Dr Hannah McCauley is a clinical academic midwife with over 23 years’ experience spanning clinical practice, global health research, and academic leadership. Before joining Queen’s University Belfast, she held senior NHS roles including Consultant Midwife and Head of Midwifery, leading innovation in maternity care, education, and workforce development.

Hannah previously worked as a Senior Research Associate at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, where she led multi-country maternal health research projects across Togo, Chad, Ghana, and Tanzania. Her work focused on strengthening antenatal and postnatal care quality, designing competency-based training packages, and evaluating large-scale health system interventions funded by The Global Fund.

Hannah is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and completed her PhD in Tropical Medicine, exploring the quality of antenatal and postnatal care in Togo. Her work integrates academic research, clinical expertise, and international collaboration to advance equitable and respectful maternity care.

Public outreach & key achievements

• Lead developer and co-author of multilingual Antenatal and Postnatal Care training manuals (English, French, Arabic) used internationally by LSTM.
• Highly Commended International Education Award (2020) – International Maternity Expo, for the peer-to-peer midwifery training model implemented in Togo and Chad.
• Contributor to the Mary Renfrew Report on Maternity and Neonatal Services in Northern Ireland (Department of Health, NI).
• Member of the UKMidSS Steering Group, advancing national evidence on midwifery-led care.
• Invited speaker at international forums including the World Health Organisation (Geneva) and the University of Oxford Sheila Kitzinger Programme.
• Editorial board of International Journal of Midwifery
• Peer reviewer for PLOS One and Midwifery journals.

Advocate for global collaboration, equity, and professional development within the midwifery community.

Research Interests

Supervising PhD students in the fields of:

• Global maternal and newborn health
• Midwifery education and training innovations
• Health system strengthening and workforce capacity-building
• Equity, diversity, and inclusion in maternity care
• Implementation and evaluation of quality improvement interventions in maternal health

She supervises research that employs both qualitative and mixed-methods approaches, particularly studies aiming to generate practical, policy-relevant solutions focusing on implementation research for improving care outcomes in both high- and low-resource settings.