Doireann Crosson – Doireann Crossan is the National Women’s Council’s women’s health coordinator, with responsibility for initiatives relating to women’s access to inclusive and high-quality reproductive, sexual and mental health services. Before working in NWC, she was the health and policy coordinator for the Eastern Region Traveller Health Unit, where she worked from a community development approach to address Traveller health inequalities. She has a MA in Conflict Studies and Human Rights, which is reflected in her passion for ensuring a right-based approach to policy development informed by a social determinants of health perspective.

Prof. Deirdre Daly – Deirdre Daly is Professor in Midwifery and Director of the Trinity Centre for Maternity Care Research (TCMCR), Trinity College Dublin. She is the principal investigator on the Maternal health And Maternal Morbidity in Ireland (MAMMI) study, the only longitudinal study exploring the health of, and health problems experienced by, first-time mothers giving birth in Ireland. She also leads/co-leads several related studies on maternal health and, together with other MAMMI study team members, has published several papers on various aspects of maternal health. Prof. Daly is the Director of the Trinity Centre for Maternity Care Research (TCMCR), a member of the national severe maternal morbidity and maternal death in Ireland groups and past member of three COST Actions. She is the National Women and Infants Health Programme’s (NWIHP) academic partner on the evaluation of the pilot postnatal hubs offering extended postpartum care.

Liz Hughes – Liz Hughes is Head of the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, RCSI. She was a committee member of the International Women’s Forum (2018-2022) and was previously CEO of Charities Institute Ireland (2019-2021).

Dr Cliona Murphy – Cliona Murphy is National Clinical Director, National Women and Infants Health Programme. A consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist at the Coombe Women and Infants University Hospital and is Chair of the Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. Dr Murphy is also a member of the Governance Committee of the National Perinatal Epidemiology Centre, University College Cork.

Dr Karen Matvienko-Sikar – Karen Matvienko-Sikar is a health psychologist and a senior lecturer in the School of Public Health, University College Cork. She is also currently a Health Research Emerging Investigator, the outgoing chair of the Psychological Society of Ireland (PSI) Division of Health Psychology, and the research officer for the PSI Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Special Interest Group. Dr Matvienko-Sikar has experience and expertise in perinatal mental health, in particular in relation to perinatal stress and anxiety. Her research in this area includes identification of determinants and consequences of perinatal stress and anxiety, and development and evaluation of interventions to improve perinatal mental health.

Prof. Sharleen O’Reilly – Sharleen O’Reilly is a registered dietitian and associate professor at University College Dublin. She has been a member of the UCD Perinatal Research Centre at the National Maternity Hospital since its inception. Prof. O’Reilly holds a prestigious Danish Diabetes and Endocrinology Academy Visiting Professorship and is a past winner of the Irish Nutrition and Dietetic Institute’s Research Dietitian of the Year. Prof. O’Reilly’s research centres on non-communicable disease prevention for better maternal and child health, of which the use of mHealth technology and supporting breastfeeding are integral parts. She is an investigator on many research projects, has over 100 peer-reviewed publications and currently leads the Bump2Baby and Me trial, a large EU Horizon multinational implementation project in pregnancy and the first year after birth focused on obesity and diabetes prevention through improved diet, breastfeeding and physical activity. She sits on the Executive Committee of the European Federation of Associations of Dietitians and the International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics Committee for Impact of Pregnancy on Long-term Health.