This report looks at the work of The Iolanthe Midwifery Trust for the 2025 award round.
As a backdrop to this The Iolanthe Midwifery Trust has been working through the dynamics of being a CIO and developing the organisational infrastructure and capacity to sustain us going forward. The challenge has been and always will be to reach more midwives and student midwives through our awards programme.
Our vision
Through our awards programme The Iolanthe MIdwifery Trust funds midwives and student midwives in innovative and inclusive midwifery practice and research that aims to improve maternity care for birthing women, people and families.
Our Mission
Is to increase the number of midwives and student midwives supported by the annual awards programme
Our Values
The core values that underpin the work of The Iolanthe Midwifery Trust are
Integrity - The Iolanthe MIdwifery Trust strives to work to the highest degree of honesty, transparency and ethics
Diversity - The Iolanthe Midwifery Trust embraces all forms of diversity and strives to be open to identify and remove barriers to inclusion and accessibility
Collaboration - The Iolanthe Midwifery Trust proactively seeks to develop meaningful, ethical and sustainable partnerships
Why do we fund midwives and student midwives?
In order for midwives and student midwives to offer the very best care, they need to develop innovative practice, progress their professional education and conduct research. All this is made possible through our vital work.
For many midwives and student midwives The Iolanthe Midwifery Trust has transformed their lives, supporting them in achieving their dreams and aspirations.
In over 40 years The Iolanthe MIdwifery Trust has helped more than 400 midwives and student midwives develop and broaden their skills and knowledge throughout awards and fellowships.
We want to share the work we have done for the 2025 awards programme. Our work has led to improved care given by midwives and student midwives.
The work of The Iolanthe Midwifery Trust
We run an annual awards programme for midwives and student midwives. These are our awards.
You can read more about the detail of each award here
In 2025, 19 awards totalling £43201 were made:
The bi-annual Midwifery Research Fellowship went to Victoria Brown to write up ‘An exploration into birthing pool use of labour and/or birth for women having a vaginal birth after a cesarean section (VBAC) a mixed method study.
The Iolanthe/RCM Jean Davies Award addressing health inequalities went to Afshan Ali and Co-applicant Susan Holbourn to fund the development and delivery of structured EDI training for midwifery academic staff as part of their Decolonisation of the mIdwifery Curriculum project.
The 2025 Dora Opoku Midwives Award went to Arezou Rezvani supported by colleague Heather Reeves to fund service user and translator ‘thanks’ vouchers as part of their cross London work to improve communication and health awareness for pregnant women with language barriers
The winner of the 2025 Dora Opoku Award for Black and Brown student midwives is: Kurt Lee, a student at the University of the West of Scotland, who will use his funds to collaborate with charity Amma Birth Companions to create a workshop for his student cohort, entitled "Working with Asylum-seeking and Refugee Families in Maternity Care", to support students to challenge systemic racism and advance equity in midwifery care.
The 2025 Mary Cronk Award (to an applicant for another award whose project aligns with Mary's passions and values) went to: Sophia Hatfield, a clinical education facilitator at North Bristol Trust and 2025 Midwives Award winner, to support her plan to invite the Physiological Breech Birth Network to deliver a study day for 40-60 staff, enabling them to learn about and facilitate physiological breech birth in a safe and supported manner, using a research-based and evidenced method.
The 2025 Norah Faith Coniam Award (for a project addressing issues around baby loss and bereavement, including early pregnancy loss) went to: Lesley Roe, lead bereavement midwife at the Countess Of Chester NHS Foundation Trust, supported by colleague Laura Atherton, to host a study day entitled "Bereavement Care - what Good looks like and how collaboration can support best practice", in order to share best practice across the North West and North Wales.
The 2025 Nicolette Peel Award (for a project or training to improve maternity care of vulnerable pregnant women and birthing people) went to: Kaat De Backer, a doctoral research fellow at King's College London, who will put together a multidisciplinary conference entitled "Women on the edge of care in the perinatal period", to disseminate the latest evidence to a health and social care audience, and amplify the voices of women with lived experience.
