The Iolanthe Midwifery Trust is today very proud to announce the winners of the 2025 Iolanthe Awards.
The awards given this year are: the Nicolette Peel Award, the Norah Faith Coniam Award, the Jean Davies Award, the Dora Opoku Midwives and Student Midwives Awards, the Mary Cronk Award, and the Midwifery Research Fellowship.
Iolanthe Chair, Eliz Bannon, said
“The Iolanthe Trust has been delighted with the quality of applications from midwives and students across all aspects of maternity care whose aim was centred on improving the care of birthing women, people, babies and families.
I want to thank all those individuals who took the time to apply. It was truly inspiring, and it was a challenging decision-making process; however, I am thrilled to congratulate all our exceptional winners. Best wishes to you all."
Iolanthe's Executive Director, Moira Dennison added
"The competition for awards this year was fierce with an incredibly high number of entries. We are very pleased to announce the 2025 winners. Please join us in sending them heartfelt congratulations.
It is the Iolanthe Midwifery Trust's privilege to be able to support such important work and we look forward to welcoming the winners to our October awards ceremony."
Please meet our....
2025 Award Winners
The 2025 Midwifery Research Fellowship for writing up a PhD goes to:
Victoria Brown, a senior lecturer at the Oxford School of Nursing and Midwifery, whose PhD is entitled "An exploration into birthing pool use for labour and/or birth for women having a vaginal birth after caesarean section (VBAC): a mixed methods study."
The 2025 Iolanthe/Royal College of Midwives Jean Davies Award for addressing health inequalities goes to:
Afshan Ali, a lecturer at the University of Teesside, along with co-applicant Susan Holbourn, to fund the development and delivery of structured equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) training for midwifery academic staff, as part of their Decolonisation of the Midwifery Curriculum project.
The 2025 Dora Opoku Award for Black and Brown midwives is given to:
Arezou Rezvani, a consultant midwife with the University College London Hospitals, 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) goes 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) goes 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) goes 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 Iolanthe's 2025 Student Awards are:
Emma Bliss-Harding, (above), 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 and babies and reducing morbidity and mortality.
Sara Gonzalez Buesa, (above), 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, (above), 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, (above), 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 are:
Sophia Hatfield, (above), 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, (above), 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, (above), 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, (above), 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, (above), 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, (above), 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, (above), 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, (above), 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.
The Iolanthe Midwifery Trust team send our congratulations to these outstanding midwives and student midwives. We are so impressed by your vision for care and look forward to the development of your projects over the coming year.