Global leader in midwifery research Professor Linda Sweet

From country kid to world-leading midwifery researcher Professor Linda Sweet did not set out to become one of Australia’s leading midwifery researchers. Growing up in country New South Wales, she simply knew she wanted to teach adults. The pathway from rural teenager to one of the top two midwifery researchers globally and among the top 2 per cent of all researchers worldwide, has been anything but linear. ‘I got to become an adult teacher eventually,’ Professor Sweet explains. ‘But in a very roundabout way, to what I imagined.’ 

Professor Sweet is the inaugural Chair of Midwifery in the Deakin University Western Health partnership, a fulltime research role that is still rare in Australian maternity services. 

She was recently recognised as the second most highly ranked midwifery scholars globally based on accomplishments over the previous five years. 

Professor Sweet is jointly appointed by both Deakin University and Western Health, where she is called upon to help solve complex clinical problems. Prof Sweet and Senior Research Fellow, Dr Vidanka Vasilevski, work with clinicians to design studies, analyse data, and translate findings into practice. ‘Vidanka and I can put a different set of eyes on things and come up with solutions that may or may not work,’ Professor Sweet said. ‘But we can then take the time to investigate and see whether they will or won’t work.’ 

Her own journey into research began in the hospital system, long before PhDs were commonplace for nurses and midwives. After training as a nurse and working in neonatal intensive care, she completed a master’s degree in midwifery and drafted a research proposal that caught the attention of an academic supervisor. A PhD was suggested. At the time, it was an unfamiliar concept. In the late 1990s, qualitative research in midwifery was often dismissed as ‘not real research’. Prof Sweet persisted, taking a research midwife job at Adelaide’s Women’s and Children’s Hospital and enrolling in one of South Australia’s earliest doctoral programs for nurses and midwives. Six years, two babies and a new house later, she emerged with a PhD and a foothold in academia. 

Since then, she has combined clinical insight with academic work in Australia and overseas. Her studies on obesity in pregnancy, breastfeeding support, and models of maternity care have been cited in international guidelines and Australian policy documents. Prof Sweet utilises her role to ensure that Western Health midwives are actively involved in midwife-led research, and are often co-authors in her publications. Prof Sweet’s work has been cited in more than 30 countries, and she has worked with counterparts in Hong Kong, Turkey, Italy and Indonesia. Clinicians also want her for advice on translating her findings into practice, for instance, the Mercy set up their home birth program on the pioneering research into the Western Health program. 

For all the rankings and citation counts, Linda is reluctant to declare the job done. ‘There are still some big, wicked problems that need to be resolved,’ she said. ‘We’ve made progress, but we haven’t solved them.’ What she is certain of is the importance of those who will come after her. She currently supervises about a dozen honours, master’s, and PhD students. Many have already stepped into senior advisory and academic roles around the country. ‘That’s just what I love,” she said. ‘Seeing midwives come through, take up research, and then go out and change the system.’