The four winners of The Iolanthe Midwifery Student Awards were:
Emma-Bliss Harding, a student at Teeside University, who will use her funds to provide her fellow students, educators and wider midwifery workforce with the opportunity to spend a day focusing on all issues relating to black maternal health, with the aim of improving the quality of care for black women
Sara Gonzalez Buesa, a student at the University of the West of Scotland, whose award will fund a specialised training session designed to equip student midwives in Scotland with the insight, strategies, and practical tools to confidently challenge racist behaviours within maternity services.
Alice O'Leary, a student at Cardiff University, who will organise a conference day for student midwives focusing on young parents and how to best support them through the maternity continuum, featuring relevant support services including charities and specialist midwives.
Rachel Barnes, a student at the University of Central Lancashire, who will attend a 2 day Spinning Babies workshop to equip herself with a skillset that she can share to optimise physiology in pregnancy, labour and birth.
The eight Iolanthe Midwives Award Winners for 2025 were:
Sophia Hatfield, a clinical education facilitator at North Bristol Trust, who will invite the Physiological Breech Birth Network to deliver a study day for 40-60 staff, enabling them to learn about and facilitate physiological breech birth in a safe and supported manner, using a research-based and evidenced method. Sophia is also the winner of the 2025 Mary Cronk Award
Jude Field, a research adviser at the Royal College of Midwives, who will complete systematic review training followed by undertaking a systematic review of the published literature about providing maternity care to survivors of sexual violence.
Zoe Page, integrated midwife and midwife sonographer at the Balfour Hospital, whose funds will enable 18 NHS Orkney midwives to attend Biomechanics for Birth online training, to explore and consolidate understanding of the biomechanics of the pelvis, empowering them to confidently apply evidence based techniques to support labour progress.
Lucy Nelson, a midwife at Kettering General Hospital, who will attend the 2 day Spinning Babies workshop, designed to enhance midwives' skills in optimising fetal positioning, reducing birth interventions, and promoting physiological birth. This will also inform her Masters' research through the NIHR INSIGHT program, which focuses on the impact of surgical intervention in childbirth on pelvic morphology and pelvic floor dysfunction.
Zoi Vardavaki, a midwifery lecturer at City St George's University of London, who will use her funding to pursue her PhD research: "MiROG - Midwifery Research on Out of Guidance birth choices Clinics and services: a mixed method study" which aims to identity best practices and enhance service delivery.
Sarah Coiffait, lead midwife for the Pathway to Excellence programme at Northampton General Hospital, supported by colleague Samukeliso Sibanda, who will run a year-long project entitled "Birthing a positive culture - using a shared decision making approach to promote psychological safety amongst the maternity team".
Eve Cottingham, infant feeding specialist midwife at North Bristol NHS Trust, who will use her funding to train and qualify as an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC), deepening her knowledge and understanding of lactation, maternal and infant relationship building, and infant feeding.
Bryany Tweedale, a consultant midwife at Cwm Taf Morgannwg Health Board, who, as part of the Consultant Midwives Cymru (CMC) group, will organise the inaugural 'Consultant Midwives Cymru' Conference 2025. This will bring together midwives, maternity support workers, service users and other maternity stakeholders, with a focus on developing knowledge and giving profile to the evidence base around the benefits of midwifery care, particularly for those who experience health inequalities, and vulnerable or marginalised groups.
Looking back over the years, these are some of the areas that have been funded by the awards programme
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British Sign Language Training to help support deaf women and their families.
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Helping to launch the first specialist Midwifery Led FGM Pilot Clinic in Wales.
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Research into the impact of working 12-hour shifts on the safety and quality of care in midwifery hospital settings.
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Training on human rights in maternity care
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The expansion of a podcast which aimed particularly to support Black and ethnic minority women.
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Research into the use of virtual reality headsets as a support method during clinical procedures associated with pregnancy loss.
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Research into the maternity care experiences of asylum-seeking and refugee women
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A study day entitled 'Bereavement Care - what 'good' looks like and how collaboration can support best practice'
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Training to provide maternity care to survivors of sexual violence
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A study day on how to work with interpreters for midwifery students
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Funding for swimming pool hire for free antenatal classes for rural communities.
