Dr Jenny McNeill is Reader in Midwifery Research and has been a research/academic staff member since 2003 in the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Queen’s University Belfast. Jenny is committed to maximising the contribution of midwifery to enhancing outcomes for women and their families in the perinatal period through education and research. Incorporating maternity service users in designing and providing high-quality midwifery education and research is fundamental to achieving enhanced outcomes for women and families. Jenny’s research focuses on exploring and evaluating events and experiences during pregnancy, birth or the postnatal period and the resultant clinical or social outcomes with a particular emphasis on public health. Jenny’s research interests also include models of antenatal care including continuity of midwifery carer and group-based care and education models. Jenny has been involved in strategic regional, national and international projects relevant to midwifery and maternity care policy, practice, research and education. Jenny has served on various committees and is currently a Trustee for The Iolanthe Midwifery Trust and Editorial Board Member for MIDIRS Midwifery Digest.

Emma is a Consultant midwife in South Wales, and currently (2023-2025) Chair of the Consultant Midwife Cymru group. She has jointly published two books on women’s experiences, and has contributed to multiple others. She has published in midwifery and nursing journals and has won multiple awards including an Iolanthe Award, RCN Midwifery & Children nurse/midwife of the year, RCM midwife for Wales and many more. Emma is passionate about the experiences of women and birthing people, human rights in childbirth, physiological birth, positive work place culture and how civility saves lives, equality, diversity and inclusion, Global midwifery, and ‘everything midwifery’. She has presented locally, nationally and globally including Toronto, Krakow, Prague, Ethiopia, Bali and Riyadh. In 2000, Emma won a Millennium scholarship to travel to Japan to explore breast feeding experiences and relate them to the experiences of teenage mothers in the Welsh valleys. In 2018, she completed an RCBC FiR fellowship on FGM, exploring the experiences of midwives supporting women and birthing people with FGM. She is a founding trustee of the charity midwives@ethiopia supporting Ethiopian midwives with training and development. Emma has led a project to optimise the support and counselling around physiological breech birth, a volunteer project where mothers who speak English as an additional language offer befriending, information sharing and support to other mothers, and was the Research Associate on the national project ‘Your Birth We Care’ (Welsh Government, 2017). Emma was a teenage mother having her first child, and describes one of her proudest moments as getting her first Consultant midwife role on her daughter’s 30^th birthday. She feels honoured to be awarded with a FRCM and is proud to be an advocate for midwives, MCSWs and the women, birthing people and families we support.

Hannah has over 10 years of experience in acute midwifery, including appointment as the U.K.’s first sepsis specialist midwife. She holds a parliamentary advisory position and acts as a health consultant for international research groups, collaborating with organisations such as the White Ribbon Alliance. She brings a holistic, evidence-based perspective from her postgraduate public health tutor role at the University of Manchester and holds a Masters in Public Health. Hannah has several professional publications examining antiracism, bias and cultural safety within healthcare, with a focus on improving outcomes and experiences of marginalised groups. Hannah is a cofounder of Midwives Against Racism, sharing evidence-based literature on medical racism on Instagram (@midwivesagainstracism). Hannah is currently studying for a professional doctorate in health, examining the contribution of racism to maternal mortality. In 2024 she graduated from the Florence Nightingale Foundation Green Healthcare Leadership Programme and in 2023 she was awarded the Iolanthe Trust Midwives Award. Hannah has recently been appointed as an associate trainer for the charity Birthrights and also works part-time as a clinical midwifery manager of a consultant-led labour ward in the North West of England.

Joy Kemp is recognised as an expert in the field of global midwifery and is currently serving as an International Midwife Specialist with the United Nations in Bangladesh.  From 2013-2023 she was Global Professional Advisor for the Royal College of Midwives, leading the RCM’s twinning partnerships in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Nepal and Uganda.  Prior to that, Joy had an academic career as a Senior Lecturer, Programme Director, and Researcher, as well as a clinical midwife in Kent, where she contributed to the development of a freestanding midwife-led unit.  Joy’s humanitarian work spans over a decade, focusing on maternal and newborn health services for vulnerable populations in challenging and fragile settings worldwide.

Joy’s significant contributions to midwifery knowledge include the capacity-building of professional midwives’ associations, enabling them to develop the organisational structures and systems they need to serve their members and to position and equip midwives for their pivotal role in sexual, reproductive, maternal, newborn and adolescent health and gender equality. Joy is the lead author of the authoritative book “Global Midwifery: Principles, Policy and Practice,” which highlights the role of skilled professional midwives in improving maternal and newborn health outcomes and in contributing to achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. Joy has also led, and contributed to, many other publications. Joy’s personal experience with dyslexia has led her to take a special interest in supporting neurodiverse midwives and others in achieving career success.

