Global Midwifery Mentorship

Dr. Elaine Jefford is a midwifery researcher, author, and editor-in-chief for the International Journal of Childbirth: Women’s and Reproductive Health. She is also a senior midwifery lecturer at the University of the Sunshine Coast. Her research focuses on midwifery decision-making and abdicating one’s professional accountability, underpinning midwifery education practice and policy, leadership, and mentorship. Her research has led to strong collaborations in national and international research, service development work, and practitioner training initiatives. Other research interests include birth trauma, perinatal mental well-being, deteriorating women, childbirth for incarnated women, self-compassion, and women’s health such as menopause. She led the validation of the Australian Birth Satisfaction Scale-Revised and is now leading the Partner-Birth Satisfaction Scale-Revised (PBSS-R) Australian validation team. She has also been involved in national and international midwifery curriculum development and was a member of the Midwifery Accreditation Committee, which is part of the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Accreditation Council. She is also Chair of the Trans-Tasman Midwifery Education Consortium.

Dr. Lyn Ebert is a registered nurse and midwife, a women’s health and midwifery education researcher, and Associate Professor in Midwifery at the Southern Cross University (SCU). She is the Midwifery Work Integrated Learning Academic Coordinator (WILAC) for SCU, managing and administering the work integrated learning (WIL) or Midwifery Professional Experience (MPE) of a programme. She is committed to supporting the development of innovative health education strategies, curriculum teaching and learning methods that support student learning, childbearing women’s safety, and improved midwifery workforce culture.