Profs S.Kildea & Y.Roe | 23.08.22 | The road to supporting women’s cultural and birthing aspirations

MWRC: The road to supporting women’s cultural and birthing aspirations: 2019 to Now.

The Molly Wardaguga Research Centre was a strategic investment by Charles Darwin University (CDU), and the College of Nursing and Midwifery, in April 2019. Co-Directors, Profs Yvette Roe and Sue Kildea, will share the progress towards the Centre’s vision: that our research makes a significant impact on Closing the Gap between First Nations and other Australians maternal and child, health and education outcomes, in particular: Target 2 — First Nations children are born healthy and strong.

Professor of Midwifery and Co-Director of the Molly Centre, Sue Kildea is recognised internationally as a midwifery leader, a health services researcher and an advocate for returning birthing services to First Nations control, and rural and remote communities. She is one of the highest ranked researchers worldwide in Maternity and Midwifery and has received multiple awards (CRANAPlus Aurora Award in recognition of Outstanding Contributions to Remote Health, 2012; Research Australia’s Health Services Research Award, 2018; and together with Molly, the UTS Human Rights Award, 2004). She collaborates with researchers internationally and regularly performs work for international organisations (eg. WHO).

Professor of Indigenous Health, Co-Director and First Nations Lead for the Molly Centre, Yvette Roe is a Njikena Jawuru woman from the West Kimberly region, Western Australia. She is passionate about First Nations knowledge translation, Indigenist research methodologies and using First Nations values and knowledges to describe and assess research impact. She is a member of the NHMRC Research Committee and Principal Committee Indigenous Caucus. Her research interests include public health, maternal and child health, realist evaluations, capacity-building First Nations researchers, health services research and evaluations. In May 2022, she undertook her Churchill Fellowship meeting with leading First Nations scholars and communities in Turtle Island (Canada).

The Birthing on Country Centre for Research Excellence was awarded in 2020 to The Molly Wardaguga Research Centre. The BoC CRE Seminar Series is a key activity for the Centre to share the work, resources, and information with other communities, researchers, students, and service providers about the amazing, innovative work that is happening throughout Australia.

Please contact [email protected] if you have any queries or head to our website www.birthingoncountry.com for more information.