What does it feel like to have won an Iolanthe Award? Let’s hear from some of the 2025 winners:
‘Oh my goodness! Wow! Thank you so much! I am over the moon and so thankful!’
Emma-Bliss Harding, Student Award
‘This is the best news ever! So happy to be part of the Iolanthe family!’
Kurt Lee, Dora Opoku Student Award
‘That's fantastic news, thank you so much! I can't express how grateful I am, this is really wonderful for my whole team’
Sophia Hatfield, Midwives & Mary Cronk Awards
‘Gosh I am over the moon! Thank you so much’
Afshan Ali, Jean Davies Award
You can read about the achievements of previous award winners and the impact that their award had here
What difference does getting funding from The Iolanthe Midwifery Trust make?
Read about the work that Sophia Hatfield 2025 Iolanthe Midwives Award and Mary Cronk Award winner undertook as a result of our funding.
"I was thrilled to have been generously awarded both the Midwife and Mary Cronk awards from the Iolanthe Trust. I applied on behalf of my colleagues at North Bristol Trust (NBT) to help subsidise tickets to enable a greater representation of staff to attend a physiological breech birth study day held by the Breech Birth Network.
Although mandatory maternity training covers delivering a breech baby in an emergency or unplanned situation, the aim for attending this study day was to be able to offer our women evidence-based information and skilled attendance in the event of a planned vaginal breech birth.
Over the course of two days, we had over 40 midwives and obstetricians attend. It was a great turn out and fostered a lot of friendly and productive multi-disciplinary team (MDT) discussion and working relationships. Topics included latest research, counselling updates, normal birth mechanisms and skilled interventions in the event of a complex delivery. Clinicians were given lots of time to practice hands on manoeuvres with the dolls and pelvises provided and watch numerous birth videos showing a variety of breech births.
Receipt of the award and the completion of the study days were advertised and celebrated in the Maternity Newsletter sent out to all staff in the Women’s and Children division at the Trust.
Feedback from the study day was very positive and staff were extremely grateful to have been given the opportunity to attend – the first study day of this kind in Bristol.
I would like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to the Iolanthe Midwifery Trust for their generosity and support. We hope this funding and study day will facilitate ongoing improved support, choice and evidence-based practice in the care we provide our women, birthing people and families."
The challenges faced by The Iolanthe Midwifery Trust and how they will be met
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Equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI)
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Reach
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Capacity
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Diversifying income
EDI
We know that the NHS workforce is becoming increasingly diverse; in March 2023, 26.4% of staff across NHS trusts came from a BME background. The Iolanthe Midwifery Trust is committed to seeing that same diversity reflected in our applicant pool and among our award winners."
Our goal is to ensure we increase the reach of the awards and to better understand who currently is applying for our awards. In this way we can take more targeted action. While we were encouraged to have a record 87 applications this year, only 16 applicants chose to share their ethnicity data. We recognize this is a hurdle we need to overcome and are actively exploring new ways to make this process easier so we can better understand the makeup of our applicant pool. For the two Dora Opoku awards, applicants declare their eligibility for the award.
Work is underway with EDI consultants to define what EDI means to Iolanthe and to support the Board and staff to develop a vision along with a road map.
Reach
The Iolanthe Midwifery Trust cannot solely rely on word of mouth, website or social media channels to reach the target audience. In 2024 a comprehensive mailing list of individuals and organisations including umbrella associations such as SOAC (Society of African and Caribbean Nurses) and ASAM (Association of South Asian Midwives) was drawn up. An email was sent out giving links to the awards information on the website, attaching a flier as a download and giving a link to the awards webinar where potential applicants could hear from the Board all about the awards and what constitutes a good application. We asked that all on the mailing list widely shared this information with midwives and student midwives and especially target those from underrepresented backgrounds. This strategy led to a record number of 87 entries for 2025.
Looking at the webinar which was run for the first time in 2024 in more detail: This was hosted by the Board and aimed at all potential applicants. Overviews of each award were given and attendees were given information along with guidance in filling in the application form and looking at what constitutes a good application. The webinar will now be run each December. In order to ensure that as many potential applicants as possible can access the webinar it is our intention to upload it either on the website or on our video platform once established. This platform will be used to enhance reach, profile and accessibility.
