwy (Bethania Adventure), with an opportunity to canoe on or walk around the lake.

Group B were fortunate enough to do this on the sunnier day, but it was an enjoyable experience for all. And despite some nervy moments, no one got lost, and no one fell into the lake!