Department of Nursing and Midwifery

Staff activities

Staff in the department have been involved in numerous research collaborations with colleagues in other countries such as Australia, Sweden, Greece, Canada and Mozambique, among others.

Student opportunities

Current opportunities include:

• Postgraduate students are offered the opportunity to visit Hong Kong Polytechnic University (HKPU) each year for a week to observe and engage in clinical education as part of a student exchange.
• Postgraduate students have the opportunity to study at the Karolinska Institutet, Sweden as part of a student exchange programme.
• Second year BSc students can opt to spend their elective placement outside of the UK to experience nursing practice overseas.

Students can apply for these opportunities directly through the Department of Nursing.

Staff activities

The Midwifery division builds on strong international relations via the research conducted at the Centre for Maternal and Child Health Research (MCHR) and the Midwifery Unit Network (MUNet), a community of practice focused on supporting the implementation and improvement of birth centres in Europe.

Current projects include:

• The creation of a Confederation of Birth Centre Networks existing in different countries.
• Improving midwifery-led care in low and middle income countries
• Midwifery Unit Network - first European Conference, Barcelona
• Collaboration with several European partners following the first European Midwifery Unit Standards (launched at City St George's, University of London in 2018), to translate the standards in other country settings
• Collaboration with several universities across Europe and further afield to empower midwifery undergraduate and postgraduate training and enhance women’s maternity care globally. Our lecturers are regularly invited as visiting lecturers to locations such as Italy, Spain, Bulgaria, Sweden, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Turkey, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Brazil and Japan.

Student opportunities

International placements are encouraged as they offer a unique opportunity to experience how services are organised, and how the midwives’ role and women’s right to autonomy can vary in different countries. For example, BSc students have the option to travel for an elective placement as part of the Anthropology of Childbirth Module to observe midwifery in different cultural settings.

In August-September 2019 we have offered a new exciting opportunity for an Erasmus exchange placement with the Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden. The exchange offers our students the opportunity to further develop their knowledge and skills in areas such as practical perineal suturing skills, upright birthing positions, manual protection of the perineum, neonatal resuscitation.

Students apply for these opportunities directly through the Division of Midwifery and Radiography.

Summer School

We offer an innovative Summer School in Philosophy, Evidence and Skills for Optimum Birth, designed for international midwives and obstetricians as well as other maternity care providers.

The Summer School involves 5 days of workshops, seminars and visits to local services, including a birth centre.