Agnes Arnold-Forster

I am a writer and historian of healthcare, medicine, work, and emotions. My research spans Europe and North America from the eighteenth century to the present day, but my main area of expertise is modern and contemporary British healthcare. I am a Chancellor's Fellow at the University of Edinburgh.

I received my PhD in Modern History from King's College London in 2017. My doctoral thesis has since been turned into a book, The Cancer Problem: Malignancy in Nineteenth-Century Britain, was published by Oxford University Press in January 2021. Since finishing my PhD, I worked as a research and engagement fellow on the Wellcome Trust funded project, 'Surgery & Emotion'. My second book, Cold, Hard Steel: The Myth of the Modern Surgeon, was published by Manchester University Press in 2023. My most recent book, Nostalgia: A History of a Dangerous Emotion, was published by Picador in April 2024.

I am a core collaborator on two Wellcome Trust Small Grants: Healthy Scepticism (Dr Caitjan Gainty, KCL) and Senses and Modern Health/care Environments (Dr Victoria Bates, Bristol). Healthy Scepticism hopes to shed new light on the position of medicine in a sceptical world and offer a critical perspective on scepticism as a form of critical engagement. Senses and Modern Health/care Environments is exploring opportunities for collaborative research in the sensory history of hospitals and other clinical settings.