Ina May is the OG of modern midwifery. She is an American midwife who has been described as "the mother of authentic midwifery." She helped found the self-sustaining community on The Farm with her husband Stephen in 1971. It is here that she launched her career in midwifery. She is known for the Gaskin Maneuver, has written several books and joined the American Women's Hall of Fame in 2013. Ina May is coming out of retirement to provide a recorded session that will be viewed at The Convergence 2025.

Hello! it's me Mel! I am the host of The Great Birth Rebellion podcast, private midwife, mummy, keen gardener, PhD graduate, Midwifery mentor and the hostess of The Assembly of Rebellious Midwives online community.

I'm also the creator and your hostess for this convergence of rebellious midwives 2025. 

Since 2009 I have been a private midwife practicing in the Blue Mountains. My PhD looked at "Birthing Outside the System' and I am on a mission change the maternity care landscaoe firstly by helping establish more privately practicing midwives in Australia through my midwifery mentorship and through the great birth rebellion podcast.

I also have a degree in Naturopathy and, although I don't work as a Naturopath anymore, I  incorporate alternative therapies and nutritional guidance into the care that I give my clients.

I am married with two children born at home. Our family maintains a permaculture homestead in the Blue Mountains where we grow food, keep goats for milk and chickens for eggs.  

As I did last year, I'll be at the convergence speaking, Emceeing and embracing you all!

Instagram: @melaniethemidwife

www.melaniethemidwife.com 

Hannah Dahlen is the Professor of Midwifery, Associate Dean Research and HDR and Midwifery Discipline Leader in the School of Nursing and Midwifery at Western Sydney University. She has been a midwife for 30 years.

Hannah has spoken at over 100 national and international conferences and is a regular keynote speaker.

Hannah has represented midwifery and women through interviews in print, on the radio and TV hundreds of times and is featured in four documentaries. Hannah is a past President of the Australian College of Midwives and received Life Membership in 2008 for outstanding contributions to the profession of Midwifery.

In 2019 Hannah was awarded a Member (AM) of the Order of Australia (General Division) in the Queen’s birthday honours list for her significant services to midwifery, nursing and medical education and research. In November 2012 she was named in the Sydney Morning Herald’s list of 100 “people who change our city for the better”. She has been described as “the leading force promoting natural birth and midwife-led care in Australia.”

Instagram: @hannah.dahlen

​Bashi Hazard is an Australian lawyer and the principal of B W Law, a legal practice established to support and assist women and children, and the Legal Director of the ANZ arm of the Human Rights in Childbirth (HRiC) International Lawyers Network.

Bashi’s focus in law expanded soon after she had her first child. From her own experiences, Bashi became aware of the widespread impact of current obstetric models of care on the emotional health and wellbeing of mothers. That awareness took her back to working with fundamental ethical principles and human rights law, and forming networks with human rights lawyers in the USA, Netherlands, UK and Europe, with whom she now works closely to develop a legal discourse about the human rights of women in pregnancy and childbirth. Since then, Bashi has presented papers and keynote speeches at many significant conferences on the topic of human rights in childbirth.

X: @bashazard

Dr. Hazel Keedle is a Senior Lecturer of Midwifery at the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Western Sydney University. She has over two decades of experience as a clinician in nursing and midwifery, education, and research. Her research interests are vaginal birth after caesarean, birth trauma, and maternity experiences, which she explores primarily using feminist mixed methodologies.

Dr. Keedle's work is recognised internationally. She is a regular conference presenter, and her research has been widely published in academic journals and books.

She is the author of the book "Birth after Caesarean: Your Journey to a Better Birth," which is based on her PhD findings. Dr. Keedle is also the lead researcher on the largest maternity experiences survey, The Birth Experience Study.

Dr Keedle is passionate about improving the experiences of women during childbirth. She is committed to using her research to advocate for women's rights and to ensure that all women have access to respectful, supportive maternity care.

Instagram: @hazelkeedle

 Lynelle is a lecturer and PhD candidate at The Australian Catholic University.  She has worked in multiple practice settings and models of care, most recently practicing as a Clinical Midwifery Specialist in Midwifery Group Practice providing both hospital and home birth midwifery care to families.

She is passionate about working with birthing women to provide care that reflects their hopes and needs. 

Alongside her clinical practice, she has worked in midwifery research and was involved with the implementation of a continuity of midwifery-led care program for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and families.

She formed the Va Journal Club, a midwifery journal club, which brings together Registered Midwives from a variety of practice settings to discuss and debate emerging midwifery research, and share stories and experiences while building and strengthening relationships within our profession.

