What are ‘physiological plateaus’ during childbirth Research from across the globe shows that midwives have a unique way of interpreting slowing and pausing labour patterns as healthy and normal. Presented at the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) Congress in Bali 2023, recordings of this presentation are also available in French, Spanish and Indonesian.

Bringing together individuals who are passionate about birth and maternity care has a tremendous power. A power to catalyse change through fostering connection, sharing ideas and refuelling a shared passion for improving maternity care. This passion brings real change in the real world.

This video produced by Shenae from The Birth Project Australia about the inaugural Strength to Progress Conference in Perth, Western Australia, shows the power of connection and the shared drive to bringing meaningful change in practice.

Physiological plateaus during normal labour and birth: Exploring the evidence. Promoting Normal Birth Conference. 27 Nov 2021, Melbourne (virtual), Australia.

This presentation provided an overview of evidence about physiological plateaus, illustrated varying concepts and terminology and aimed to stimulate debate about healthy labour patterns.

Physiological plateaus during normal labour and birth: Mapping the evidence. Australian College of Midwives National Conference, Sydney (virtual), Australia.

This Pecha Kucha presentation provided an introduction to the notion of physiological plateaus versus a paradigm of linear labour progression and hightlighted the significance of plateaus for healthy childbirth.

Pregnancy and birth in Germany. Intercultural Family Health Day. 04 Mar 2017, Celle, Germany

In close collaboration with interpreters, this workshop provided orientation for women with a recent background of migration, helping to navigate the maternity care system and support services in Germany.

Breastfeeding in a cultural context. Interdisciplinary conference: Breastfeeding – the best start into life. 05 Oct 2016, Osnabrück, Germany

This presentation covered challenges which women may face during the breastfeeding period, and how cultural values and everyday issues can affect breastfeeding uptake, success, response to challenges and overall breastfeeding duration.

Midwifery care for refugee women and their families. 29th Symposium of the network Women/Girls and Health in Lower Saxony. 31 May 2016, Oldenburg, Germany

This presentation offered insights into common challenges for women and families who experienced forced displacement, and provided practical advice to improve health care accessibility, acceptability, and equity.

The Babies Born Better Project: A European survey on maternity care. German Midwifery Congress. (Weckend MJ, Downe S, Balaam MC, Lengler L & Gross MM). 03 May 2016, Hamburg, Germany

The Babies Born Better Project is a multinational survey of women’s experiences of childbirth, where this presentation offered insights into results from the German language part of the survey, and povisional insights from other countries.