2026 Midwifery Symposium

SAVE THE DATE
About this Event

Join Us to hear presentations from our collegues who presented at the ICM 2026 Conference, Portugal from Friday 17 July 2026.

The day will include networking opportunities, a panel session, and a key note from Professor Tracy Humphrey, Vice President and Executive Dean, College of Health and Enablement, Flinders University, and closing remarks from Dr Paula Medway, Principal Midwifery and Nursing Advisor - Clinical Care and Innovation, Nursing and Midwifery Office, SA Health.

Further detail, including an agenda will be released later.

Hosted by Flinders University.

Agenda
The SAFE project
Host: Monica Diaz

Info: Transforming midwifery education through the voices of women living with female genital mutilation/cutting. Female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) affects over 230 million women and girls globally. The health impact can be severe and lifelong, yet many women delay seeking care due to stigma, shame and past negative experiences. Midwives play a key role supporting women with FGM/C, but many report gaps in knowledge and confidence to do so. Strengthening midwifery education is vital to realising the global call for “one million more midwives” equipped to meet diverse health needs.

Television portrayals of midwives & student resilience
Host: Jo Giblin

Info: Recent reports emphasise the importance of improving attrition rates in educational institutions to support the future midwifery workforce. Midwifery students need resilience to face challenges in complex clinical settings, address workforce issues, and complete mandatory assignments.
Television portrayals of maternity care are widespread; however, their influence on midwifery students throughout their educational journey remains inadequately understood. Although resilience among midwifery students has been addressed in the literature, it was not associated with televised reporting. No research has investigated the impact of television reports of midwifery events on student resilience.

Capability Sets for Rural Midwives in South Australia
Host: Nicole Cullinan

Info: The South Australia (SA) Health Capability Set for Rural Midwives is a tool developed to identify the learning needs of midwives transitioning from metropolitan to regional, rural or remote areas, and aims to support a smooth transition to the new work environment.

You can't be what you can't see
Host: Liz McNeill

Info: Experiences of international doctoral journeys for midwives.
Existing literature has not explored experiences of doctoral research from a midwifery perspective, due to assimilation with other health professionals. Outside academia, midwives commonly do not work with postdoctoral colleagues, with many regarding a PhD as irrelevant to their practice, or unattainable. This lack of visibility and future career uncertainty means many never consider undertaking a PhD, which ultimately reduces midwifery-led research and personal and professional development.

Understanding why experienced midwives leave the profession before retirement
Host: Anita Oehler

Info: Worldwide high attrition among experienced midwives exists, impacting care and workforce stability. Reasons are complex and multifactorial, and unexplored in Australia. To identify why midwives leave the workforce after 10+ years, and the resultant impact on them, the service and consumers. Experienced midwives are leaving prematurely. They retain their passion for midwifery, but organisation structures fail them. To sustain safe, high-quality maternity care, we must retain the expertise of experienced midwives, urgently acting to ensure they are supported within the profession and health care system, optimising outcomes for women, babies and less experienced midwives

Midwives Experiences of Infant Removals; What makes a difference?
Host: Alexandra Owens

Info: Infants under one year of age are at the highest risk of maltreatment and death in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. The midwife's role is multi-faceted, and requires a diverse toolbox of knowledge, skills and education that embodies the care and support of women and their babies, throughout the peripartum period. There is an argument that ‘there is a compelling need to understand the individual risk factors and needs of families of maltreated infants so that prevention efforts can be tailored for optimal effectiveness’.

'It's just pure gold'
Host: Kelly Robinson

Info: Women’s and midwives’ perspectives of midwifery continuity of care supporting pregnancies after perinatal loss. Pregnancy after loss is a traumatic and challenging experience for bereaved parents. Women are frequently booked into fragmented, medicalised care pathways and parents report these do not address their emotional needs. Minimal published research exists about the role of midwifery continuity of care (MCoC) supporting the psychosocial needs of bereaved parents in a subsequent pregnancy.

Developing conflict resolution strategies & building resilience
Host: Naomi Simpson

Info: Workplace bullying, and violence (WBV) are prevalent within the midwifery profession and often inflicted upon midwifery students. Negative workplace culture impacts students professionally and personally, contributing to poor mental health, burnout, job dissatisfaction, absenteeism, and a loss of passion for the midwifery profession.
A bespoke education program for South Australian midwifery students was designed to facilitate the development of conflict resolution skills, resilience, and self-care strategies, to assist students in managing WBV.