Dr Jacqui Williams is a very experienced midwifery educator and midwife. Jacqui has kept strong links with midwifery practice and regularly works clinically in a local Trust. She is passionate about the unique role of the midwife and women-centred care. She is a Senior Fellow with the Higher Education Academy and has particular area of expertise in quality assurance. Her education interests are in open and distance learning. Jacqui is also an experienced midwifery expert witness.

Her doctoral work researched whether resilience develops or not in student midwives as they navigate the undergraduate midwifery programme. This work is currently being evaluated nationally. Jacqui’s role at the NMC is to advise on midwifery matters across the organisation ensuring that midwifery is considered in all of the NMC’s work. She is works with a wide range of stakeholders to promote the adoption of the midwifery standards and influence the maternity agenda.

Marion qualified as a midwife in 1983 and now works part-time in the community for Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals. She has vast international experience which has given her valuable insight in all aspects of midwifery in different and diverse communities in a number of countries in the world such as the Caribbean, Australia, Scotland and the Netherlands. Her experience as a Sure Start Midwife taught her a great deal regarding the benefits of multidisciplinary working in the community setting, especially with vulnerable women, she has published several papers on the subject.

She has an MSc in Women’s Health and has published findings on midwives’ experiences of home birth transfers. Together with her colleagues she improved the home birth service for the trust. This won the prestigious RCM award for better births in 2016. Since then there has been the launch of the first Midwifery Hub in the South East with an opening ceremony featuring Harriet Warner, co-author of the successful ‘Call the midwife’ series.

Contact details: Marion.Wilyman@bsuh.nhs.uk

Susan believes that throughout her career she has been fortunate enough to be able to join two of her early ambitions, namely midwifery and education. Susan has recently retired having worked for over 40 years’ in practice, education, regulation and research.

Susan spent eight years employed at the NMC working on a variety of projects including developing standards for education and practice. She gained her PhD in 2007 at Bournemouth University and returned to working in education in 2009 taking up the role of Lead Midwife for Education and had the honour of leading the UK-wide LME Executive for several years. She has also been a member of the RCM Board and elected as Chair during her term of office. Her achievements in midwifery education have been recognised by AdvancedHE with Susan being awarded the title of National Teaching Fellow. Susan was Professor of Midwifery Education by the time she retired from Bournemouth University and is now looking forward to what life has to offer as she begins a new chapter in her life.

Denise is an internationally renowned authority on midwifery complementary therapies, having pioneered the subject as a midwifery specialism since the early 1980s. She previously worked at the University of Greenwich where she developed a BSc (Hons) degree in Complementary Therapies and established a complementary therapies antenatal teaching clinic (1992-2004), treating almost 6000 women.

Denise left the University in 2004 to set up her own education company, Expectancy, providing a unique range of complementary therapy courses for midwives, including on-site courses for maternity units and universities in the UK and overseas. She also offers business mentoring and support under the “Endorsed by Expectancy” scheme, for midwives wanting to work in private practice offering complementary therapies and maternity-related services. Denise has taught almost 4,000 midwives in the UK and worldwide and is a frequent international conference speaker. She has a strong commitment to safety and professional accountability in relation to complementary therapies.

She has undertaken several research studies, including acupressure for postdates pregnancy, and has published numerous textbooks on the subject of midwifery complementary therapies, her latest being Complementary Therapies for Postdates Pregnancy (2023). She has also edited several editions of Bailliere’s Midwives’ Dictionary and has recently written guidelines for midwives using complementary therapies for the RCM. She was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Greenwich in 2020 in recognition of her 40 years’ work in this specialist field.

See: www.expectancy.co.uk contact: info@expectancy.co.uk

Grace Thomas is a Reader in Midwifery and Head of Health Professions at the School of Healthcare Sciences at Cardiff University. Five professions of Midwifery, Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy, Diagnostic Radiography & Imaging, and Radiotherapy & Oncology sits within Grace’s leadership role as part of the senior team within the School.

Grace is also the Director of the World Health Organisation Collaborating Centre (WHOCC) for Midwifery Development at Cardiff University – one of only two WHOCCs globally which specifically focus on midwifery education. Grace co-led the development of the Midwifery Assessment Tool for Education (MATE) as part of the WHOCC workplan. MATE is published on the WHO website (https://iris.who.int/handle/10665/358932 ) and utilised globally to support countries to self-assess their midwifery education development needs. The WHOCC work is currently focussed on the Central Asia region, along with the development of a WHO EURO Pocket Book on maternity and newborn care. Grace has experience of working in Oman and Namibia – recently leading a project funded by a Wales and Africa grant with the University of Namibia and Independent Midwives Association of Namibia.

A Midwife for over 35 years, Grace moved into academia after working across a variety of clinical and managerial roles, including as Consultant Midwife for 10 years. Grace has presented extensively- nationally and internationally, and is on the Editorial Board of the European Journal of Midwifery and a Trustee of the Iolanthe Midwifery Trust. In 2021 Grace was awarded a Fellowship of the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) UK and won the Leadership category at the prestigious RCM Awards.

