International Women’s Day 2025: Celebrating the academic achievements of our staff

Each International Women’s Day, we proudly celebrate the incredible women who contribute so much to UHNM. 

This year, we’re recognising the achievements of seven inspirational female colleagues who have each achieved a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), and find out what motivates and inspires them. 

Dr Fiona Hibberts, Chief Nursing Information Officer/ Deputy Chief Nurse (Operations)

I have two roles at UHNM, the first being Chief Nursing Information Officer, which is the leadership role for all things nursing, midwifery and allied health professionals (AHP)related to our digital services, ensuring its clinically led. I’ve just recently stepped up to the Deputy Chief Nurse role bring together patient safety, experience, and quality alongside operations.

There is never a dull day, every day is different. For example, I could be supporting wards with their patient flow, reviewing patient safety data or supporting nursing teams in their development, careers and practice, all whilst weaving digital capability throughout!

My PhD is in patient safety. It’s an ethnographic study of safety huddles in an acute hospital- how they work, what they do, and the impact and difference they make for patient safety and staff wellbeing. It’s been an incredible journey starting before covid and continuing throughout and finishing recently.

Huddles were introduced into healthcare around a decade ago, and where the study took place, they were attributed to success in patient safety metrics and reducing incidents and improving communication. But I remained curios as to why, and how huddles helped. I had conversations with rugby and football coaches about scrums, with airline pilots about safety briefings, and throughout hospitals, and decided I’d look at huddles in an acute hospital setting. 

It’s a massive personal achievement, and although it’s been a challenge for my long suffering husband, my children have seen that you can achieve, despite challenges, and what you can do if you put your mind to it. I’m excited that we are piloting the ‘Safety Stop’ at UHNM and will hopefully see improvements not just in patient safety but staff wellbeing too.”

Dr Ruth Bednall, Assistant Director, Quality Improvement

I’ve worked at UHNM for over 20 years. Up to March 2021, this was in a variety of roles within the Pharmacy Directorate, and I now head up the Quality Improvement Academy. We are the team that was established to train and coach teams from across UHNM in the use of continuous quality improvement tools as part of their day-to-day work.  

I have a doctorate in pharmacy (DPharm). It’s what’s known as a professional doctorate, and focusses research on understanding a problem from the profession, for the benefit of the profession. In my case, I explored how we understand what number of pharmacy staff are required to deliver a safe and effective pharmacy service.  This research led to the development of a calculator tool for pharmacy departments to apply to their specific teams and has been applied to departments across the county. 

Back in 2013, my role in Pharmacy was part time- two days a week in a job share set up. My children were all in school and I had time to work more hours.  Sue Thomson, our Chief Pharmacist, recognised the need to increase the department’s activity with regards to practice research above and beyond our involvement in clinical trials. medicines supply, and delivery, so extended my role and hours to lead this on behalf of the directorate. 

As part of that extended role, the opportunity to undertake the DPharm at Keele University was offered to me and I accepted. I was already quite experienced in my career and had always been passionate about demonstrating the evidence base relating to the way we delivered the pharmacy service, understanding what it was that truly made a difference to our patients’ outcomes. This opportunity allowed me to bring many years of ad-hoc research practice together into a meaningful qualification and gain new skills that would improve the way we did this at UHNM. Moving into the Quality Improvement role nine years later means these skills are now shared more broadly across the Trust.

I normally feel pride in the achievement of others, not dwelling on it myself, however, the DPharm was a significant achievement for me personally. I completed the course in my own time, working it around bringing up my three children. They were still young and in school, and so much of my reading and writing for the course was done in snatched moments often sitting outside ballet or piano lessons.  This got harder as they got older, as my evenings became less my own. 

I am a practical person, so to have been able to give something practical back to the profession was very pleasing, and a call from the Regional Chief Pharmacist during covid to seek my advice on how to apply this to the staffing of the Nightingale Hospital made the hard work feel very worthwhile. And over the previous 13 years as a working mum, I had done very little just for me, and the time that I spent at my studies was very good for my wellbeing (although some would say they are easier ways to achieve that!). I think the greatest pleasure from this was seeing my children’s pride in my achievements- my son immediately changed his phone contact for me to ‘The Doctor’, with Dr Who as the ringtone!

