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Making space

Photograph of a path twisting through the Botanic Gardens at Durham University.

Making space for your own scholarship when your to-do list is overwhelming

This event has now taken place

90-minute online workshop

11.00-12.30, Thursday 18 April, on Zoom

Often our response to an ever-increasing workload in a highly-competitive environment, is to try to work more hours. However, pushing-on-through has a negative effect on our efficacy, health, clarity and creativity, and can eat away at the sense of meaning and purpose we find in our work. Finding time on top of everything else for our most meaningful activities can feel overwhelming. This 90-minute workshop will give participants:

  • reasons and permission to prioritise your own development, health, and needs, as the context in which space for scholarship, innovation and other things you love becomes possible.
  • resources to handle overwhelm.
  • fresh perspectives on fruitfulness and creativity.

For questions about the workshop, please email helen.cramman@durham.ac.uk


Workshop Leader, Dr Harriet Harris, works with people, mostly in universities, healthcare and religious ministry, who do the work they do because of a strong sense of calling, but who are also overstretched and exhausted. She helps them to replenish their energy, reconnect with what most inspires them, and find new passion and direction in their vocation. She was awarded an MBE in 2017 for Services to Multi-Faith Education and Community Cohesion, and elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2022 for her innovative work in universities.

She is a licensed Coach and Trainer, a former academic postholder, and lead University Chaplain at the University of Edinburgh, where she has grown what is widely regarded as the ‘flagship’ Chaplaincy in the UK. She serves on the core Leadership Development Group at the University of Edinburgh, which informs the 150-strong Leaders’ Forum, and she delivers executive leadership coaching and training within Higher Education, Healthcare and Creative Industries.