Christine McCourt is Professor of Maternal and Child Health at City University London, where she is active in research, education, development of clinical-academic links and midwifery involvement and leadership in research.

She originally studied social anthropology at the London School of Economics, where her doctoral study focused on applying anthropological theory and methodology to studying ‘western’ healthcare. She has worked within the NHS and in several academic midwifery departments but also on medical anthropology and health & social policy. Her particular research interests are in service change and reform and models of care, the culture and organisation of maternity care, on women’s experiences of childbirth and maternity care and infant feeding.

She is managing editor of the international applied anthropology journal Anthropology in Action, and has recently edited an applied anthropological book entitled ‘Childbirth, Midwifery and Concepts of Time (Berghahn 2010).

Current research projects include an organisational study of Alongside Midwifery Units – a follow-up study to the Birthplace in England Programme. She is also a Visiting Professor at the Nursing, Midwifery and Allied Health Professions Research Unit, based at the University of Stirling, where she is involved in the evaluation of the Keeping Childbirth Natural and Dynamic Programme, and the MIRAS - Mothers in Research Agenda Setting - Project.