Lynelle is also part of the team delivering The Assembly of Rebellious Midwives

LinkedIn: Lynnelle Moran

Dr Sheena Byrom has been a practising midwife since 1978, totally committed to supporting midwives to maximise the potential for all women to have a positive birth experience.

Sheena was one of the UK’s first consultant midwives, and as head of midwifery successfully helped to lead the development of three birth centres in East Lancashire. As an international speaker, Sheena provides workshops and consultancy services on respectful maternity care. With her midwife daughter, Anna, she is the proud joint owner of The Practising Midwife journal, and an exciting learning online platform All4Maternity.com

Instagram: @sheena_byrom

www.sheenabyrom.com

www.all4maternity.com

www.byromandbyrom.com

Anna is passionate about supporting students, midwives and maternity workers to access evidence to inform practice and care.

She is the founding Director/CEO of the award winning All4Maternity.com supporting the learning, sharing and caring needs for all midwives and maternity workers. She is a publisher of the important practice-focused journal, The Practising Midwife, The Student Midwife journal, and The Practising Midwife Australia edition.

She has worked in a variety of roles across midwifery services, education, and research, throughout the UK, including caseload, continuity models of care, providing midwifery care in all areas of clinical practice and leading infant feeding services in community and hospital settings.

She completed her PhD, in 2019, with the Maternal and Infant Nutrition and Nurture Unit (MAINN) at the University of Central Lancashire, England. Her thesis explored the influences of the Unicef UK Baby Friendly Initiative upon midwives and service-users. Passionate about supporting authentic, relational and social midwifery education she was awarded a National Teaching Fellowship, in 2019, from Advance HE acknowledging her contributions to midwifery education since 2010.

She have also worked with national, regional and local teams to support Internationally Recruited Midwives with their transition to practice across NHS England.

Instagram: @acbmidwife

www.all4maternity.com

www.byromandbyrom.com

Athena is the founder of The Birth Counsel. She spent two decades working in and around the maternity care system as a doula, midwife, midwifery researcher and now as a counsellor & psychotherapist. She believes we all need a safe place to talk about what happens to us when we come up close to birth. The Birth Counsel has been created to acknowledge and respond to this need.

Athena will be sharing practical strategies for working through and recovering from workplace trauma and stress

Instagram: @thebirthcounsel

Dr Douglas is an Australian GP and an international leader in the care of parents and babies.

She is a writer and researcher, with a special interest in perinatal mental health and breastfeeding medicine. Over the past twenty years, Dr Douglas has published the evidence base to the programs known as Neuroprotective Developmental Care (NDC or 'The Possums Programs'), translating the research into education programs for both parents and health professionals. Dr Douglas's groundbreaking work is detailed in 30 international research publications and in her best-selling The Discontented Little Baby Book.

Dr Douglas began developing the NDC/Possums programs from the late 1990s. She was Founder and Medical Director of the charity Possums for Mothers and Babies Pty Ltd from 2013-2023, which is now closed.

Dr Douglas has now released an updated and expanded version of The Possums Sleep Program, and an updated version of Sleep, Baby & You in collaboration with Professor Helen Ball and the Durham Infant Sleep Centre, UK. She continues to offer NDC Masterclasses and NDC Accreditation for health professionals at The NDC Institute, with other new courses under development.

Instagram: @drpameladouglas

pameladouglas.com.au

Sarah is a global travelling midwife dedicated to reclaiming midwifery as the holistic healing art it has always been. Traditionally, midwives are pillars of their communities, guiding women and families through their reproductive, health, and healing journeys. Sarah supports women with plants, nutrition, bodywork, and spiritual guidance from menstruation through conception, pregnancy, birth, postpartum, and parenting. Her mission is to reconnect with ancient women’s wisdom and provide truly holistic care.

Sarah's journey involves integrating practices often seen as alternatives to modern medical systems, reclaiming the essence of true midwifery. This holistic approach grounds her practice in the timeless principles of nurturing both physical and spiritual well-being.

Sarah's diverse experience spans various countries and settings, from rural hospitals in Australia, to birth centres in India and learning with traditional Maya midwives in Guatemala. She specialises in home births, which has taken her to remote communities in Australia.

For over a decade, Sarah has been passionate about learning from women, midwives, and traditional cultures surrounding birth. She is passionate about sharing this wisdom with other women and birth workers through her events and mentoring.

Instagram: @bridging_worlds_midwifery

bwmidwife.com