Grace is Adjunct Professor at the University of Limerick, Ireland.

e-mail: thomassg4@cardiff.ac.uk

https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/healthcare-sciences/about-us/engagement/who-collaborating-centre-for-midwifery-development

Hora leads the Maternal and Infant Health Research theme including several interdisciplinary researchers and PhD students in Sheffield Hallam University.  Her research is of a collaborative nature, focusing on maternity care models reducing health inequalities for mothers and babies from the most disadvantaged backgrounds. With a wide-reaching impact, Hora’s research has revolved around areas such as midwife continuity of acre, maternal nutrition and obesity, infant feeding, perinatal mental health, adolescent pregnancy and perinatal care of migrant women.

Hora was listed in the Elsevier top 2% cited scientists in her field in 2020 with a field adjusted impact of 2.4 according to SciVal 2021. She has also been acting as Editor/Senior Editorial Board member for journals (e.g. BMC Pregnancy & Childbirth) and an expert advisor for organisations such as WHO and Public Health England.

Hora was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s new year honour list (Dec 2020) for her services to higher education and impact on maternal and infant health, guiding maternity policy development at national and international levels.

Dr Sally Pezaro is a registered Midwife, an adjunct Associate Professor at the university of Notre Dame in Australia, an Assistant Professor at Coventry University, a Fellow of the Royal College of Midwives (FRCM), and an editorial board member of Evidence Based Midwifery, MIDIRS and the International Journal of Childbirth. She is also a regulatory panellist, Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA), an Invited member of the Ehlers-Danlos Society’s International Consortium, and lead midwife for www.hEDSTogether.com. Dr Pezaro has clinical midwifery experience working in the United Kingdom, the Gambia and Ethiopia. Reflecting on her own experiences, Dr Pezaro ensures that her work, now in research and academia remains challenge led.

The Ehlers-Danlos Society bestowed Dr Pezaro with the ‘Outstanding Consortium Member of the Year’ award in 2022. In 2021 Dr Pezaro also won a ‘Midwives Award’ from the Iolanthe Midwifery Trust and a ‘Partnership Working’ award from the Royal College of Midwives. In 2019, Dr Pezaro was honoured with a first prize award from the Royal Society of Medicine in ‘Leading and inspiring excellence in maternity care’ and was also 1st runner-up for the British Journal of Midwifery’s ‘Midwife of the Year’ 2019.

The overriding vision for Dr Pezaro’s ongoing work is to secure psychologically safe professional journeys and excellence in health care.

Follow her on social media @SallyPezaro

National Matenity Lead for Equality NHS England and NHS Improvement. Professional Midwifery Advocate in a large NHS trust.

Wendy has strong self-belief values, personal development, philanthropy, mentoring, supporting others, just as passionately promoting and advocacy for equalities among black and minority ethnic groups.

Wendy is a registered nurse and midwife with more than two decades of active, fruitful and broadened years of service in the community and public health. The recognition and influence of her abilities reach, influence and touch several spheres within and outside the United Kingdom. Wendy is well seasoned in articulating and participating in diverse roles involving the hospital, community, private health, and well-being. She is very passionate about supporting and empowering nurses and midwives to provide culturally sensitive and holistic care for women and their families.

Ms Olayiwola received her academic Bachelor of Arts with Honours in Nursing from Buckinghamshire Chiltern University UK; BSc (Hons.) Midwifery City University London with further studies, she obtained a merited diploma in Management and Leadership Studies (DMS) and postgraduate (MSc) degree in Public Health at the University of East London. She is an honorary lecturer at universities on Public health topics and a motivational speaker.

She has co-authored articles in professional midwifery journals, including Talking to men about FG M and Reducing the incidence of Stillbirths in Black women. Wendy is a member of Nursing and Midwifery Council Equality Diversity and Inclusion Research Advisory Group. She is the Lead midwife/co-chair of CNO CMiDO BME Strategic Advisory Group NHS England.

Wendy was awarded a British Empire Medal for service to the NHS and Equality during the COVID-19 response in the 2021 New year’s Honour list. She was listed in the 2020 year of then nurse and midwife Global WHO/UN/WGH100 outstanding women nurse and midwife leader. She is the winner of the NHS@70 women leadersAward2018.

Benash Nazmeen is a Midwife, a mentor and currently working in Midwifery Education. She is passionate about addressing health inequalities & invested in improving maternity services for those we care for and those who work in them.

She has co-designed and runs Cultural Competency and Safety Workshops for maternity Health care professionals. This successful course has been used as a case study of good practice for the NHS Equity and Equality Guidance for Local Maternity Systems, September 2021.

She co-founded The Association of South Asian Midwives (ASAM), they work to support marginalised midwives & raise awareness of barriers faced by diverse communities.

Benash is also the Co-Chair for the Racial Injustice in UK Maternity Services Inquiry by Birth Rights Charity.

