Tina Lavender, PhD, MSc, RM, RGN
Dame Tina is Professor of Midwifery and Director of the Centre for Global Women’s Health at the University of Manchester. She also holds an honorary contract at St Mary’s Hospital, Manchester and a Visiting Professorship at the University of Nairobi. She leads a programme of research, Midwifery and Women’s Health; her main research focus being the management of prolonged labour and partogram use.

Dame Tina has published extensively in this field. Dame Tina is the Principal Investigator of the Lugina Africa Midwives Research Network (LAMRN) project, funded by DFID and managed by THET.

She is Co-editor in Chief of the British Journal of Midwifery and Associate Editor of the African Journal of Midwifery and Women’s Health. Dame Tina is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Midwives and European Academy of Nurse Science. She has played an active role in promoting improved educational midwifery standards, through a number of innovative educational projects, as well as through formal academic roles. For example, she has been an External Examiner at the University of Malawi for the last 3 years. Dame Tina also acts as a regular Advisor to the World Health Organization, particularly in relation to guideline development and as a reviewer of educational materials.

Dr Helen Smith is Senior Lecturer in Global Women’s Health at the University of Manchester. Helen has 15 years of research experience, securing grants and working on collaborative projects related to: maternal and reproductive health; tuberculosis treatment experience; systematic reviews of qualitative research on implementation of effective treatment and prevention interventions; and research and institutional capacity strengthening.

Previously she worked as a Lecturer in Social Science & International Health and a Lecturer in Research Methods at Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. During her academic career Helen has developed a portfolio of teaching at Masters level and led modules including research methods, research-related skills, and systematic reviews for policy and practice. Helen is also a certified dissertation advisor and trained Instructor for University of Liverpool/ Laureate Online Education.

Dr Smith was appointed in 2014 to the Senior Lecturer position in the Centre for Global Women’s Health and will contribute to the development of new research and educational opportunities in global women’s health and related subject areas.   She is a social scientist with specialist skills in use of qualitative methods in evaluating health services, systematic reviews of qualitative research and in research uptake relevant to health problems in low and middle income countries.

Rebecca Smyth PhD, MSc, RM, RGN  
Rebecca is a Lecturer in Midwifery at The University of Manchester, UK teaching on both undergraduate and postgraduate degree programmes. Rebecca had 12 years of clinical midwifery experience before moving into research and teaching.

As a researcher she has worked on a number of studies; including two large international multi centre randomised controlled trials: the Oracle Trial, investigating the role of antibiotics for women in pre-term labour and pre-term rupture of the membranes; and the Magpie Trial, a trial evaluating magnesium sulphate for women with pre-eclampsia.

Her more recent research interests include systematic reviews, outcome reporting bias and women’s views and experiences of joining a perinatal trial, the later the focus of her PhD. Rebecca reviews for a number of academic journals, as well as being an experienced Cochrane review author.

Dr. Carol Bedwell has been a midwife for over 24 years, with experience in clinical practice, research and teaching. Her current post is that of Lecturer in Midwifery at the University of Manchester, providing teaching on undergraduate and postgraduate programmes and Supervision of PhD students.Carol’s research interests relate to intrapartum care, midwives experiences and challenges in global health.In terms of research, Carol has experience of both qualitative and quantitative research methods as well as systematic review and, more recently, realist review methods.