East of England Midwifery Research Network Terms of Reference

The Terms of Reference are effective from 19^th March 2024 and will continue until March 2025 when membership and core activities of the network will be reviewed. 

Introduction 

Midwives’ engagement in research can be limited by working in environments where there is little midwifery research culture and lack of role models. Providing opportunities for midwives to learn from others involved in research and understand how to access research career routes is essential. Building midwifery capacity and capability is a key part of national health research strategy. 

Aim

The aim of the East of England Midwifery Research Network (EoEMRN) is to raise awareness and visibility of midwifery research in the region, promote inclusivity, and to create impact through facilitating midwifery research and thereby increasing midwifery research capacity and capability. The forum provided by the EoEMRN enables midwives involved in or interested in research to come together for peer support, collaboration, learning and development. 

Membership: 

Members of the group may be midwives or other health professionals at any stage in their career, engaged or interested in midwifery research.  

Chairing policy: 

Chairing of the meeting will be shared between members of the EoEMRN organising group, which has seven core members representing several HEIs and NHS trusts.

Commitment:  

Members of the organising group will be required to attend at least 2-3 meetings per year and to actively participate in the collective management of the network meetings. Members of the network will aim to participate in as many meetings as possible. 

Ways of working: 

Meetings will be held four times per year, alternating between online and face to face. In-person meetings will usually take the whole day with online meetings lasting 90-120 minutes. Dates will be set by the organising group and will be circulated to the network. Responsibility for planning meeting agendas sits with the organising group, but input will be invited from members of the network.

Core network activities: 

1. Raising awareness (raising the profile of midwifery research in the East of England) 
2. Fostering a research community (via meetings and activities such as webinars, research ‘speed dating’, sharing publications, sharing conference details, podcast episodes, newsletters) 
3. Collaboration (working together to involve service users, share expertise, share research bids and co-ordinate research across HEIs and NHS institutions)
4. Education (in undergraduate and preceptorship programmes, research internships, opportunities for personal professional development)
5. Building strategic capacity and capability (securing research and funding opportunities, securing time allocation, influencing workforce plans, gaining buy-in from NHS England, shaping the workplace culture, embedding research into job descriptions)