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QMNC NEWSLETTER - September 2023

Help Us Welcome Our New Members

There are new faces in our community! Get to know them and find out where your research interests intersect by connecting with them in the Welcome thread on our platform – it’s the modern version of taking cookies to your new nextdoor neighbor! 

Many of our new members have introduced themselves and their work in the thread. Stop by and say hello by accessing your activity feed on the platform. For help accessing your activity feed, check out this helpful how-to guide here.

Register for Our Next Calabash Cafe!

Are you interested in the power of midwifery care to address reproductive injustice? There is a powerful new field of study examining this concept – Critical Midwifery Studies (CMS). On 12 September, at 9:00 am (New York), CMS will be the topic of our next Calabash Cafe. 

Join us as QMNC Research Manager Bahareh Goodarzi shares the origins and basics of CMS, followed by a welcoming, open-ended discussion facilitated by Micknai Arefaine. Please come and share your thoughts, experiences, and perspectives, as we all envision the potential of this new field together! Register for free today. Not a QMNC member? Learn more about membership here.

You Shared, We Heard – And Planned Projects

There were more than 60 registrants for our recent virtual workshops! You generously contributed your perspectives and insights on QMNC’s three research priorities and let us know your needs. Because of your feedback at these and our recent in-person sessions, we were able to develop the following upcoming projects: 

• Community Management project. This project involves supporting efforts to engage the QMNC community through online events, participation on the platform, and other projects.

• QMNC Index project. This project addresses priorities one and three. 

• Priority Three Registry project. This project will identify existing Priority Three metrics and develop a tool with descriptive characteristics for each. The goal is to develop a registry tool that will be hosted on the QMNC website and draft an article or commentary describing the registry and its development.You can learn more about our research priorities here.

• Decolonization scoping review project. This project will look at how we decolonize global maternity care research and will be used to develop an equity statement for the QMNC Research Alliance.

• Best Practices Commentary project. This project will generate a commentary summarizing best practices for community-led metrics. This project will involve a scoping review as well as engaging QMNC members to seek their impressions and perspectives.

• Writing Mentorship Group project. This project will support emerging scholars, particularly those from the Global Majority/Global South, by connecting them with senior level scholars in writing groups/mentorship groups/co-working sessions by region.

• Ten Year Anniversary project. This project will systematically collect information about what has happened in the decade since the publication of the Lancet Series on Midwifery. We anticipate that this project will generate a report and a one-page document highlighting the work of the QMNC Research Alliance in the past decade.

We are grateful for your help in identifying and developing these exciting new goals. To get involved with a project, please reach out to community manager Jodine Chase via the platform here. She will direct you to the appropriate project lead.

Next Month: Meet the Fellows

QMNC is honored to be joined by a team of new research fellows. The fellows will take an active role in assisting with each of the new projects. Be sure to watch for next month’s newsletter, where we will introduce the fellows and share their backgrounds and bios. 

QMNC Member News

Do you have news to share with the QMNC community? Please reach out to our community manager, Jodine Chase. She is happy to help explore ways to connect you with other QMNC members, including through our updated online platform. Reach Jodine at chase.jodinechase@gmail.com or by private message (PM) on the platform.

We look forward to connecting with you soon.

Warmly,

The team at QMNC