Capacity
The majority of the Board mark each award application and also act as trustees. With a stated aim of increasing the number of applicants to the annual awards we are now actively seeking a creative and sustainable solution to this issue, which will enable the awards to be marked along with giving the trustees the vital space they need to concentrate on their trusteeship.
Diversifying Income
Whilst The Iolanthe Midwifery Trust relies on the investment income for most of the award funding, in the 3 year strategy a decision was made to inwardly invest in a Philanthropy Officer post to enable us to diversify our income streams by concentrating on
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Individual giving
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Legacies
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Corporates and Philanthropy
Financial Overview
The majority of The Iolanthe Midwifery Trust income is derived from the investment portfolio. The aim is to have an ethical investment portfolio and the Finance Trustee works closely with the fund manager to ensure this.
As part of the 3 year strategy we are diversifying our income streams to augment the income derived from our portfolio. Through our Philanthropy Officer appointed in 2025 we are focusing on:
Individual giving: This includes the London Marathon team. We have a small number of bonded places each year and ask that runners raise a minimum of £1500. In 2025 the team raised a record amount of over £13000
Legacies: Through a new dedicated legacy strategy the aim is to develop this income stream and provide for the long term future
Corporate/Philanthropy: This is a new area to move into and is informed by our ethical investment policy
Each Autumn the Board meets to determine the expenditure for the forthcoming awards rounds based upon information given by the investment portfolio manager and an overview from our Philanthropy Officer. This is set against the average number of awards in each variable category that have been made over the years. In alternate years the Midwifery Awards Research Fellowship is made and the Board have budget options presented to them based on the number of potential awards that could be made in any one year. These figures can then be measured against the total investment portfolio to determine future investment and income generation strategies.
As a fully remote organisation there are no office overheads and all 3 part time staff work from home.
You can read our annual accounts in detail here
The Iolanthe Midwifery Trust’s Future Plans
Our 2026 plans centre around the following areas:
1. Relaunch our dedicated youtube channel which will be used to enhance reach, profile and accessibility. On this channel we will post:
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The recording of the award webinar to encourage potential applicants to apply and to understand what constitutes a good award.
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Videos from previous winners talking about their awards and the impact they have made through the funding
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Videos from award sponsors saying why they chose to partner with The Iolanthe Midwifery Trust to establish their award
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Videos from our London Marathon Team members talking about their experiences of running for us
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Videos showcasing the different ways in which people can help fundraise.
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Videos from existing trustees talking about their experiences and looking at why people should consider applying to be a trustee when we have vacancies.
2.Develop ways to make the current online application process accessible to people who identify as neurodiverse.
3.Working with EDI consultants to develop a shared EDI vision for The Iolanthe Midwifery Trust and identify key milestones.
4.Establishing ways to increase the return rate for the applicants' diversity forms. This information will help us understand the profile of the applicants and better help us to target information going forward.
5.Developing creative and sustainable ways to fulfill the ambition of increasing the number of applicants to the annual awards round whilst ensuring that the trustees who are involved in the marking (the marking period runs from February through to April each year) have the capacity to do this along with their trustee duties. We always have to keep in mind that trustees do this on a voluntary basis on top of their incredibly demanding jobs.
6.Our Philanthropy Officer will be exploring potential corporate partnerships with an aim to increasing profile and funding.
7.The Board will have agreed on an individual to approach to ask to be the new patron for The Iolanthe Midwifery Trust. The patron will have the standing and credibility within the profession and enhance our profile. We will then refine our selection of potential ambassadors. The ambassador(s) will reach a new audience in the mainstream and help develop awareness of the work of The Iolanthe Midwifery Trust work and help increase our income.
What you can do to help The Iolanthe Midwifery Trust
The Iolanthe Midwifery Trust has an endowment fund which provides some of the income needed each year to fund awards, but we also rely on donations and fundraising to extend our reach and be able to support as many midwives and student midwives as possible.
You have read about the work that we have funded and with your help we can fund even more innovative pieces of work. We welcome you to become part of the Iolanthe Family and you can do this by:
