Peer to peer researcher volunteer jobs in Edinburgh

About The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh

The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (RCSEd) is an independent membership organisation dedicated to the education, training and advancement of surgeons, dental surgeons, doctors, and various individuals throughout healthcare who are involved in the surgical care of patients. The College has a current membership approaching 33,000 and growing, with members spanning over 100 countries around the world. From our founding in 1505, the College has been committed to the advancement of surgery and driving patient safety standards worldwide. In our 520 year history, there has never been a better time to join the College than now.

Working with us

At the College we aim to embrace views from across the organisation, sharing common goals and values for the betterment of healthcare through the advancement of surgical and dental professionals. We aim to develop teams that are reflective of the needs of our members and maximise the potential of every employee. To reflect the varying needs across the organisation, we offer a range of policies and benefits for our workforce including 42 day annual leave, flexible working practices, enhanced employer pensions contribution and various discounts throughout the College including the Ten Hill Place Hotel, 1505 Café and free entry to Surgeons' Hall Museums.

About the Role

Surgeons' Hall Museum holds a complex medical human remains collection, one of the largest and most significant of its kind in the world. Much of the collection was acquired before modern standards of consent and documentation, and the records that survive were shaped around pathology, diagnosis and the interests of those who assembled the collection rather than the individuals represented within it.

This two year project will improve what the Museum knows about this collection, including the people in it. Working through historic catalogues, medical case notes, College and Museum minutes and archival records, you will investigate origins, acquisition contexts and life histories of these people, and integrate your findings into the Museum's Collections Management System. Your research will inform catalogue records, future interpretation and displays, published listings, and the Museum's preparedness for any future return of collections.

In March 2026, the College’s Trustees approved a new Human Remains in Collections Policy, developed with an expert panel drawn from across the UK and Ireland, committing the Museum to provenance research, transparency, community engagement and readiness for return. This post directly supports the work to put this policy into practice.

You will report to the Curator and be supported by the Museum's Provenance Research Working Group, which brings together colleagues from collections, conservation, archives, learning and senior leadership, including a specialist Human Remains Conservator. This work involves sustained engagement with sensitive and sometimes distressing material, and supervision, peer support and training are built into the post.

In the final six months you will work on site with three Scottish university medical collections in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen, reviewing and enhancing their documentation, and will offer short consultancy visits to smaller Scottish museums holding human remains. The project concludes with a publication and a national conference at Surgeons' Hall, sharing the methods and findings across the sector.

The role is based in Edinburgh, with travel to partner institutions in the final phase. Reasonable travel and accommodation costs are met by the project.

Experience, Qualifications and Key Skills

You will be educated to degree level in a relevant discipline, such as history, anthropology, archaeology, medicine, pathology or museum studies, or hold equivalent professional experience, and have proven experience conducting research using historical records, archives or museum collections. You will understand the ethical issues surrounding human remains in museum or academic contexts and be comfortable working with confidential or ethically complex material. You will have experience working with collections databases and digital cataloguing systems such as Axiell or equivalent and be familiar with documentation standards and terminology audits.

You will have excellent analytical and organisational skills, with the ability to manage large volumes of complex data, and the ability to produce high quality written outputs including reports, summaries and catalogue entries. You will be self-motivated, able to plan and carry out independent research, and a clear and confident communicator in both verbal and written formats. Experience of provenance research, knowledge of UK museum policies relating to human remains and repatriation, or experience working with medical, anatomical, ethnographical, or archaeological human remains collections would be advantageous.

This role may particularly appeal to those who want to work on collections of real ethical complexity and see their findings shape policy, practice and public understanding.

Our thanks

This project, Recovering Histories: The McNab Human Remains Provenance Research Project, is made possible by Museums Galleries Scotland and by a generous legacy from John Winton McNab. We are grateful to both for backing work that is complex, long-term and genuinely needed.

How to Apply

To apply, please submit:

• A current CV (maximum two A4 pages); and

• A supporting statement (maximum two A4 pages) outlining your interest in the role and demonstrating how your skills, knowledge and experience meet the requirements of the person specification.

Job Purpose

Sequence ME & Long Covid is one of the most ambitious whole-genome sequencing studies ever undertaken into ME and Long Covid, co-led by Action for ME. Building on the success of DecodeME, this proposed £20 million study will use large-scale, long-read whole-genome sequencing to analyse the entire genetic code of 9,000 people with ME and 9,000 people with Long Covid - making it the world's largest 'long-read' whole-genome sequencing study of any disease.

Current funding supports project mobilisation, partnership development, and the development of the Long Covid arm of the study, including agreeing case definitions and gathering expressions of interest from people with Long Covid. Phase 2 has recently been confirmed, backed by £4.75m from the UK government and a further £174,414 from the WE&ME Foundation, and will focus on sequencing 6,000 ME/CFS samples previously collected through DecodeME using Oxford Nanopore's long-read sequencing technology, running alongside Phase 1.

You will play a pivotal role supporting the Sequence ME & Long Covid project in several different ways. Working closely with the project's management team and other team members, you will help ensure the smooth day-to-day running of this landmark study, providing administrative support to the various people and partners involved in delivering it.

As a self-starter, you will manage a range of tasks including meeting scheduling, taking meeting minutes, preparing governance documents, event administration, and broader project support - no two days will be the same.

You will need to maintain a high level of confidentiality at all times, particularly when supporting governance meetings and handling sensitive project documentation.

As a team player, you will provide comprehensive, confidential and organised administrative support, developing a deep understanding of the project and building strong, effective working relationships with colleagues, researchers and external partners.

Remote working at home can be challenging for some and works incredibly well for others. You will need to be able to work independently, use your own initiative, and remain proactive in maintaining good levels of communication with colleagues.

Key Duties

• Help monitor inboxes and respond to routine project enquiries in a timely and sensitive manner, escalating more complex matters as appropriate
• Assist the project's management team and other team members with meeting scheduling and diary coordination
• Take accurate minutes at project, management and other project-related meetings, and follow up and track resulting actions to completion
• Prepare, format and proof-read governance documents and papers
• Maintain and update project databases including the Teams channel, ensuring documents are saved correctly, other management information/recording systems to ensure accurate and timely record-keeping. Help with the tracking of expressions of interest from potential study participants.
• Provide administrative support for project events - from planning and logistics through to on-the-day support
• Help prepare presentations, slide decks and briefing materials for internal meetings, funders, partners and participant-facing communications
• Support the drafting, formatting and coordination of project communications, such as updates for partners, funders or the wider ME and Long Covid community
• Support coordination between internal teams and external partners, including research and funding partners
• Maintain project files and documentation in line with agreed communication operating procedures with internal and external partners ensuring information is well organised, up to date and easy for the team to access
• Maintain confidentiality at all times and in line with relevant policies and procedures, ensuring compliance with GDPR and that all data consent processes have been followed in relation to data protection
• Positively promote the work of the Sequence ME & Long Covid project and Action for ME at all times
• Undertake any other reasonable activity in line with the responsibilities of the post, as requested by the CEO, Business Development & Partnerships Manager, Senior Research Manager or the project's Management Team

Person Specification

Essential skills and experience

• Organisational skills - Highly organised with the ability to manage multiple tasks across a fast-moving research project, with attention to detail and accuracy maintained under pressure
• Communication - Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to interact effectively with diverse audiences including researchers, funders and people affected by ME and Long Covid
• IT literacy - Proficient with common office software, including Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Outlook, Teams, PowerPoint), and able to quickly learn relevant project management, database or communications systems as needed
• Problem-solving - A creative and solution-focused mindset to address challenges and find innovative ways to improve processes
• Adaptability - Capable of managing changing priorities, working flexibly, and adapting to the needs of a fast-paced, ambitious research programme
• Initiative - A proactive approach, with the ability to work independently and take initiative, while also following clear instructions when given
• Teamwork - A collaborative team player with a proven ability to work effectively as part of a team, including a remote-working team spanning multiple partners and stakeholders
• Interest in the sector - A genuine interest in health research, the Third Sector, and a desire to take action to improve the lives of people with ME and Long Covid
• Experience - Demonstrable ability to be an effective administrator, ideally within a charity, research, or project environment. Experience supporting governance processes, events, or communications would be an advantage but is not essential

Desirable skills and experience

• Experience providing administrative support for scientific or research-related projects
• Experience writing and communicating with non-specialist or general audiences

The Communications Manager provides operational leadership for CLAPA's communications delivery, ensuring communications and marketing activity is effectively planned, prioritised and delivered in support of the charity's strategic objectives. 

Reporting to the Head of Communications and Marketing, the postholder is responsible for translating the communications strategy into coordinated day-to-day delivery. They will oversee the planning, scheduling and operational management of communications activity across the organisation, ensuring work is appropriately prioritised, resources are allocated effectively and projects are delivered to a consistently high standard. 

The role directly manages CLAPA's Communications Officers, embedding effective planning, briefing and workflow processes that enable the team to deliver proactive, creative and high-quality communications.

Acting as the primary operational lead for communications delivery, the postholder will ensure colleagues across CLAPA receive responsive, well-planned communications support while maintaining clear priorities and protecting the team's capacity to deliver its best work. 

If you think you have the talent, passion and experience to help us ensure we can always meet the needs of the community we serve, we want to hear from you.