Joseph Bell Writer in Residence at the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and the School of English, University of St Andrews

The School of English at the University of St Andrews and Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh offer the Joseph Bell writing residency, as part of a unique Medical Humanities collaboration. The residency is open to writers or researchers in fiction, non-fiction, poetry, drama, screenplay, literary and/or historical scholarship, life-writing and medical humanities. We seek to appoint a writer pursuing a project that, by drawing on surgical, dental and relevant related disciplines, either historical and contemporary, interrogates the holdings of the archive of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and, if required by the project, archives of the University of St Andrews. The residency is open to UK and international applicants, excluding undergraduate students. The stipend that is awarded will include travel and subsistence expenses to visit either Institution. Travel to and from the UK will not normally be included. It is expected that the recipient of an award will visit the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in-person to carry out a significant portion of their work. The quality and extent of proposed use of the archives will be a criterion for the success of an application.  

Residencies may begin at any point following 1 April 2026 and must be concluded by 31 July 2026. Writers in residence will be asked to deliver an open access presentation of their work to both institutions during or within six months of the end of the residency. One or more residencies may be offered, depending on the scale and scope of the projects proposed. The residency will not be a form of employment at the RCSEd or University.

Inquiries may be addressed to Tom Jones of the School of English at tej1@st-andrews.ac.uk

Closing date: 12 noon, Friday 6 March 2026