She sits on the MBRRACE-UK Perinatal Confidential Enquiry Review Panel, the RHO maternity stakeholder group & is a trustee for the Iolanthe Midwifery Trust. Benash is a Fellow for the Royal College of Midwives, has been shortlisted for the “RCM Race Matters awards 2021” and Winner of the “Ground-breaking Researcher” award at the BAME Health & Care awards 2022.

“My work is my passion, but my colleagues are my strength.”

Throughout her career stretching more than 2 decades working as a midwife in Bulgaria; Greece and England, Gergana has always been passionate about leadership. “Competent; compassionate and a visible leader is the one who will inspire and lead the teams even in the most difficult times.”

She is passionate about patient safety and believes that the route to ensuring safe, compassionate and equitable maternity care is to have a valued and respected workforce in place.

Gergana has been selected as a RCM fellow with the first cohort of fellows in 2017. She has published numerous academic papers; has been a columnist for more than 6 years for the Bulgarian journal ‘9 Months’. She has lead on many national and international Quality Improvement Projects and was awarded the‘Mary Seacole’ for her work of antenatal education programme tailed for mothers with Indian and Pakistani family origin.

Serving as a member of the scientific committee for the 7th European Congress on Intrapartum Care, she has also been a Board member for the European Midwives Association for 2 years.

Gergana is currently a Director of Midwifery, and  Florence Nightingale Scholarship Fellow.

Describing her current role as ‘an honour, a commitment and a responsibility,’ she adds: ‘It is a platform for me to inspire the next generation of midwives, to promote and better our services, and to be an ambassador for a profession which changes the World.”

Contact details: gergana.nikolova@nhs.net

Comfort Momoh has dedicated her professional life to helping survivors of FGM and works tirelessly to eradicate the practice.

An FGM public health specialist at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust in London, and a visiting lecturer at a number of prominent institutions, including King’s College London, her expertise is world renowned. She has been invited to speak at the first US summit on FGM in Washington DC in December, and at the 31st ICM Triennial Congress in Canada next year.

Comfort has advised London councils, government departments and the WHO on FGM issues, and travels extensively in African countries to raise awareness. In 2008, she received an MBE for services to women’s health.

A pioneer in her field, she founded the first African Well Woman’s Clinic at St Thomas’ Hospital back in 1997, dedicated to caring for women affected by FGM.

‘I started many years ago when people didn’t even want to talk about it,’ she says. ‘Now the work we have done, and others too, has brought it to the forefront, and made it a safe environment for survivors to come out and talk about their own experiences, and that’s very powerful.’

Training midwives and other healthcare professionals, mentoring students and colleagues are all part of her work, which she happily admits goes way beyond the nine to five. ‘I don’t mind that – this is my passion,’ she adds.

‘It’s very important that as health professionals, we know our roles and responsibilities in terms of safeguarding girls and women who might be at risk.

‘For me, it’s about impacting communities, reaching out to them, changing attitudes and mindsets, which you can’t do overnight. But I would like to see FGM end in one generation if possible.’

She says she hopes the RCM fellowship will help her advocate for women and girls, and ‘give a voice to the voiceless’.

Contact details: drcomfortmomoh@gmail.com

Tom has practiced as a team midwife delivering caseload-based care, a senior charge midwife within a neonatal unit and an advanced neonatal nurse practitioner. He is currently a Head of Programme for the Women’s, Children, Young People and Families team within NHS Education for Scotland (NES) and has been a midwife since 1999. He is the strategic lead for the Scottish Multiprofessional Maternity Development Programme (SMMDP) and has additional responsibility for national midwifery, maternity and neonatal workforce and educational developments.

He is an Honorary Advanced Neonatal Nurse Practitioner (ANNP) within NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde, undertaking clinical teaching around newborn examination. He is a board member for the Scottish Cot Death Trust and the Consultant Editor for the British Journal of Midwifery. From an international perspective he has contributed to evidence-based guidance for newborn skin care and taught neonatal nurses in Vietnam. He has also published numerous peer reviewed articles and contributes to midwifery textbooks including Physiology in Childbearing with his career long mentor and friend Professor Jean Rankin.

Further details can be found at:
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Tom-Mcewan-3
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2972-9877
https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=K1GRrXIAAAAJ

Jayne was appointed as the Foundation Professor of Midwifery and Lead Midwife for Education at the University of Leicester in 2017 tasked with establishing a critical mass of midwifery talent and pioneering an innovative 4-year undergraduate pre-registration Master in Science (MSci) Midwifery with Leadership programme for aspiring leaders of the midwifery profession. The first cohort completed their studies in 2022. Currently Jayne is Deputy Head of the School of Healthcare and the School’s Director of Education.

