Rate My Professor Sara Bayes

Professor Sara Bayes serves as a research-focused Professor and Vice-Chancellor's Professorial Research Fellow in the School of Nursing and Midwifery at Edith Cowan University. Her academic background includes a Doctor of Philosophy from Curtin University of Technology in 2010, a Master of Midwifery in 2006, a Postgraduate Diploma in Midwifery in 2002 from the same institution, and a Diploma in Nursing from England in 1995. A Registered Nurse and Registered Midwife since 2003 in Australia, she has accumulated extensive clinical experience across diverse settings and models of care, including midwifery in private practice offering continuity of care. Prior to her current role, she held academic positions at several universities and has demonstrated expertise in pre-registration midwifery curriculum design, accreditation, and leadership.

Bayes' research specializations center on enhancing midwives' ability to practice to the full extent of their scope and cultivating midwifery environments that foster job satisfaction and professional retention. Proficient in qualitative methodologies such as Glaserian Grounded Theory, Participatory Action Research, and Implementation Science, her work addresses key challenges in midwifery, maternity services, and user experiences. Research interests encompass maternal health, evidence-based practice, change management, midwifery education, and knowledge translation. Selected key publications include "Midwives’ strategies for coping with barriers to providing quality maternal and neonatal care: a Glaserian grounded theory study" (2021), "Support needs of parents in neonatal intensive care unit: An integrative review" (2021), "Factors associated with midwives' job satisfaction and intention to stay in the profession: An integrative review" (2020), and more recent contributions like "Global perspectives of midwifery ethics: Crucial features for practice via an international Delphi study" (2025) and "Co-designing a resilience-based mentoring program for novice midwives: A participatory action research approach" (2025). With over 2,800 citations, her scholarship significantly influences midwifery workforce sustainability and clinical improvements. In 2024, she was awarded the Excellence in Research at the WA Nursing and Midwifery Excellence Awards for research impacting clinical practice in maternal and newborn health. Bayes leads the AMPLE Lab initiative aimed at resolving midwifery shortages through enhanced staff retention strategies.