Cardiff School of Nursing and Midwifery Studies

Welcome to Professor Billie Hunter

14 February 2012

Cardiff School of Nursing and Midwifery Studies is delighted to welcome Professor Billie Hunter to the School, our new Professor of Midwifery Research.

The Professor of Midwifery post is supported by the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) and with start up funding from the Welsh Government. The focus of the role is on improving the quality of care for childbearing women and their families, and Professor Billie Hunter joined the School to take up the post last week.

As part of her role, Professor Hunter will develop and lead high quality clinical midwifery research that will make a significant difference not only to the midwifery profession, but to women in Wales and further afield.

Professor Hunter has been a midwife since 1979, working in NHS, voluntary sector and independent midwifery settings, before moving into midwifery education and research in 1996. She has published widely and is the co-author of a popular oral history of midwifery: The Midwife's Tale (Leap and Hunter 1993), as well as 'Emotions in Midwifery and Reproduction', an important new book which is the first to focus on the emotional aspects of reproductive health (Hunter and Deery 2009). She joins us from Swansea University.

Speaking about the appointment, Professor Sheila Hunt, Dean and Head of the School of Nursing and Midwifery Studies said: “I am delighted that Professor Hunter will join the School and welcome the vision, commitment, collaboration and support from both the RCM and the Welsh Government in creating this post.

“The opportunity to build strong collaborative links with other researchers in Cardiff University is vital to the future success in developing midwifery research. Midwifery research is at its best when it is a team effort and the infrastructure of support at Cardiff and in Wales is superb. 

“Professor Hunter will join world-leading researchers in midwifery, obstetrics and public health and will have the opportunity to be involved in new research which will make a difference to women and their families, not just in Wales but across the world.”

Professor Cathy Warwick CBE, General Secretary of the RCM added: “Professor Hunter’s appointment will ensure that the RCM is at the forefront of maternity services research and will help provide opportunities for midwifery researchers. We are delighted with the appointment and hope this is the beginning of a long and fruitful partnership with Cardiff University.”

Professor Jean White, Chief Nursing Officer for the Welsh Government said: “The appointment of Professor Hunter to Cardiff University will give a firm foundation for the midwifery and maternal health care research agenda in Cardiff that should improve the lives of childbearing women in Wales and in the wider world. I’m pleased the Welsh Government has been able to support the development of this post that will make such a difference in this field of study.”

Alongside the Professor of Midwifery post, Cardiff University is also home to the Royal College of Nursing Professor of Nursing - Professor Danny Kelly, who joined the School in September 2011. The location of both posts at Cardiff is indicative of the University’s commitment to supporting the ongoing development of the nursing and midwifery professions through high-quality research and education.