Jayne trained as a nurse at Guys Hospital, London and undertook midwifery training at Kings College Hospital London, moving into midwifery education early in her career.  Her first academic role was at the University of Nottingham where she held a variety of teaching and leadership roles and was a recipient of a Lord Dearing Award for her outstanding achievement in enhancing the student learning experience. In 2013, Jayne won the Royal College of Midwives Annual Johnson’s Baby Award for Excellence in Midwifery Education.

Jayne took up appointment as the Head of the School of Midwifery at Kingston University and St Georges University of London in 2014 and in 2016, was promoted to Associate Dean for Practice Education and Workforce Development within the Faculty of Health and Social Care and subsequently became the first Professor of Midwifery at Kingston and St Georges.

Recognised as a national and international academic leader, Jayne has made substantial contributions to the development of midwifery education and received a Gold Medal Award for midwifery excellence from the Chief Midwifery Officer for England in 2022. She was a member of the Council of Deans of Health Midwifery Advisory Board that informed the NMC (2019) Future Midwife Standards and coaches students undertaking the Council of Deans’ Student Leadership Programme.  Jayne is also a National teaching Fellow and Principal Fellow of Advance HE and an Aurora Role Model and mentor for the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education.

Jayne is an educator member and Chair of one of the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) inaugural Regional Professional Committees (Europe) and is a member of the ICM’s Research Advisory Network. Jayne’s PhD research explored intrapartum informed consent and subsequently her research interests have focussed on pedagogical studies in midwifery and interprofessional education.

With a substantial publishing history, Jayne is also co-editor of the seminal textbook for midwives, Myles Textbook for Midwives, which is sold in over 75 countries and has been adapted for use in Sub-Saharan Africa and translated into Korean and Greek.

Contact details: jayne.marshall@leicester.ac.uk

Personal profile: Jayne Marshall | University of Leicester

Amanda is an established midwifery leader, with core values of compassion, inclusion and collaboration.

She has been a consultant midwife throughout several hospitals, and the London Ambulance Service where she was the responsible maternity lead for urgent and emergency maternity care.

Throughout her midwifery career, her focus has been on safe, kind, and compassionate care. She has undertaken commissioned maternity reviews regarding safety and learning and has experience as an expert witness and maintain my clinical practice as a midwife.

Throughout her professional career, she has sought to listen to women’s experiences of care, learn, and use this to inform ongoing development of responsive maternity care.

Amanda is a fellow of the Royal College of Midwives and was awarded the Chief Midwifery Officer’s Gold award for implementing improvements to the care pregnant women receive.

In 2022 she received an MBE for services to Midwifery.

You can contact her at Amanda.mansfield@nhs.net

Carmel was awarded her RCM Fellowship in 2020. She has extensive experience in healthcare policy and professional regulation; strategic leadership; the role of professional associations/organisations; midwifery regulation including standard setting and fitness to practise; midwifery practice; continuing professional development and lifelong learning. Whilst working at the NMC for 7 years and then the RCM, Carmel was a member of a number of external working and advisory groups across the UK and provided midwifery expertise advising internal and external stakeholders on midwifery regulation as well as the education, training and career development of midwives and maternity support workers.

Carmel has recently retired having worked for over 40 years in midwifery practice, higher and professional education and regulation.

Nina, the interim Regional Chief Midwife for London, is a registered nurse and a midwife with international working experience. Nina has extensive experience in clinical practice, operational, management, research, quality improvement and co-production. Nina has worked across acute and primary care Trusts and has held a number of senior midwifery leadership positions.

Nina has acted as a midwifery advisor on several NICE guidelines and is the immediate past President of the Royal Society of Medicine, Maternity and Newborn Forum. She was the midwifery lead in the Lambeth Early Action Partnership (LEAP), a 10-year programme funded by BIG Lottery Fulfilling Lives; Better Start, tackling the health inequalities in early years (0-4), through a transformational strategy and public health approach by shifting resources to early intervention whilst working in partnership with women and their families. She has been shortlisted for the Royal College of Midwives national Awards for partnership working and innovative practices on several occasions and won the award in 2008 for developing a community-based multi-agency postnatal care & early parenting programme.

Nina is also a member of Kings Health Partner and Applied Research Collaboration South London and has contributed to several research publications. She has a particular interest in obesity in pregnancy and health literacy and is currently undertaking a PhD in this field.

Billie Hunter CBE, Emerita Professor of Midwifery at Cardiff University, is internationally esteemed as a researcher and author, particularly for her focus on the emotional wellbeing of midwives. She has lectured across the globe and held a number of visiting chairs, including current roles as Visiting Professor at University of Surrey and Adjunct Professor at the University of Technology, Sydney, Australia.

A midwife since 1979, and the first RCM Professor of Midwifery, she has made an outstanding contribution to midwifery evidence through her research, publications and advocacy for midwives. Her research into the emotional aspects of being a midwife has been a powerful voice in supporting the emotional wellbeing of midwives in order to improve the care of women and their families. Her work has made an important contribution to the recognition of ‘caring for carers’ globally.

