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Helen is a Professor in Midwifery and Research Group Lead. She is a midwife and established health services researcher. Helen is committed to involving users of maternity services at all stages of the research process and, with colleagues, established the Nottingham Maternity Research Network, a research public involvement group. Another key interest is to build research capacity in midwifery, at all career stages. Helen has experience of working across agencies including the NHS and Third Sector in research and evidence-based practice initiatives. Her research involves a range of methods and her interests include the organisation of maternity care, preparation for and care during labour, early labour and perinatal mental wellbeing.
Email: helen.spiby@nottingham.ac.uk
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Corine is a Ducth Midwife and a clinical epidemiologist.
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Corine has worked as an independent midwife in the Netherlands, with (at the time) a >50% home birth rate. They now (ocassionally) work as a clinical based midwife. She did her Masters in Epidemiology, the title of their PhD dissertation was 'Management of term and post term pregnancy'. Corine's main research interest is in the evaluation of maternity and/or midwifery care and more specifically on optimising physiological labour and birth and client experiences and participation. However, they do emphasize other research to improve care for women. Corine believes it is important for all women to have a positive childbirth experience. Achieving this should be the challenge for all maternity care providers.
Corine's research specialisation is merely on quantitative research methods, although they also do have experience in qualitative research methods. Being an epidemiologist, they have experience in different research methods, such as RCTs, systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Next to this, they specialised in patient involvement and action research.
Email: corine.smeijers@nottingham.ac.uk
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Dr Farzaneh Pazandeh - Associate Professor in Maternal Health
Farzaneh is a researcher with experience in international maternal health. Her research has included evaluating quality of maternity care, early labour, evidence-based and respectful maternity care.
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Farzaneh's research interests include global maternal health, improving quality of maternity care, women's maternity care experiences, particularly from a disadvantaged background (refugee, migrant, and ethnic minority groups). Her methodological expertise includes qualitative research, mixed methods, action research and randomised controlled trials. Farzaneh has worked as an academic in Tehran (Iran) and has provided consultancy in developing countries as a Midwifery and Sexual and Reproductive Health consultant.
Email: farzaneh.pazandeh@nottingham.ac.uk
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Dr Julia Clark - Assistant Professor in Midwifery
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Dr Georgia Clancy - Researcher
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Dr Catrin Evans, Associate Professor and Director of Knowledge Exchange (School of Health Sciences)
Catrin is a registered nurse with a background in social anthropology and public health. She spent 1993-2003 working as a researcher and public health consultant in South and South East Asia before joining the School of Health Sciences at the University of Nottingham.
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Catrin is primarily a qualitative researcher, with particular expertise in evidence synthesis. Catrin's clinical and research interests lie in maternal, sexual and reproductive health. Her recent research has focused on healthcare of migrant women and remote maternity care. Catrin is an active member of the School's Maternal Health and Wellbeing Research Group and is also co-Director of the University of Nottingham Centre for Evidence Based Healthcare (a Centre of Excellence within the global JBI network).
Email: catrin.evans@nottingham.ac.uk
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Dr Julie Roberts, Senior Research Fellow in Maternity Care
Julie is a sociologist with research interests in the experience and representation of pregnancy and birth.
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Dr Julie Roberts is an interdisciplinary sociologist and qualitative methodologist. She applies social and cultural theory to contemporary issues in maternity care and reproductive rights.
Julie’s doctoral research was one of the first feminist analyses of 3D and 4D obstetric ultrasound. Building on this work, she is currently leading an interdisciplinary team to examine the social, political and health implications of representations of childbirth in the media. Her research interests also include issues around autonomy and informed decision-making in pregnancy and labour. She is passionate about public involvement in research and is co-founder and co-facilitator of the Nottingham Maternity Research Network.
Email: julie.roberts@nottingham.ac.uk
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Dr Alison Edgley - Associate Professor of Social Sciences in Health and Director for the MA Research Methods (Health Pathway) programmer
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Alison is Associate Professor and health sociologist (in the School of Health Science since 2002). My expertise lies in conducting epistemologically rigorous and theoretically informed qualitative research. I have brought my sociological perspective and skills to topics of motherhood and fatherhood in relation to gender, embodiment, mental health recovery and parental experiences of self-care in children with lymphedema. I am supervising PhD students who are working in the areas of courage in midwifery; maternal experiences of gender disappointment; as well as mental health and peer support.
Email: alison.edgley@nottingham.ac.uk
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Dr Sara Borrelli - Assistant Professor and Researcher
Sara is a registered midwife (since 2008), with experience in clinical practice, research and teaching.
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Sara is a registered midwife with experience in clinical practice, education and research working as Assistant Professor. She is currently the Lead for MSc Midwifery and MSc Midwifery Studies, Maternal and Newborn Health and Midwifery Focussed Continuing Professional Development. She completed her PhD in Health Studies in 2015 at The University of Nottingham. Her key research interests include early pushing urge, what makes a good midwife, early labour, maternity care experiences during the Covid-19 pandemic, coping with labour pain.
Email: Sara.Borrelli@nottingham.ac.uk
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Dr Kerry Evans - Associate Professor
Dr Kerry Evans, Associate Proessor and Clinical Academic midwife, with experience in clinical practice and research.
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Kerry works as a labour suite midwife in Nottingham. Her PhD was funded by a Wellbeing of Women and Royal College of Midwives Doctoral Training award. Her doctoral research focused on developing and testing a midwife-facilitated intervention to support pregnant women with anxiety. Following the submission of her PhD, Kerry has taken a post as a research assistant working on the RCM guidance initiative.
Email: kerry.evans1@nottingham.ac.uk
Dr Gina Sands - Senior Research Fellow
Gina's background is in healthcare human factors/ergonomics and she has experience in a wide variety of health services research methods, both quantitative and qualitative. Gina has a BSc in Ergonomics/Human Factors, and a PhD in healthcare ergonomics and patient safety from Loughborough University. Gina held research posts at Coventry University, the University of East Anglia, and CLAHRC-EM at the University of Nottingham before joining the School of Health Sciences as a Senior Research Fellow in 2017.
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Gina’s research interests centres around how the environments we are in (both natural and built) can affect our health, safety, and wellbeing. This includes projects around how being in nature may help promote mental health and wellbeing among young pregnant women, and looking at how the design of birthing rooms may better support women’s needs. Gina is also interested in how human factors methodologies and design thinking may improve the effectiveness and safety of the maternity care system.
Email: gina.sands@nottingham.ac.uk