International Day of the Midwife 2025 – a blog by Deborah Pillar, Research Midwife

To celebrate International Day of the Midwife (IDM) 2025, Research Midwife, Deborah Pillar shares her midwifery research journey and why she is proud to contribute to research that aims to make pregnancy safer.

I have been working as a Research Midwife at Saint Mary’s Hospital for almost twelve months, and it has been a fascinating journey. My Midwifery Career began in 2006 where I joined Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT) as a newly qualified midwife. I had completed my training at a small general hospital and learnt so much moving to a larger, more specialised hospital. I was passionate about low-risk pregnancy and labour care and became a Core Team Community Midwife in 2009. This had been my career goal since I was a student midwife and was mentored by an amazing community midwife.

 In 2024 I felt it was time for new challenge and saw a Research Midwife was advertised!

Working as a Research Midwife allows me to contribute to advancements in knowledge and care in a way that I could never have done working clinically. One of the research studies I’ve been highly involved in is MiNESS 20-28 – Mothers Working to Prevent Early Stillbirth Study. The goal is to try to identify any modifiable factors that contribute to early stillbirth between 20 and 28 weeks by interviewing patients with an ongoing pregnancy and also those who have experienced early stillbirth. There is still so much we don’t know about why some pregnancies continue and some do not, which is why this kind of research is so important. An earlier study looking at stillbirth after 28 weeks found a link with sleep position and started the #sleeponside campaign. It is really important to know if there is anything that pregnant women can do differently to improve the chances of safer pregnancy with a positive outcome.

I contact eligible bereaved women to invite them to participate in the study and interview them. I work closely with the Bereavement Team to ensure my approach is sensitive and appropriate. I also recruit women with an ongoing pregnancy and conduct their interviews. I find working on this study really rewarding and am so thankful to those families who are bereaved who allow us to speak to them at such a difficult time.

As a Research Midwife there are many opportunities to learn and develop new skills, for example, participant recruitment, research governance, database management and critical analysis.

I would encourage fellow midwives to consider working in research, even if it’s only for a secondment. This could be just the opportunity to help you see if it’s an area you could become passionate about.

I am currently training to be a Professional Midwifery Advocate (PMA) and will be the first PMA in R&I at MFT. This is a supportive role for Midwives, providing guidance, mentorship and promoting staff wellbeing. Throughout my career I have always supported colleagues working alongside me and I am excited to be able to do this with a more formal approach.

I have met so many amazing midwives over my career and love to celebrate International Day of the Midwife. It is a day to honour the midwives who work tirelessly to keep women and babies safe, those who have shaped us in our own career and those who may have supported us through our own pregnancy and birth journeys. A very happy International Day of the Midwife to all my colleagues!