She is the former chair of The Iolanthe Midwifery Trust, and founder and chair of the All Wales Midwifery and Reproductive Health Research Forum. She also helped to set up the RCM oral history archive. Until retirement, Billie was director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Midwifery Development in Europe, based at Cardiff University, which collaborates with WHO to strengthen midwifery education and practice in the European Region and globally. She is currently a Trustee for the Birth Partner Project, which provides wraparound volunteer support for pregnant women seeking sanctuary in Cardiff.

In 2018 she was awarded a CBE for her services to midwifery and midwifery education in the UK and Europe.

Contact details: HunterB1@cardiff.ac.uk

Suzanne has been a registered midwife since 1998, with experience of all areas of midwifery practice. She has worked as a midwife, senior midwifery manager and Head of Midwifery in Wales for many years prior to being appointed as Director of Midwifery in 2022.

Suzanne successfully completed her Doctorate of Advanced Healthcare Practice in 2022. Her research explored the experience of pregnant women being offered influenza vaccination in pregnancy. She has a keen interest in public health and supporting vulnerable families. Suzanne is passionate in supporting midwives and support workers to realise their potential through training and development, acknowledging and celebrating achievement. She is a strong advocate for Clinical Supervision for Midwives, embedding the RCM Caring For You Charter supporting partnership working to promote a commitment to provide safe, healthy working environment.

Sarah has united her clinical role and her research activity to ensure that women with complex needs are afforded the same support as low risk women. In addition to her UK work Sarah has been active in the RCM Global agenda, she has made positive contributions to developing professionalism of midwifery in Bangladesh.

Dianne has demonstrated her pioneering of water birth and developed sustainability of what was a novel practice at the time, now a fundamental aspect of midwifery practice and a real choice for women. Her work through clinical practice, education and research has embedded water birth in contemporary practice. Her work is recognised nationally and internationally.

Dr Alison Callwood has a background in midwifery, nursing practice and education for health professions spanning 30 years. She gained her Doctor of Philosophy in 2015 at the University of Surrey.

Alison is actively engaged in post-doctoral research exploring admissions to health professions education programmes focusing on ensuing equity. She is member of the Council of Deans for Health Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Strategic Policy Group and UK Medical Schools Council Selection Alliance Multiple Mini Interview (MMI) Expert Group, a Fellow of the Institute for People-Centred Artificial Intelligence (AI) at the University of Surrey and Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Alison has been awarded multiple grants from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and has orchestrated the design and development of the first known online automated interview (MMI) system with principles of fairness built in.

Her recent work includes exploring the impact AI can bring to recruitment and admissions and how the interface between technology and people can be softened to facilitate equity, inclusivity, and diversity particularly for neurodiverse applicants.

Annette qualified as a midwife in 1983 and, after working clinically, including as a midwife-sonographer, she joined the research team at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust.

Between 1997 and 2020 Annette worked on many single, multicentre, national and international clinical trials. Many of the results have influenced midwifery and obstetric practice improving outcomes for women and babies. Areas of interest include obesity, GDM, preterm birth, pre-eclampsia and the development of devices to train staff and aid birth. Whilst in London Annette held several local and national roles including NIHR Specialty Lead, NIHR Advocate (Midwifery), NIHR Midwife Champion and R and D lead for Women’s Services at GSTFT.

In 2020 Annette was appointed Professor of Women’s Health and Midwifery Research in a joint appointment between Flinders University and the Northern Adelaide Local Health Network. In this role she is maintaining her existing collaborations in the UK, developing new partnerships in Australia and building research capacity in several hospitals across Adelaide and beyond, ensuring midwives are at the heart of clinical research and gaining the evidence to inform and improve practice.

Contact details: annette.l.briley@kcl.ac.uk

After an early career in clinical nursing and educational research, Helen qualified as a midwife and completed her PhD on the learning experiences of undergraduate nursing students and newly qualified practitioners.

Prior to entering Higher Education, Helen practised as a midwife in hospital and community settings in NHS Grampian. She was seconded as Project Midwife to develop the Scottish Woman-Held Maternity Record (SWHMR), which is used by women and health professionals throughout NHS Scotland.

Helen has extensive experience of delivering and leading midwifery education at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. She has undertaken programme leadership and curriculum development roles for pre-registration midwifery and MScs in midwifery and nursing. She has contributed to the NHS Education for Scotland (NES) funded Maternity Care Assistant preparation programme and has represented midwifery within cross institutional interprofessional education (IPE) initiatives.

Helen is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and experienced coach. Helen is a Professor (Teaching & Scholarship) at the University of York, where she is also  Lead Midwife for Education and Director of Midwifery education, representing midwifery education within and beyond the institution.

