Meet the network

I’m Kelda Folliard and I am a specialist midwife for perinatal mental health and complex social factors at Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital and an Associate Professor in Midwifery at University of East Anglia. I completed my doctorate in 2024, my research examined the lived experience of perinatal anxiety.

I chair the East of England Midwifery Research Network, which grew from a local forum at NNUH into the regional network it is now, and I am passionate about providing colleagues with the peer support and role modelling needed to build research into their midwifery practice.

My areas of interest include perinatal mental health and psychology, inequalities in maternity care and clinical academic midwifery careers.

Claire is an Associate Professor in Midwifery and Womens health at Anglia Ruskin University. She is an experienced researcher, lecturer and UK registered Midwife. She qualified as a Midwife in 2001 and has worked in a variety of practice, educational and research settings and roles since. Claire’s particular research interest is in women and families facing social and health inequalities and challenges. She has experience of working with and researching women in a variety of settings, but with a particular interest in drug and alcohol issues and those in the military community.

Claire has written and delivered a range of education programmes focussed on women’s health issues and also held strategic roles in the university that have brought together individuals from a variety of backgrounds and disciplines, to deliver both education and research.

Claire has been involved with a range of research bids and has undertaken a variety of local, national, and international research projects, utilising both qualitative and quantitative methods and analysis. Claires research, and research supervision (Masters and Doctoral), focuses in the area of women’s health and experience. She has successfully supervised PhDs to completion and examined. She is also a supervisor for the NIHR ARC fellowship programme and NIHR undergraduate student internship programme. Her current research is focussed on; The healthcare needs of military connected women (active duty, veterans and partners), including reproductive health; Hyperemesis Gravidarum (Women and HCP experience); Contraceptive needs of drug addicted women; Using data to understand maternity health inequalities and outcomes in the local (EoE) area.

I am Jenny Keys and I am the Consultant Midwife at James Paget University Hospital in Norfolk. Within my role I facilitate a Birth Choices clinic for women and birthing people seeking care plans outside clinical guidelines and those who wish for additional support with birth planning; I also oversee our training and education teams, maternity experience team, and PMA team. I work closely with our Trust research team and will be undertaking a PI role in the coming months.

I have recently completed the HEE Pre-Masters internship, during which I undertook a scoping review looking at experiences of perinatal care for women with a history of ACEs. In the future I hope to pursue a Professional Doctorate and remain interested in this topic area.

I am an Associate Trainer for Birthrights, a charity which trains healthcare professionals in promoting and protecting a human rights framework in maternity care.

I am delighted to be part of the East of England Midwifery Research Network.

I’m Katherine Waterfall, and I work at University of East Anglia as a lecturer, in the charity sector project lead for the national Maternity Stream of Sanctuary, and I’m completing my PhD at City University.

My work for the Maternity Stream of Sanctuary involves co-ordinating the national response to women from refugee, asylum-seeking, human-trafficking, irregular migration backgrounds within a maternity setting. I sit on the NHS RHO maternal and neonatal health working group, RCM Research Priority setting steering group and often work with RCOG and RCM to coordinate national responses to legislative change.

My research interests are the relationship between refugee women and midwives, the impact of the media on shaping midwives stereotypes of certain groups, and any inequality in outcomes.

Hi, I’m Luisa Lyons and I am a clinical research midwife. I work at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital. I’m also an IBCLC Lactation Consultant doing a small amount of private practice.

I am currently a Principal Investigator for the MiNESS study looking at modifiable risk factors for early stillbirth, and the National Rainbow Clinic Research study amongst other studies.

My areas of interest stillbirth reduction, identification and management of tongue-tie and management of lactation problems such as low milk supply.

I’m passionate about helping to expand women’s health research and proud to be part of driving forwards improvements in the care of mothers, babies and families.

I work across the Midwifery Undergraduate programme at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge and the Professional Doctorate in Health and Social Care programme. In my role as a Lactation Consultant, I am part of the core team running the ARU Breastfeeding Support Hub at Cambridge campus. I have also just launched the ARU Breastfeeding Workshops for Dads-to-be and Dads.

My research interests are breastfeeding, breastfeeding support, fathers. I am also involved in research projects with colleagues in Psychology assessing the feasibility and acceptability of a compassionate-focused intervention for women’s perceptions of failure in the perinatal period, and another project on individual differences in physiological and psychological responses to infant distress.

I work at University of East Anglia as an Associate Professor in Midwifery. I am undertaking a professional doctorate and have a background in creative arts and cultural studies before I became a midwife!

My areas of interest are creative practice within midwifery, reflective practice, decision-making, midwifery-led research, advanced clinical practice in midwifery, social science and lots more! I sit on the editorial board for the RCM midwives magazine, I am an ambassador and panel member for Cavell supporting midwives nurses and MSW/HCAs.

I am Jamie Hanson and a Nurse and Midwife by background.  I have been funded by East Suffolk North Essex Foundation Trust (ESNEFT) as a Anglia Ruskin University employee to undertake a 3 year PhD exploring Black African Women and Perinatal Health with a focus on accessing services. It is an exciting role as it enables me to undertake research within the Black African Community, but also attend the hospital trusts as a Consultant Midwife in Equality, Diversity and Inclusion discussions on the midwives mandatory training and also supporting them in service development.

I am Laura Abbott, Associate Professor, RCM fellow and midwifery lecturer at The University of Hertfordshire. My doctorate was an ethnographic study of pregnant women’s experiences in prison. I campaign with others for compassionate midwifery care for perinatal women in prison and for pregnancy to become a mitigating factor for Judges to consider when sentencing women to prison.

I am the Principal Investigator for The Lost Mothers project www.lostmothers.org funded by the ESCR, in collaboration with Birth Companions. We are researching the compulsory separation of babies from mothers in prison. I am a co-investigator on an NIHR RfPB funded Fathers together project www.fatherstogether.co.uk

I co-founded the Pregnancy in Prison Partnership International (PiPPI) with colleagues from Australia, USA, New Zealand and Japan and the UK based Prison Midwives Action Group (PMAG).

I work at Luton hospital, part of Bedfordshire NHS Foundation Trust (Bedford and Luton sites). My area of research is midwifery incivility and my methodological approach is that of Hermeneutic Phenomenology. I have also led in driving our research activity and am working to increase our capability and capacity. During my time working at Bedford we increased from zero participants in trials to opening up GBS3 and facilitating over 1000 women adding to the body of knowledge on Group B Streptococcus.

I am also the named PI (Principal Investigator) for SNAP2, a smoking support study, and for a trial called DIVO, researching diagnosis of congenital cataracts in babies and trialling improved optimal devices for babies with darker skin tones. I am endeavouring to utilise my skills as a former research midwife and NIHR regional research champion within my leadership role. 

I am looking forward to renewing connections and building new relationships in this network. 

I completed my doctorate at the University of Central Lancashire with Professor Soo Downe in 2016. My study utilised a hermeneutic phenomenological approach and considered how women from two generations came to understand birth in the context of their own experience but also in the milieu of other women’s stories.  

My research interests are around women’s expectations and experiences of birth, birth and the media, respectful maternity care, spirituality and midwifery and global initiatives designed to achieve a positive experience of childbirth. 

I’m Beth, I work as a Maternity Experience Midwife at the James Paget University Hospital and as a Training Co-ordinator for the UK Human Rights in Childbirth Charity Birthrights. I am also a champion for the charity Make Birth Better, an associate lecturer at the University of East Anglia and I run a small birth preparation business called Birthology. 

In 2022 I completed my MSc in Advanced Midwifery Practice in which I did a qualitative evidence synthesis looking at the impacts of psychological distress in Midwives on the provision of woman/birthing person centred care.  

My key interests are consent conversations in maternity care, birth trauma, vicarious trauma and psychological distress in maternity staff.

I am a Midwifery Clinical Educator and a Lecturer in Health Sciences running the Advanced Clinical Assessment module at the UEA. I have completed a variety of NHSE funded projects as a Research Associate for midwifery, neonatal nursing and paramedic science.

I have a particular interest in qualitative research. Areas which I am interested in are interprofessional learning, collaborative multi-disciplinary team working, improving cultural relationships within health sciences and health care professions, and healthcare professionals’ perception and transition of a competent practitioner to an advanced practitioner. 

I am a Research Midwife working at The Rosie Hospital in Cambridge. My background is neonatal care, where I worked as a neonatal and obstetric nurse before I completed my Midwifery Degree at City University London. I have worked as a clinical midwife for longer than ten years, now focusing in research. 

My passion is to support and advocate women throughout pregnancy and the postpartum period. I am particularly interested in antenatal education and in developing ways to provide the care and support that mothers and infants need in pregnancy and over the first year of the baby’s life. 

I am Jackie Dent, a senior midwifery lecturer at the University of Hertfordshire. I completed my PhD in 2023 that explored factors that influenced the emotional wellbeing of midwives working in the NHS. 

My research interests are currently linked to workforce issues but I am keen to explore other opportunities and networks to support future funding opportunities. I have expertise in quantitative methodologies, particularly survey and questionnaire design and evaluation.