QMNC Research Alliance: Celebrating a Year of Collaboration and Impact, 2025

As 2025 draws to a close, the QMNC Research Alliance reflects on a year of remarkable growth and global collaboration. This year, we strengthened international partnerships, advanced research tools, launched a new community platform, and highlighted member scholarship that is reshaping maternal newborn care worldwide.

The year began with strategic planning and community engagement. In March, members came together for the QMNC Strategic Plan Workshop, refining research priorities and laying the foundation for 2025 initiatives. Later that month, the Quality Maternal and Newborn Care Framework Index (QMNCFi) Event was held to set the stage for international validation and broader implementation. In April, the Birth Wars Calabash Café brought members together for Spanish and English dialogue through film, sparking reflection and conversation across the network about the power struggle between doctors and midwives in Mexico.

In May and June, the Priority 3 conversation, “Your Voice in Metrics”, invited members to contribute our metrics and tools registry, and the Future and Legacy of QMNC Leadership Forum explored the Alliance’s impact and future directions.

September marked a busy period with a strong international presence at the International Labour and Birth Research Conference (ILBRC 2025). The Alliance hosted multiple sessions, including a QMNC measurement symposium showcasing the transformation of the QMNC Framework into measurable indicators, updates on global quality metrics, and community-based platforms supporting home births in low- and middle-income countries. Priority 1, 2, and 3 gatherings convened members to advance our 2026 workplan, and our Sharing Knowledge Production through a Writing Workshop responded to the need expressed by QMNC members for writing and publishing support. Highlights included a plenary session delivered by Fellow Tekla Shiindi-Mbidi -- Being in an international Community of Practice of Early Career researchers in maternity care, and

The Lancet Series 10 Years On Symposium led by Holly Powell Kennedy, Tekla Shiindi-Mbidi, Cristina Mattison, Mary Renfrew, Fran McConville, Bahareh Goodarzi, Melissa Cheyney, Berit Mortensen, Allison Cummins, Allison McFadden, Andrew Symon, Michelle Telfer, & Linda Schoonmade, examining how the QMNC framework has been operationalized cross-culturally over the past decade.

The Alliance’s commitment to equitable global collaboration was further illustrated in 2025 through publications and partnerships. In May QMNC delivered a keynote presentation "Changing the Culture of Knowledge Production" to the Virtual International Day of the Midwife Conference. At ILBRC, keynote speakers Scovia Mbalinda and Rachel Maslow presented “All of Us or None of Us,” detailing bidirectional, midwifery-led collaborations in Uganda with Yale School of Nursing and Makerere University, including outputs like the QMNC-focused Coursera MOOC. Scholarship this year also explored disruption as a catalyst for systemic improvement: the release of "Humanising Birth", co-authored by numerous QMNC members, highlighted salutogenic foundations of lifelong well-being; commentary by Malin Bogren and Alison McFadden raised awareness about proposed ISCO reclassifications that could threaten midwifery and nursing workforce integrity; and research by Victoria Craig Keenan, Marit Bovbjerg, and Melissa Cheyney analyzed doula integration as a positive disruptor, bridging systemic gaps in care. At the year's end, Translation and Cross-Cultural Adaptation of the Quality Maternal and Newborn Care Framework Index for Its Use in China was published as an early view online in Birth.

In October, the Alliance launched its new digital community platform, offering personalized portfolios, discussion spaces, event recordings, and resources to strengthen collaboration across disciplines and borders. New topics such as Home Birth Research and Obstetric Violence are being explored, and we are hosting discussion groups for several allied organizations including the International Midwifery Open Science Group, Transforming Birthspace, the Young Midwife Leaders Alumni Research Group, and the Science of Birth’s Early Labour Research Group. These milestones were complemented by the 3rd QMNC China Center Conference, which brought together over 500 participants, including Andrew Symon, Soo Downes, and Helen Jingou Zhai. Helen was also featured in All4Maternity as a visionary leader, advanced cross-cultural adaptation of the QMNCFi for China, exemplifying the Alliance’s commitment to global partnerships.

Throughout the year, QMNC Fellows advanced multiple initiatives ranging from validating the QMNCFi (Priority 1) to the Priority 2 community-led metric study, the SRMNC scoping review on epistemic justice, the peer writing project, the tools and metrics registry (Priority 3) and work on the ten-year anniversary reflection of the QMNC Framework. By December, the QMNCFi had achieved international validation, with over 500 participants across four countries, published findings, and translation efforts underway in Chinese, Portuguese, Arabic, and German, with Spanish and French discussions in progress. Emerging research pathways included provider surveys, PhD projects, and collaborations with QMNC China and the International Childbirth Initiative. Our first Fellows cohort concluded this year. We are grateful for the involvement of Amir Samnani, Elysse Prussing, Florence Darling, Lorena Ibargüen Tinley, Philip Chirwa, Sanjana Santosh and Tekla Shiindi Mbidi in the inaugural QMNC Fellowship.

Looking ahead to 2026, the QMNC Research Alliance is poised for even greater impact. The 2026 Workplan has been finalized, with multiple workstreams supported by the new platform, including shared file access, meeting coordination tools, and an integrated system to support working groups. A mobile app launch is expected in January to further facilitate collaboration. Members can expect virtual writing workshops and other online events to advance our research priorities and deepen engagement. Many Fellowship graduates are remaining with the Alliance, continuing to contribute their expertise. Calabash Café will return in 2026 with the series, Birth in Every Culture, inspired by the edited volume by Melissa Cheyney and Robbie Davis-Floyd, “Birth in Eight Cultures."

The work of 2025 reflects a global network deeply engaged in research, advocacy, and cross-cultural collaboration, laying a strong foundation for continued innovation and impact in 2026 and beyond.