Athena Hammond
I'm researching birth unit design on midwives and their practice in the hospital setting.
Before starting my research project at UTS I was working as a project manager focused on women's health in the NGO sector.
I decided to undertake a research project because it seemed like an amazing opportunity.
My research topic was… and the findings have been used to…
My research explores the impacts of birth unit design on midwives and their practice in the hospital setting. The findings suggest that there is a relationship between the design and aesthetics of hospital birth rooms and the practice of midwives working in those rooms. We hope that the study will inform changes to current hospital design that will ultimately increase midwives’ capacity to facilitate normal birth in the hospital. We think these findings will be useful not only to health professionals but also to designers, architects and all those involved with the designing and upgrading of hospital birth units.
My research degree has enabled me to really let loose my inner research nerd. To me, this degree is like a permission slip to place a research project at the centre of my working life and just think and write and think and write. And read a whole heck of a lot. I love the way this degree enables the exploration of concepts and ideas that would never normally see the light of day purely because there isn't the time to develop them. The degree has connected me to a wider research community through UTS activities and through publishing and presenting at conferences - both locally and overseas.
The thing I enjoyed most about my UTS degree was developing relationships with my supervisors and accessing their phenomenal knowledge, experience and expertise. I also hugely enjoyed conducting the interviews that were the basis of my research data – and then hanging around in my pyjamas at all hours of the day and night trying to analyse them in a coherent way. And I’ve even enjoyed the way the degree has pushed me out of my comfort zone, forcing me to confront my own sense of who I am and what I can do. Who knew a research degree could change your brain so much?
My advice to people considering this degree is:
I am wary of giving advice but I think this quote attributed to comedienne Lucille Ball probably sums up my position:
'I would rather regret the things I have done than the things that I have not.'
I mean really, what’s the worst that could happen?