Nafiza is a Nurse Midwife with an career spanning over 38 years, marked by unwavering dedication to women’s health and addressing inequalities in healthcare systems. With a diverse background encompassing clinical expertise, educational leadership, management, service improvement, and project management, Nafiza has emerged as a formidable force in the field of maternal and reproductive health.
Throughout her career, Nafiza has been driven by a profound passion for addressing inequalities in health, particularly within maternity services. Her commitment to effecting positive change has taken her on a transformative journey, from local initiatives to global projects aimed at improving healthcare outcomes for marginalized communities.

Fuelled by her passion, Nafiza pursued a Public Health MSc and secured a prestigious scholarship with DFID, where she served as a project manager for Women’s health projects in South Asia. Recognizing the need for advocacy and empowerment within the midwifery profession, Nafiza co-founded the Association of South Asian Midwives, aiming to dismantle barriers faced by communities from the global majority and enhance maternity services worldwide.

Nafiza’s influence extends beyond her direct involvement in projects; she serves as a panel member for MBRRACE-UK perinatal confidential enquiry and contributes to various advisory groups, including the Chief Nursing Officer and Chief Midwifery Officer BAME Strategic Advisory Group. Her consultancy work with the Bangladesh RCM Twinning project underscores her commitment to nurturing young midwifery leaders and supporting professional development.

In her NHS roles, Nafiza has been instrumental in pioneering initiatives to improve maternal healthcare. As Lead Maternal Medicine Midwife, she played a pivotal role in developing Maternal Medicine services across Northeast London. In her current position as Equity and Equality Lead for North East London, Nafiza champions equitable and compassionate care, ensuring that all women receive the support and respect they deserve.

Nafiza’s contributions have garnered widespread recognition, including being awarded the RCM Fellowship and the prestigious Florence Nightingale Leadership Scholarship. Her dedication to advancing the inequalities agenda was further honored when she was invited by HRH King Charles to Buckingham Palace, acknowledging her role in shaping healthcare policies and practices.

A visionary entrepreneur and change agent, Nafiza continues to advocate for equitable maternity services, driven by her unwavering belief in the power of healthcare to transform lives. Through her leadership and advocacy, Nafiza is paving the way for a future where every woman receives dignified, compassionate, and equitable care during childbirth.

Juliet qualified in 1996. She worked as a 1-1 Midwife,  Community Midwife and in the Birth Centre leading numerous homebirths and water births.

In 2007 Juliet set up the Acton community clinic for non-pregnant women with Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) offering same-day walk-in deinfibulation under local anaesthetic; accepting self-referrals; has no geographical boundaries; and pioneered a holistic model of care co-locating bilingual Health Advocates and trauma Counsellors. The service won a Guardian Public Service Award in Diversity and Equality in 2011.

Juliet was seconded for the Department of Health’s FGM Prevention Programme in 2014. In 2017 she became head of Knowledge Hub and Community Engagement at Barnardo’s National FGM Centre and simultaneously won and managed a £150,000 social exclusion award from Imperial Charity. In 2017 the community clinic was moved into hospital outpatients and rebranded, the Sunflower clinics.

Juliet is currently Trust FGM lead at Imperial College. She has trained countless Midwives, Doctors and other frontline professionals and leads community initiatives such as speaking at Arabic women’s coffee mornings and annual teaching at Somali summer university. She was previously member of the FGM National Clinical Group and the RCOG’s FGM taskforce; peer reviewed the RCOG’s FGM Green Top guidelines; and co-chairs the FGM National health network.

She co-authored the RCM’s FGM i-learning package; designed an RCM-accredited deinfibulation workshop; and presented to WHO FGM expert consultation in 2017;

She has published in several journals and book chapters. Is an IBCLC and set up the Complex Tongue Tie assessment clinic at Imperial College in 2012.

She gained her MSc from Kings College in 2013 and in 2022 was awarded an NIHR Doctoral Clinical Academic Fellowship. She is undertaking her PhD at Nottingham University.

She currently co-leads ACERS-UK – Advocating for research into reconstruction surgery and psychosexual therapy. FGM Reconstruction Surgery – FGM Network

Aine Alam is a practising midwife, teacher and researcher, specialising in midwifery-led care, multidisciplinary teamwork and teaching practices that have a work based learning focus. Áine holds qualifications in nursing, midwifery, advanced midwifery practice, clinical teaching and learning, assessor awards and a Cert Ed, Masters in work based learning (WBL). She is currently completing PhD studies about how midwifery teachers move from lecture-led learning to practice based approaches to the teaching and learning of midwifery.

A midwife since 1982 and currently practising in Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust, Áine returned from a three year sabbatical in November 2016 as voluntary Visiting Faculty to The School of Nursing and Midwifery (SONAM) at Aga Khan University Karachi. She was privileged to work with an enthusiastic midwifery teaching team who brought the Bachelor of Midwifery degree for the first time to an Asian country.

In 2014 Áine was awarded an International Fellowship Award from the charity Wellbeing of Women (WOW) in conjunction with the RCM. In 2015 she authored a book titled Teach Don’t Tell: Effective strategies for training midwives, a narrative script that challenges midwifery teachers to teach for ‘real’.

