# Susan Crowther

Susan Crowther is a British–New Zealand academic midwife, and is a full professor at the Auckland University of Technology, specialising in midwifery, birthing experiences and employing an hermeneutic phenomenology approach. She was previously a professor at the Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen.

## Academic career

Crowther obtained a Bachelor of Science with honours from King's College London, followed by a Master of Science degree at the University of Surrey. Crowther has worked in healthcare since 1982, and moved into midwifery in the 1990s. Moving to New Zealand, Crowther worked as a rural midwife, and then completed a PhD titled Sacred joy at birth: a hermeneutic phenomenology study at the Auckland University of Technology in 2013. Her doctoral research was supervised by Elizabeth Smythe and Deborah Spence. Crowther then joined the faculty of the Auckland University of Technology, rising to full professor. She is also a full professor at Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen, giving her inaugural professorial lecture in June 2018.
Crowther has published two books on the birthing process and is an editor for four peer-reviewed journals. She has participated in national working groups in the UK aimed at developing standards for midwifery education. Crowther is a member of the International Confederation of Midwives Research Standing Committee.
Crowther's research interests focus on childbirth, rural maternity services, sustainable practice, continuity of care, and include cultural and spiritual wellbeing and hermeneutic phenomenology.

## Selected works

* Davies, Lorna; Crowther, Susan, eds. (16 November 2022). Mindfulness in the Birth Sphere. Routledge. doi:10.4324/9781003165200. ISBN 978-1-003-16520-0.
* Crowther, Susan; Thomson, Gill, eds. (29 June 2022). Hermeneutic Phenomenology in Health and Social Care Research. Routledge. doi:10.4324/9781003081661. ISBN 978-1-003-08166-1.
* Alison McFadden; Anna Gavine; Mary J Renfrew; et al. (28 February 2017). "Support for healthy breastfeeding mothers with healthy term babies". Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2: CD001141. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD001141.PUB5. ISSN 1469-493X. PMC 6464485. PMID 28244064. Wikidata Q30235532.
* Susan Crowther; Pam Ironside; Deb Spence; Liz Smythe (26 June 2016). "Crafting Stories in Hermeneutic Phenomenology Research: A Methodological Device". Qualitative Health Research. 27 (6): 826–835. doi:10.1177/1049732316656161. ISSN 1049-7323. PMID 27354387. Wikidata Q39647070.
* Susan Crowther; Jennifer Hall (29 January 2015). "Spirituality and spiritual care in and around childbirth". Women and Birth. 28 (2): 173–178. doi:10.1016/J.WOMBI.2015.01.001. ISSN 1871-5192. PMID 25639662. Wikidata Q48051169.
* Susan Crowther; Billie Hunter; Judith McAra-Couper; Lucie Warren; Andrea Gilkison; Marion Hunter; Anna Fielder; Mavis Kirkham (8 June 2016). "Sustainability and resilience in midwifery: A discussion paper". Midwifery. 40: 40–48. doi:10.1016/J.MIDW.2016.06.005. ISSN 0266-6138. PMID 27428097. Wikidata Q38900544.
* Susan Crowther; Liz Smythe; Deb Spence (16 March 2013). "Mood and birth experience". Women and Birth. 27 (1): 21–25. doi:10.1016/J.WOMBI.2013.02.004. ISSN 1871-5192. PMID 23507333. Wikidata Q45021412.
* Susan Crowther; Elizabeth Smythe; Deb Spence (27 January 2014). "The joy at birth: an interpretive hermeneutic literature review". Midwifery. 30 (4): e157-65. doi:10.1016/J.MIDW.2014.01.004. ISSN 0266-6138. PMID 24529923. Wikidata Q38188244.