Ongoing Research

MAMA Academy champions the research that makes pregnancies safer. This page highlights ongoing and recently completed research in the UK that matters to midwives, student midwives and the families in their care. Each listing links to the organisation running the research, so current studies, recruitment status and results are always on their own site. If you are involved in maternity research you would like us to feature, contact us at contact@mamaacademy.org.uk.

Current research taking place in the UK

Tommy’s

Tommy’s, the UK’s largest pregnancy research charity, runs a national programme of studies across its research centres in London, Manchester and Edinburgh, focused on miscarriage, stillbirth, premature birth and placental health. Their researchers also launched the Tommy’s National Centre for Maternity Improvement, working to embed risk assessment tools and better fetal growth monitoring into routine NHS care.

• Tommy’s research centres and programmes
• Tommy’s miscarriage research
• Tommy’s stillbirth research
• Tommy’s premature birth research
• Tommy’s Placenta Clinic – a specialist clinic for parents whose babies are small or not growing as expected, combining care with research

Sands

Sands supports a range of research studies aiming to save babies’ lives and improve the care and support bereaved families receive, and maintains a database of studies looking for participants – including bereaved parents and professionals.

• Sands research to save babies’ lives
• Take part in research (Sands) – current studies recruiting parents and professionals

University of East Anglia – NICU bereavement care research

Researchers at the University of East Anglia, working with Bliss, are studying the experiences of parents who lost a baby while their baby was being cared for in a neonatal unit, to improve bereavement support in NICUs. MAMA Academy is supporting recruitment for this important study. To find out more or take part, email p.curry@uea.ac.uk.

National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit (NPEU), University of Oxford

The NPEU runs randomised trials and influential national studies in maternal and neonatal health and care, and hosts the MBRRACE-UK programme and the Perinatal Mortality Review Tool. Their current studies page is a window into the most active perinatal research in the UK.

• NPEU current research

NIHR Evidence

The National Institute for Health and Care Research publishes plain-English summaries of the most reliable research about what works in health and social care, including maternal and neonatal health – a quick way for busy midwives to keep up with new evidence.

• NIHR Evidence alerts and summaries

Recently completed research and studies in the UK

Key studies and reports that have recently concluded and are shaping practice today.

• MBRRACE-UK data brief: maternal mortality 2022-2024 (updated January 2026)
• Baroness Amos Independent Investigation: reflections and initial impressions
• Inequalities and stillbirth in the UK (Sands meta-narrative review)
• DESIGN study: detection of the small gestational age fetus (Sands)
• AFFIRM trial: awareness of fetal movements and care package to reduce fetal mortality
• Stillbirth Priority Setting Partnership conclusions
• The Pregnancy Outcome Prediction study (POPs)
• The Cost of Stillbirth
• Improving perinatal post mortem data collection
• Self-hypnosis for intrapartum pain management in nulliparous women
• The Lancet: Miscarriage Matters series
• Inquiry into stillbirths in Wales (Senedd)