Dr Alison Cooke, Associate Chief Nurse for Research and Education and CeNREE Director

Having worked at UHNM for three and a half years, I lead the Centre for NMAHP Research and Education Excellence (CeNREE), which supports nurses, midwives, and allied health professionals (AHPs) to engage with research, and become future research leaders and clinical academics through part clinical work, part research. CeNREE also supports our staff’s education needs, including preceptorship, continuing professional development, leadership development such as the Chief Nurse Fellowship programme, and academic development such as Masters and PhD programmes.

I am a registered midwife, and my doctorate considered the effect of using different oils for the treatment of baby dry skin. I conducted an initial national survey which showed that over 80 per-cent of midwives were recommending olive oil, and over 20 per-cent were recommending sunflower oil for baby dry skin. Some small studies had shown that olive oil was damaging to the skin barrier in mice and adults, so I conducted a randomised controlled trial testing olive oil against sunflower oil against no oil on healthy baby skin. The trial showed that both olive oil and sunflower oil harmed the development of the skin barrier. The group with the best skin was the one using no oil.

The recommendation of oils for treatment of baby dry skin had always bothered me from being a student midwife. I remember going out on postnatal visits with my mentors, and they would always say to new parents, “the baby’s skin is a bit dry, just put some olive oil on it- anything you have in the cupboard, it’s natural so it’s safe”. As a parent myself at the time, I always thought that it was quite weird to rub cooking oil on a new baby! When I read about it, I was quite concerned as there was a school of thought that the way we were caring for baby’s skin may be connected to the high prevalence of eczema in childhood in the UK. Eczema is characterised by a defective skin barrier.

My research changed clinical practice and has been included in several global clinical guidelines. The media were very interested in it, and it was discussed in lots of the tabloid newspapers which peeked people’s interest. When I conducted a follow-up survey, the numbers of midwives who were recommending olive oil had dropped to 20 per-cent which was so brilliant, as I am the sort of researcher who just wants to make a difference to patient care. 

I still have some unfinished work in this topic area but at the same time, I love supporting colleagues to answer their own research questions from practice, so do contact CeNREE if you have a burning clinical question at cenree@uhnm.nhs.uk.  

Dr Angela Hancock, Consultant Midwife

I achieved my ambition of becoming a Consultant Midwife when I joined UHNM in 2021. In April 2024, I was awarded a national role with the National Institute for Health and Social Care Research (NIHR) and now work two days each week as a Senior Research Leader. 

There are four domains of consultant midwife practice- expert practice and service improvement, leadership and consultancy, education and training, and research, audit and evaluation. The focus of my consultant role is public health, so I work 40 per-cent of my time in clinical practice, running a clinic for women and birthing people with raised BMI, and lead several service development projects for pelvic health, vaccination and tobacco dependency. 

I have national leadership roles with MBRRACE-UK supporting national surveillance and investigation of deaths of women and babies during pregnancy or shortly after birth, and I am working with a team of clinicians to update the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists guideline on identification and management of postpartum haemorrhage, which is the topic of my PhD. I am a registered teacher with The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) and have spent a few years as a midwifery lecturer. The research, audit and evaluation domain encompasses everything that I do, and my role as Senior Research Leader, enables me to support other midwives in developing their own clinical academic careers. 

My PhD research study used mixed methods to explore clinical recognition of excessive maternal blood loss during childbirth. 

The idea for the PhD study came from my observations in clinical practice that the diagnosis of postpartum haemorrhage could be missed or delayed, due to the nature of bleeding, and because women compensate well, particularly during slow, hidden bleeding. Clinical decision-making in this area had never been explored, so finding a solution to improve the timing of recognition was difficult.

In all my roles I have used evidence to provide and promote the best care possible, and have been proactive in implementing changes in practice where improvements could be made. I never intended to do a master’s degree or PhD, but the drive to answer questions about postpartum haemorrhage diagnosis, when there was no evidence available, took me down that path.

I was very proud to secure a very competitive and highly regarded research fellowship with the NIHR, and, despite some significant personal challenges, proud to have completed my PhD with the highest score, no corrections, and a prize for being one of the highest performing PhD students of 2017, at the University of Manchester. I worked hard to develop my skills across the four domains of consultant practice, and to have secured a post where I am able to use these skills every day is the icing on the cake!

Dr Hazel Smith, Senior Researcher, CeNREE 

I am the Senior Researcher for the Centre for NMAHP Research and Education Excellence (CeNREE) at UHNM, where since October 2023, I’ve supported, enabled and grown research and research opportunities for nursing, midwifery, AHP and pharmacy colleagues. In my role I  am seconded two days a week from University of Staffordshire where I am Associate Professor for Maternal and Child Health.

