Enabling academic and career progression in healthcare as an applied social scientist through publishing, networking and enhancing professional skills

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Introduction: I am actively striving to pursue a career as an applied social scientist and strongly believe this ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowship will be an excellent fit for supporting my career trajectory into the next 3-5 years. In my current role as a Consultant Midwife, I lead on transformation and midwifery excellence at one of the largest NHS trusts in England. I provide expert professional leadership support and advice for the delivery of safe, high quality care. However, in research terms, I am still relatively junior and I have no clear research remit in my current role. I am confident that being embedded in a high-quality research and training environment during this Fellowship will enable me to develop my research contribution within the public sphere of healthcare. The key objectives of this Fellowship application are as follows.Objective 1: To finalise and submit the following three papers for publication from the doctoral thesis: a) Target journal: Organization Studies Working title: Capitulation, compromise and counteraction: The deinstitutionalisation of home birth in the English NHS. b) Target journal: Health Services Research Working title: A failure of maternity policy implementation: A multiple streams analysis of the maternity transformation programme in the English NHS. c)Target journal: Sociology of Health and Illness Working title: Moral Panic and Maternity: Any qualified providers as modern 'folk devils' in the NHS.Objective 2: To develop and submit a fourth paper for publication based on my ESRC Overseas Institutional Visit to New Zealand in April-May 2016:a) Target journal: Midwifery or Journal of Advanced NursingWorking title publication 4: What lessons do the maternity services in New Zealand have for the Maternity Transformation Programme in England?Objective 3: Submit further abstracts to academic and professional conferences nationally and internationally e.g. 37th EGOS Colloquium in Amsterdam, July 2021; 81st AoM meeting in Philadelphia, August 2021.Objective 4: To develop a programmatic research plan with mentors and broker placements/visits to exemplar groups linked to the intended programme e.g. the University of Nottingham Rights Lab: https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/research/beacons-of-excellence/rights-lab/index.aspx. This is likely to focus on an intersection between health inequalities, human-rights and maternity provision.Objective 5: To collaborate with mentors and leading academics to identify potential entry-level opportunities, research grants and fellowships that align with my programmatic research plan. Objective 6: Undertake additional practical training that will strengthen my academic credibility so that I can contribute to, and lead research as an applied social scientist alongside my academic peers.