Forthcoming events

Virtual International Day of the Midwife 5th May 2026 10am UK time (9am UTC).

Virtual International Day of the Midwife

VIDM runs for 24 hours and covers a wide range of subjects with speakers from around the globe. It uses online conferencing software to bring together people who have an interest in childbirth matters – midwives, students and consumers — all completely free. This year’s conference theme is: 'Midwifery for All: Equity, Access and Human Rights in Maternal Care.' Our oral presentation has been accepted and is entitled:'Recognising and connecting with the love in midwifery.'

Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, Scotland 2nd June.

We have been invited to run a session for RGU student midwives entitled: "How to keep your love for midwifery going".

The International Confederation of Midwives 34th Triennial Congress, Lisbon, Portugal. 14-18 June 2026

ICM 2026

The ICM Triennial Congress is the largest global gathering of midwives, a unique opportunity to share knowledge, discuss pressing issues, and shape the future of midwifery and sexual, reproductive, maternal, newborn, and adolescent health (SRMNAH). Held every three years, the Congress brings together midwives, midwives’ associations, educators, researchers, and partners from around the world to exchange ideas, celebrate achievements, and collaborate on advancing the profession.

We have been accepted to present our poster entitled: What’s love got to do with it? We look forward to having lots of conversations with midwives from all over the world and listening to their thoughts and experiences on this.

Past events

Book launch in Warwick 3rd July 2025.

It was a full-house! Fizz, chocolate cake and a room full of love. A video of the Warwick book launch is available to view here.

See feedback from the event:

"Thank you for a lovely evening. The love in the room was palpable" (Maxine, Midwifery Academic)

"Thank you so much for the invite. It was a wonderful event. You are an inspiration" (Gemma, Midwife)

"I just wanted to thank you for extending such a warm welcome to the students in the room at the book launch. It was a pleasure to be a part of it. Hearing you all speak was both moving and empowering....... the book clearly shines a light on the undeniable significance of connection and the power behind a glance, touch or kind word." (Hope, Student Midwife)

"It was inspiring. It resonated with me - all the reasons why I wanted to do midwifery in the first place. In today's climate you have to be very strong to be supported to practice in this way. I hope your book reiterates the message of love and compassion to the many that I feel may have lost it. I love that you and Jenny have made this happen" (Caron, Midwife)

"What a wonderful evening! You're a real inspiration" (Nicky, Midwife)

"An evening to be truly remembered" (Maggie, Mother)

"An absolutely fabulous evening! "( Anon)

8th July at UWE, Bristol.

We had a great time discussing the role of love in midwifery with the audience who were predominantly third year student midwives.

16th July at 7pm (live online) The Midwifery Hour

"What's love got to do with midwifery?"

15th August Coventry University

This session was with the third year student midwives who were about to qualify. It was an interactive session and students explored the concept of love in relation to birth and midwifery. They also provided examples of situations and times when they have recognised the love in midwifery. We had some great conversations!

25th September Napier University, Edinburgh

What a great afternoon we had with this wonderful audience, which included student midwives, midwives from clinical practice, midwifery academics and leaders. We were introduced and then interviewed by two wonderful midwives: Zara Smith and Caroline Warren. They did a great job and once they had asked their questions they invited questions from the audience. There was cake too – baked by Jenny. The event was filmed so that anyone at Napier who could not attend, can access this from Napier’s intranet.

We were delighted that the event was attended by Justine Craig, Chief Midwifery Officer for Scotland. After the event she contacted us with this feedback:

"You both came across as very pragmatic and realistic in acknowledgement of our systems , but importantly the message of what each of us can do ourselves was really clear and why love is important and what it means. I enjoyed the conversation and the discussion format – I also thought how you and Diane described how you had approached this from differing research perspectives was really helpful – two sides of a coin. I am very much looking forward to reading your book. I also enjoyed the examples of how women viewed compassion – really interesting."

26th September, The Pregnancy and Parents Centre, Edinburgh at 6pm

We were honoured to be able to put on this event at this friendly and welcoming venue in the City. The PPC is a not-for-profit organisation that works with parents-to-be and families in Edinburgh, offering practical and emotional support to enable all expectant parents to experience pregnancy, birth and parenthood with confidence. We were interviewed by the wonderful Caroline Flint. Caroline became a midwife in 1976, amongst other achievements she was founder of the first Birth Centre in the UK; is author of 6 books on Midwifery and childbirth and is a past President of the Royal College of Midwives. It was Caroline inspired Diane to become a midwife, so you can imagine how wonderful it was to have her host the evening and to interview us. The audience was mixed with midwives and student midwives, but also those interested in becoming midwives as well as parents and doulas and this made for some rich and valuable discussions when Caroline invited the audience to ask questions and also during the interval when refreshments were served.

See some of the feedback from this event below:

"Firstly, thank you for bringing ‘love’ to the midwifery conversation. This is a wonderful reminder of why we do what we do and how we can heal the suffering in midwifery".

"Thank you both for ‘bothering’ to write this wonderful book. I hope the seeds you are planting grow into a movement of valuing love and compassion in our work. Please keep talking about this (loudly)".

"Great to have a novel and positive reframing of a real-world problem for a whole profession and for the pregnant and birthing people within their care. Starts a bigger conversation".

"Brilliant session! Loved hearing your thoughts and you reading passages from the book – would love to have your book as an audiobook narrated by you!"

"A wonderfully insightful and inspiring talk that has opened up a really important and fundamental conversation that will no doubt cause a butterfly effect in the world of midwifery and hearts of women and midwives everywhere".

25th November 2025: Maternity and Midwifery Conference, Edinburgh

We had a very warm welcome at this conference. Our presentation was in the morning and entitled: 'The role of love within maternity care, practice and workplaces.' Unfortunately the fire alarm went off before we could take questions from the audience! We were all evacuated outside; fortunately, it was a false alarm. We went back into the conference and enjoyed lots of conversations with midwives and student midwives who attended. It was clear that what we were saying struck a chord with many people and it was good to get a range of insights and personal experiences from them.

11th February 2026: Maternity and Midwifery Conference, London

This was a very well-attended and interactive conference. Our presentation was entitled: 'Is love a four-letter word in the midwifery profession?' We had so much interest from midwives and student midwives. Lots of comments and questions and non-stop conversations about this topic. We were buzzing at the end of the day.

It was so heartening that midwives contacted us either by email of social media to say how much they gained from our presentation. For example:

"I really enjoyed your presentation about love in midwifery, it really spoke to me. Embodying love in my work is integral to who I am as a midwife and I hope I can lead by example. In being with women, I feel it is to important to care with kindness and compassion, and the same gentleness and peace should be reflected in the interactions we have with colleagues and students."

Laura, Midwife

Events