Bradford Maternity & Midwifery Festival 2026
Wednesday 24 June 2026
Cedar Court Hotel, Mayo Avenue, Rooley Lane, Bradford, BD5 8HW
Agenda
The programme is under development and subject to change.
8.30
Visit the exhibition and enter the competition
9.00 – 9.25
Skills Workshop Exhibition
Knitting and crochet for wellbeing
Crafting for all with midwife, experienced HE teacher and lifelong knitter, Amanda Hutcherson. Wool and needles supplied
PLENARY & STREAM A:
STREAM B: 93:20 East (1st Floor) STREAM C: 93:20 West (1st Floor)
9.30
Chair’s opening remarks
Sue Macdonald, Maternity and Midwifery Festival Programme Curator and Editor, Mayes Midwifery
9.40
Keynote address
The maternity care crisis and lessons learned
Professor Andrew Weeks, Professor of International Maternal Healthcare, University of Liverpool
10.00
Dynamic by nature: why moving matters in pregnancy and birth
Molly O’Brien, Consultant Midwife, Educator & Specialist in Biomechanics for Birth
10.20
Newly qualified but nowhere to go: rethinking how we support and retain midwives at the start of their careers
Nicola Witcombe, Independent Midwife and T Level Nursing Educator, Harlow College; Founder, Mobile Midwives CIC
10.40
Q & A
10.55 – 11.40 BREAK, MEET THE EXPERTS TALKS, NETWORKING AND EXHIBITION VIEWING
11.00 – 11.15 MEET THE EXPERT – Being a midwife: tips to thrive
Come and hear experiences and advice on how to flourish as a midwife. With Dr Anna Byrom, Co-
Director, All4Maternity
11.40
The long arc of justice
Ruth Weston, Mother, Birth Activist, Speaker, Author of Born Stroppy: Make Change Happen
12.00
Attitude values and beliefs of global majority midwives and why they remain
Wendy Ainsworth, Senior Lecturer, University of Greenwich
12.20
Q & A
12.35
MIDWIFERY & MATERNITY TRAILBLAZER AWARDS
12.50 – 14.00 LUNCH, MEET THE EXPERT TALKS, NETWORKING AND EXHIBITION VIEWING
13.00 – 13.45 MEET THE EXPERT – TBC
TBC
Questions from the audience follow each presentation
14.00 – 14.30
Stream A1
Chair: Sue Macdonald
Intrahepatic Cholestasis of Pregnancy – ICP CPD for the MDT
Sarah Flower, Assistant Professor in Midwifery, University of Bradford
Stream B1: Midwifery Education Masterclass
What’s happening with postnatal care?
Nicky Clark, Freelance Midwife Educationalist
Stream C1: Women & Infant Health
Women’s Health Strategy
Stream D1: Professional issues
“I don’t have time.” What is the point of reflection?
Dr Jenny Hall, Educator, Researcher, Editor
14.35 – 15.05
Stream A2
Chair: Sue Macdonald
The power of love and the art of midwifery
Elisabeth Ubbe, award-winning photographer, and registered nurse midwife
Stream C2: Women & Infant Health
Transforming preterm birth education through narrative: a proposed evaluation of a patient-informed learning resource on clinical knowledge and confidence
Dede Thorpe, Preterm Birth Specialist Midwife, East and North Hertfordshire
Stream D2
Practising with purpose – making midwifery meaningful
Dr Anna Byrom, Director, All4Midwifery
15.05 – 15.25 BREAK, FINAL EXHIBITION VIEWING, PRIZES AND NETWORKING
15.25 – 15.55
Stream A3 Improving care
Chair: Sue Macdonald
Moxibustion for breech presentation: midwives’ role and responsibilities
Dr Denise Tiran, CEO/ Education Director, Expectancy
Stream B3: Student Voices Symposium
Understanding women’s experience of postnatal care in prison
Nisha Nadeem, Student Midwife, University of Bradford
How do pregnant women in the UK conceptualise and perceive Perinatal Genomic Screening, and what factors influence decision-making?
Jessica Smithson, Student Midwife, University of Bradford
Hidden trauma: the maternity care experiences of asylum-seeking women in the UK
Fiona Walker, Student Midwife, University of Bradford
Creating a peer-led student support network for student midwives
Jessica Smithson, Student Midwife, University of Bradford
Stream C3: IT in education and practice
How paper to digital improves patient safety: development of the electronic version of the national maternity notes
Emily Butler, Midwifery Lead, Perinatal Institute
Stream D3: Midwifery careers
Making the transition into academia…
Jacqueline Richards, Global Banking School, Oxford Brookes University Partnership
16.00 – 16.30
Stream A4: Research and practice
Chair: Sue Macdonald
The journey to an NIHR Predoctoral Award: midwifery, academia and the route to research
Emily Paget, Assistant Professor in Midwifery, University of Bradford
Stream C4: Innovations in teaching and assessment
Promoting student midwife autonomy and assessment
Yetunde Akinnuoye, Senior Midwifery Lecturer and Alvaro Baeza-Nunez, University of East London
Stream D4:
TBC