ERU is profoundly grateful to the EADP precious support for the writing week held between 20-24th of February at Utrecht University, the Netherlands. The goal of the event was to finalize joint papers on cross-national comparisons of different instruments and submit those to the European Journal of Developmental Psychology, Special Section Developmetrics, Instruments and Procedures for Developmental Research. Part of the workshop focused on lectures on developmental psychology and publishing in high impact journals held by prof. Willem Koops (Editor of EJDP), professional language editing and cross-cultural validation procedures of instruments. We also would like to acknowledge Emma Nash, Suzannah Ravenscroft and Leonard Vanbrabant for their professional support in academic writing in English and statistical analyses.

 Comments of participants of the writing week

“It was one of these great and satisfying experiences to interact with this group of young scholars; there was à beautiful atmosphere of friendship and collaboration among them and It was à great pleasure for me to present my views on methodology and history of our field and to discuss with them about all this and about publishing in top journals. I had the feeling to have met the future of our Association.”Willem Koops

“The writing week has been a great, and also exhaustive, experience for all the things we learned and for the time spent collaborating on the same task and sharing our knowledge with other young researchers coming from different countries” Nives Sala

“It’s always enriching to interact with other young researchers, especially if they come from very different countries (from Siberia to Greece!). We created a joyful atmosphere, in a cooperative (and not competitive!) way. But the EADP writing week had something more: to come up by the end of the week with a paper, almost ready to be submitted, was the special ingredient of this very bright experience!” Marta Casonato

“As I decided to join the Early Researchers’ Union on its informal meeting at Bergen in August 2011, I didn’t expect that it could end up in such an interesting and productive week, in February 2012. In the Netherlands, the hospitality of the local researcher, Rens van de Schoot, who managed to organize the week in every detail, made for a highly effective as well as pleasurable use of time. The presence of people from different countries, who are more or less –like I am- in their first steps as researchers, with the common goal of working on an academic matter –struggling for a paper to be published- gave me inspiration and motive, that helped me work hard as well as enjoy my time. I’m looking forward to other collaborations in the future!” Stefanos Mastrotheodoros

“It was great to be involved in the writing week watching all the research papers come together and seeing the enthusiasm of the group. Giving the lecture on English writing for a group of internationals was a new experience for me and highlighted the complexity of using a language other than your own when writing an article. I was really impressed with the efforts of the group and the attention they gave to our hints and tips. I enjoyed the experience and getting the chance to interact with such a dynamic group.” Suzannah Ravenscroft

“Working together with young talented fellow researchers from around the world was a great experience. Especially when they noticed that writing a short article in one week was possible. Next time I will definitely participate again, since I really enjoyed it. So, thank you all and now fingers crossed. Salute,” Leonard Vanbrabant

“I was amazed at the dedication and enthusiasm of the participants, and was impressed that they were able to write a paper in such a short time – and in a foreign language! I had a lot of fun helping with the week, and I hope the hard work paid off.” Emma Nash

“What I really appreciate during this writing week:

Meeting other young researchers coming from different countries; writing a brief paper in “one” week; having some lessons on statistic…without getting bored!; having some cues to better write in English! but also:
Staying in a hostel from the 70thies; our meet point with this delightful latte macchiato; eating in a Belgian restaurant…having none Belgian typical meal; trying to speak Dutch saying “we hebben onderwijs here”! Only a few students understood me! I also tried in French but no more success! Many thanks to Rens and Leonard for the organization of this amazing writing week”. Marie Stiévenart

“I join my colleagues in sharing their enthusiasm and motivation in working with such culturally diverse and dynamic group. I strongly believe that this event marked the beginning of a fresh new start for our young but cohesive group with prospects to further extend our activities in the field of developmental psychology. ” Radosveta Dimitrova