Áine also volunteers as a Learning representative for the RCM, conducting learning events across London and Kent for midwifery colleagues. The RCM (funded by DfiD) have placed Áine four times in Uganda to assist universities with their curriculum development for midwives, influencing how midwives will be taught with the ultimate aim of reducing the vast number of mothers and babies who die in childbirth in developing countries.

Contact details: fetwp@hotmail.com

Dr. Laura Abbott is an accomplished researcher and Midwife specialising in pregnancy and new motherhood in prison settings. She began her career in healthcare by qualifying as a Registered Nurse in 1993 and later became a Registered Midwife in 2000. After working as an independent midwife for several years, Laura transitioned into education, where she currently holds the position of Associate Professor in Research at The University of Hertfordshire.

Laura’s doctoral research, titled “The Incarcerated Pregnancy: An Ethnographic Study of Perinatal Women in English Prisons,” provided valuable insights into the experiences of pregnant women in prison, informing policy decisions within Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Services. She co-authored “The Birth Charter” for pregnant women in England and Wales, a significant publication by Birth Companions in May 2016. Her expertise has significantly influenced the operational policy regarding pregnancy, Mother and Baby Units (MBUs), and maternal separation in prison settings.

In addition to her academic contributions, Laura has served as an expert witness and has provided evidence at the parliamentary Joint Human Rights Committee. Her evidence and expertise continue to play a crucial role in shaping changes in policy and the law. Her testimony has been instrumental in driving legislative changes, notably in recognising pregnancy as a mitigating factor for incarcerated pregnant women and new mothers. Her advocacy serves as a voice for both incarcerated women and midwives, ensuring their perspectives are considered in policymaking processes. She tirelessly advocates for midwifery representation at decision-making forums, ensuring the voices of midwives and incarcerated women are heard in governmental and policy-making settings.

Laura co-founded Pregnancy in Prison Partnership International (PIPPI), where she collaborates with academics from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Japan, the USA, and the UK. Additionally, she played a pivotal role in establishing the UK-wide Prison Midwives Action Group (PMAG), supporting specialist prison midwives, and emphasising the importance of specialised care for pregnant women within the prison system. Laura is also a Principal Investigator for the ESRC funded Lost Mothers Project, a significant initiative in collaboration with Birth Companions and their Lived Experience Team. This project focuses on examining the experiences of enforced separation from newborn babies, shedding light on the profound impact it has on both mothers within the criminal justice system and the perspectives of health, social, and prison professionals involved.

Her dedication to advocating for the rights and well-being of incarcerated pregnant women and new mothers is evident in her multifaceted contributions to research, education, and advocacy efforts.

Sara specialises in Childbirth Related Perineal Trauma (CRPT) with a focus on Obstetric Anal Sphincter Injuries (OASI).  Her clinical work has included setting up a one-stop shop for obstetric anal sphincter injuries, and running perineal clinics for women after they have given birth. She has formed a network with other specialist perineal midwives around the UK and in Spain, sharing knowledge and collaborating on research, and helped set up the MASIC Foundation  https://masic.org.uk/

In 2014 Sara was awarded an NIHR Clinical Doctoral Fellowship to pursue a study into the mode of birth for women with previous OASI and was awarded a PhD in 2019.

Sara joined the RCM in 2020 as Head of Information and Research Services as Editor of the MIDIRS Digest and Lead of the RCM Research Team and remains active in many research studies and as a specialist in CRPT.

She describes her approach to midwifery as ‘putting women first in patient care, by hearing what concerns them have and the information they really want, rather than those we think they want.’  And she is passionate about changing the perception that research ‘is solely in the realm of academics’. She says: ‘We are autonomous practitioners; everything we do should have evidence to support it. Where there isn’t a lot of evidence to support the work we do, we need to fill that void. She adds: ‘For me, knowledge should be shared and people should be supported to develop – that’s my passion – helping others see their ideas through.’

Contact details: sara.webb@rcm.org.uk

Dr Alys Einion-Waller, Associate Professor of Midwifery at Swansea University, teaches midwifery, maternity care, research methods, gender and women’s studies, and is an equalities activist and a researcher in the fields of midwifery, narrative, gender, equalities and feminism.

Her passion for midwifery stems from her unwavering belief in the power and capability of women and childbearing persons, and she advocates for the autonomy of pregnant and birthing people tirelessly. Her co-edited book, Bearing the Weight of the World: Exploring Maternal Embodiment was published in 2018.

Alys loves to write, publishing extensively, and she now works to support colleagues, student midwives and others to publish. She runs Centred Birth Hypnobirthing classes and practitioner courses. She loves to read, to cook and to travel. She lives between the mountains and the sea, is married to a librarian, has three dogs, one cat, three sons, a campervan and a house full of books.