This morning I booked my place at the 25th International Normal Labour and Birth Research Conference. The theme: Birth Matters: Rethinking Quality, Equity, and Women’s Health. This year, the conference is being hosted in Berlin (14-16 September). https://nlbc-berlin-2026.de/ Perhaps I’ll see some of you there?

I have not been using social media much in recent years, including my WordPress, but I have kept up the subscription. Every year, I think maybe it’s time to let it go, but I haven’t. So, here is a short post to say ‘Hello!’. I’m still alive and well and working on public involvement in maternity research. I’m on the organising committees for both the International Normal Labour and Birth Research Conference, and the UK version, usually held biannually. But my day job is working on a randomised controlled trial, called RELAX (REducing Levels of AnXiety), leading the public involvement work. The funded months are completed now and we’re writing up. This evening, I’ll submit an abstract to the conference organisers, reporting a reflexive thematic analysis.

Another event I’m looking forward to is hosted by Midwifery Research Network Netherlands (MRNN), and taking place in Utrecht on 16th March. The scientific departments of the three Dutch midwifery academies will be represented at an invitational meeting on client participation in research. I’m delighted to have been invited to present a UK perspective on: increasing awareness of what ‘client participation’ entails, exploring its feasibility (now and in the future), and ‘sharing practical approaches for implementation’. I’ll join online from the UK. My recent work for the RELAX study will make a useful contribution. The organisers say that in the Netherlands, client participation in research is not as well established as in the UK. I keep putting it onto the agenda for the International Normal Labour and Birth Research Conference, and spoke on the subject at the 2025 conference in Lancashire. This may be why I got the invitation.

Many of my public involvement blogs, reports and presentations are available here https://arc-sl.nihr.ac.uk/research-and-implementation/our-research-areas/maternity-and-perinatal-mental-health/about-our-1

Generally, I have been spending more of my time on leisure and family, having had a cancer diagnosis (now years ago, and recovered from – but it gets you thinking), Guillain-Barré syndrome, and a hip replacement, with a second one due in a few months. I try to spend time with our grandchildren. Georgia is soon to become a teenager; Morgan is eight months old. A***** being pregnant with Morgan brought me right back into maternity services from a service user perspective, albeit at one stage removed. More recently, my niece had a baby in Manchester. Lots of my friends’ daughters and sons are using maternity services and thinking about which preparation courses to book during pregnancy. Some expectant parents arrange to have a doula; a lovely present to give an adult child, I always feel. Then there’s the place of birth discussion. I was so impressed when Alissa decided she’d book for a planned home birth. She moved to a different NHS trust so that she could be cared for by a well-established NHS home birth team. Benefits included continuity of care and carer, first-rate clinical care and support throughout the birth and afterwards, when establishing breastfeeding took a bit of time. A***** is a big one for reading the available research evidence and quite the campaigner and influencer, having been known to write to a newspaper when there are maternity stories in the press. Sadly, this is not a rare event, nor is it usually a positive one. So, keep up the good work – and do be in touch if moved to drop me a line.