Professors Nicky Leap and Pat Brodie

For almost 40 years, Professor Nicky Leap has had a variety of roles in midwifery practice, education and research. She has published widely and is a frequent speaker at national and international conferences. Nicky is well known for her work supporting the development of midwifery models of care in both the UK and Australia.

Nicky grew up in the West Country in England where she was involved in setting up and promoting Women’s Aid Refuges. She became a National Childbirth Trust teacher in the 1970s and was a youth and community worker in London before training to be a midwife. In the 1990s, while living in South East London, Nicky was a member of the first group of self-employed midwives to contract into the NHS.

Nicky is co-author with Billie Hunter of the highly acclaimed textbook: Supporting Women for Labour and Birth: A Thoughtful Guide and The Midwife’s Tale: an oral history from handywoman to professional midwife. She is a member of the Australian College of Midwives Midwifery History group and has a strong interest in researching the lives of midwives and the women they attended in bygone days.

Professor Pat Brodie is known, both nationally and internationally, for her leadership in a variety of roles spanning almost 40 years, in Australia, Papua New Guinea (PNG) and the Pacific. She has led strategic reforms of policy, practice and regulation in maternity care, in particular, the development of midwifery continuity of care models.

Pat spent six years working with the Maternal and Child Health Initiative in PNG. Prior to this, she was the World Health Organisation’s Technical Adviser for midwifery education and regulation in PNG. In recognition of her contribution she received the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) Social Inclusion Award. Over several decades Pat was state and national President of the Australian College of Midwives (ACM). She continues to have strong links with ACM, the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) and other agencies committed to building midwifery capacity and strengthening the profession globally. In 2012, Pat was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for her services to midwifery and professional associations.

Nicky and Pat are both Adjunct Professors of Midwifery at UTS. With colleagues, they co-edited the recently published textbook: Midwifery Continuity of Care 2^nd edition. In semi-retirement, they divide their time between living in Bristol (UK) and the Blue Mountains (Australia).