Guest blogger Jasmine Wood explores the emotional impact of injury, disability, and surgical treatment on veterans of the Second World War.
Guest blogger Giskin Day explores the power of gratitude in encounters between surgeons and their patients.
Research and Engagement Fellow David Saunders examines how the harsh realities of homelessness derail fantasies of medical and surgical advancement.
Find out how to apply for our new digitial mentoring project for medical students.
Guest blogger Cynthia Yoder explores her own experiences of undergoing surgery and investigates the profound impact of small acts of kindness on encounters between patients and surgeons.
Agnes Arnold-Forster and Michael Brown explore healthcare professionals' emotions in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Guest blogger Christine Slobogin explores the visual culture and humour of plastic surgery during the Second World War.
Research and Engagement Fellow Agnes Arnold-Forster delves into some post-war fiction.
Senior Research Fellow James Kennaway delves into the history of racist caricatures of Chinese patients.
On Wednesday the 12th of February we held our Valentine’s Late Open Hearts, Racing Pulses at the Royal College of Nursing in London. Almost one hundred people joined us to explore the rich feelings associated with healthcare – from compassion and romance to anxiety and fear.
PhD Candidate Lauren Ryall-Waite explores the Hey family collections at the University of Leeds Special Collections.
Principal Investigator Dr Michael Brown considers the emotional content of the famous war paintings of the surgeon Charles Bell (aprox 8 minute read)
Engagement Fellow Alison Moulds discusses our inaugural Surgical Speed-Meet in London, which brought together surgeons and the public.
In the second of a two-part blog post, Senior Research Fellow James Kennaway explores the cult of the Scottish solider in relation to racial theories and ethnic identities.
In the first of a two-part blog post, Senior Research Fellow James Kennaway looks at the mythology surrounding Scottish soldiers and surgical fortitude.
In the second of a two-part blog post, Principal Investigator Dr Michael Brown considers Robert Liston’s ambiguous reputation among his contemporaries.
In the first of a two-part blog post, Principal Investigator Dr Michael Brown explores the role of mythology in shaping the reputation of one of the nineteenth century’s most (in)famous surgeons.
PhD student Lauren Ryall-Waite shares her visit to Barts Pathology Museum.
Principal Investigator Dr Michael Brown considers the emotional feelings generated by archival research.
Alison Moulds and Agnes Arnold-Forster discuss our recent workshop with the Royal College of Nursing.
PhD student Issy Staniaszek explores the relationship between dentistry and villainy in Braddon's 1867 sensation novel.
To celebrate Valentine's Day, Research Fellow Agnes Arnold-Forster opens up the world of Mills & Boon medical romances.
Senior Research Fellow James Kennaway explores how surgical suffering played a key role in Nelson mythology.
Following the release of the NHS Long Term Plan, Engagement Fellow Alison Moulds and Research Fellow Agnes Arnold-Forster reflect on its implications for the healthcare workforce.
In this blog post, Lauren Ryall-Waite explores surgery, anatomy and emotion in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.
Principal Investigator Dr Michael Brown considers the emotional dimensions of body-snatching and the Anatomy Act (1832)
Alison Moulds dissects the surgical subplot in Wilkie Collins's novel Poor Miss Finch (1870).
Agnes Arnold-Forster explores the portrayal of hospital care in Margaret Drabble's feminist novel.
Engagement Fellow Alison Moulds discusses our latest public engagement activity at the Science Museum's medical Late.
PhD Student Issy Staniaszek explores the relationship between emotions and the stomach in understandings of health and wellbeing, past and present.
Team members Alison Moulds and Agnes Arnold-Forster discuss our recent workshop at the Royal College of Surgeons.
James Kennaway (Senior Research Fellow) explores the trope of the smoking solider undergoing amputation in nineteenth-century writing.
To mark Mental Health Awareness Week and Dying Matters Week, Agnes Arnold-Forster (Research Fellow) and Alison Moulds (Engagement Fellow) discuss stress, grief and emotional health in the NHS workforce.
Principal Investigator Dr Michael Brown considers a remarkable nautical tale from the archives
Project participant and PhD candidate Lauren Ryall-Stockton discusses the transition from museum curator to researcher of nineteenth-century surgical and emotional history.
Do surgeons feel our pain? Is surgery a technical skill, an art form, or a trade? Alison Moulds (Engagement Fellow) discusses the project's first public engagement event, which explored the relationship between pain, art and surgery over the last 250 years.
How can public debates about healthcare engage with the emotional landscape of surgical practice? In this blog post, Engagement Fellow Alison Moulds explores how a growing interest in the affective side of medicine is shaping the policy agenda.
James Kennaway (Senior Research Fellow) discusses his research on emotions in military surgery.
In this post, Research Fellow Agnes Arnold-Forster reflects on her experiences of shadowing a surgeon...
Welcome, readers, to the blog for Surgery & Emotion, a Wellcome-Trust funded project about the emotional landscape of surgery from 1800 to the present day.
You can find out more about the project itself on the Homepage of this website but I just wanted to take this opportunity to introduce the blog and tell you what you can expect from it.
Principal Investigator Dr. Michael Brown considers an early nineteenth-century surgeon’s emotional relationships with his female patients.
Since starting the research for this project I have sifted through hundreds of pages of manuscript material produced and collected by nineteenth-century surgeons.
Image: Robert Liston operating. Henry Board (c. 1912). (Wellcome Images)