My PhD is in Paediatrics and Child Health. I examined the milk intake of full-term singleton neonates in the first two months of life against body composition, growth, and neurodevelopment in the first two years of life.

I was working as a clinical research midwife on paediatric studies (participants were recruited as neonates), and noticed a gap in the literature on feeding patterns of infants and infant formula guidelines and how this could influence body composition, growth and neurodevelopment. I approached a consultant paediatrician with my idea and how I wanted to explore it further with my own research. From there, it become a PhD.

I am proud of the fact that this was a research topic I identified. As a midwife, my practice impacts both the mother and child. I got the opportunity to explore the evidence base for infant feeding recommendations that I, as a midwife, share with parents. I also value how my publications are referenced by other studies when citing how their research was developed.

Dr Elaine Andrews, Deputy Director of Strategy and Transformation 

I started at UHNM in 2008, leaving in 2018 before returning in 2023. 

My PhD is in Engineering in Environmental Strategy, linked to Brunel University of London. I completed the piece whilst working for Lucas Industries, a manufacturer of motor and aerospace industry components.
 
I knew once I’d completed my first degree that I wanted to do a higher degree, but I wasn’t prepared to stay at university. At the time, my first degree was known as a ‘thin sandwich’, where you’d work for six months, study for six months, which worked well for me. I felt I needed some kind of research that would allow me to stay in work environment. This was a brand-new type of doctorate that had been released the year before, and was all about how you build research skills that are relevant to an industrial environment. 

I am proud of my achievements, as it took a lot of hard work over seven years to complete. I’d taken breaks during it to work on projects abroad, choosing to return to the UK to finish my PhD, a conscious decision I’m really glad of, because it took me in a completely different direction after that. 

By completing it I have proven to myself that I can be creative and push the boundaries of what’s currently known. For this work to be peer-reviewed and accredited gives you a confidence in your own ability whilst working outside of your field and comfort zone. You feel you can hold your own with experts, and not think I’m sitting back. 

As a systems engineer working in environmental strategy, I’ve always been in whats traditionally a ‘man’s world’. There were very few women working in engineering or in industry at that time doing the things I was doing. It took some real determination to know that this was the field I was really enjoying being in. 

I would never want somebody to feel that they couldn’t do something they were interested in doing just because they were a woman. Having a support network is really important, and during my PhD, I had a lot of peer support from other women working in engineering. This support and opportunity to explore and develop is available at UHNM through the Centre for NMAHP Research and Education Excellence (CeNREE), the Research and Innovation Directorate UHNM’s Women’s Network. We offer apprenticeships so staff can complete degrees and Mater’s through the NHS.

Dr Natasha Green, Academic Development Officer/ Research Associate, CeNREE

As an Academic Development Officer at the Centre for NMAHP Research and Education Excellence (CeNREE), a role I have held for the last year, my primary responsibility is to support nurses, midwives, and allied health professionals (AHPs) in various aspects of research. This includes assisting with the development of Master's and PhD applications, reviewing evidence, identifying funding opportunities, refining research questions, writing research protocols, navigating the ethics process, designing studies, and managing data collection, analysis, and dissemination. 

My doctorate explored the rehabilitation trajectory of patients discharged from the critical care unit, focusing on physical activity and function.

Sports have played a significant role in my life from an early age, providing both physical and mental benefits that I have consistently valued. This passion motivated me to pursue a Sport and Exercise Science degree, with a particular focus on clinical populations. Many individuals with health conditions encounter challenges when engaging in physical activity, and I became interested in how physical activity and health promotion can enhance well-being.

During my postgraduate studies, I focused on the role of physical activity and physical function in the rehabilitation management of critical illness survivors. I was particularly intrigued by the complexities associated with assisting individuals who struggled to engage in physical activity following their stay in intensive care. 

In the UK, women have made significant strides in higher education, particularly in fields related to healthcare. This achievement is especially noteworthy considering the historical context, where the health and care systems were largely shaped by male perspectives, leading to a considerable underrepresentation of women in these sectors.

Increasing women's participation in healthcare research is essential to ensure that diverse perspectives are included in developing effective patient care and outcomes, particularly for women. I take great pride in being part of the increasing number of women in healthcare research. We are contributing to the necessary shift toward inclusivity and a better understanding of the unique health challenges that women face. This movement not only empowers women but also enhances the overall quality of healthcare for everyone in society.