Professor Billie Hunter CBE
RCM Professor of Midwifery
Cardiff University
Billie Hunter CBE is the RCM Professor of Midwifery at Cardiff University, Wales UK and Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Midwifery Development. A Fellow of the RCM, she holds Visiting Chairs at Surrey and Nottingham Universities in the UK and is Adjunct Professor at University of Technology Sydney, Australia.
Billie has been a midwife since 1979, working in UK NHS, voluntary sector and independent midwifery settings, before moving into education and research in 1996. Billie is well known internationally for her research into culture, emotions and relationships in maternity care, and she has published widely. Her aim is to improve care for women and their families by better understanding midwifery work and supporting midwives. Her research projects include studies of midwives’ emotions and resilience, including leading the recent UK WHELM study of midwives’ emotional wellbeing.
In 2016, Billie became the Director of a new WHO Collaborating Centre for Midwifery Development at Cardiff University, one of only 2 centres globally with a unique focus on midwifery. The Collaborating Centre supports WHO in its activities to strengthen midwifery education and practice globally. Billie is involved in a number of WHO advisory groups, as well as co-leading the Midwifery Network within the Global Network of Nursing and Midwifery Collaborating Centres.
Billie was awarded a CBE in June 2018 in recognition of her services to midwifery and midwifery education in the UK and Europe.
