Zoi Vardavaki

Overview

Zoi is a midwifery lecturer at City, St George’s University of London, where she currently serves as Programme Director for the postgraduate MSc in Enhanced Midwifery Care. She teaches full-time across both undergraduate and postgraduate programmes and also contributes to the Global Maternal Health Master’s, supervising MSc students internationally.

An experienced academic, midwife, and part-time doctoral student, Zoi has worked across a range of NHS and higher education settings. As a practising midwife, she is passionate about promoting the physiology of birth to optimise people’s experiences while maintaining high-quality care and positive outcomes.

Zoi is interested in:

-Supporting women's/birthing people's unconventional/ out of guidance birth choices in midwifery-led units and community settings 

-Sustaining midwifery-led care

-Waterbirth

-Improving birth satisfaction

-Global maternal health

-Clininal Education, Simulation and Interdisciplinary Collaboration

-Advocacy & empowerment in Midwifery

-Art-based approaches within Midwifery 

Zoi is currently pursuing a PhD, at the University of Hertfordshire, exploring the role of Out-of-Guidance birth choice services within the maternity services in the United Kingdom. Her research employs a mixed-methods approach to investigate how NHS Trusts address the needs of women and birthing people who make birth choices outside established guidelines and recommended care pathways.

As a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA), Zoi brings her expertise to undergraduate and postgraduate teaching, focusing on research methods, public health, infant feeding, advocacy, and global maternal health. She also serves as an Academic Professional Midwifery Advocate, a role that allows her to champion the needs of midwifery students, midwives, women, birthing people, and their families, promoting well-being for both staff and service users.

Zoi is a co-founder and board member of the Hellenic British Midwifery Association, a network through which she contributes to the midwifery community and advances health initiatives for women and birthing people at local, national, and global levels.

Qualifications

• Professional Midwifery Advocate, Kingston University, United Kingdom, March - July 2024
• Postgraduate Certificate in Learning & Teaching in Higher Education, University of Hertfordshire, United Kingdom, September 2018 - June 2019
• MSc, University of Salford, United Kingdom, October 2012 - April 2014
• BSc, Technological Educational Institute of Athens, Greece, February 2008 - July 2012

Employment

• External Examiner, University of Essex, United Kingdom, April 2026 - present
• Senior Midwifery Lecturer, London South Bank University, United Kingdom, June 2023 - December 2024
• External Examiner, University of Manchester, United Kingdom, December 2021 - December 2025
• External Examiner, Anglia Ruskin University, United Kingdom, January 2019 - January 2022
• Senior Midwifery Lecturer, University of Hertfordshire, United Kingdom, June 2018 - June 2023
• Midwife - Bank, University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, United Kingdom, November 2016 - present
• Research Midwife, Barts Health NHS Trust, United Kingdom, November 2016 - June 2018
• Rotational Midwife, University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, United Kingdom, January - June 2015
• Birth Centre Midwife, University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, United Kingdom, January 2015 - November 2016
• Midwife, University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, United Kingdom, February 2014 - January 2015

Administrative roles

• Programme Director PG Enhanced Midwifery Care (MSc), City St George's University of London, December 2025 - present
• Placement Education and eMORA Lead, City St George's, University of London, January 2025 - present
• Module Lead, City St George's, University of London, December 2024 - present
• Academic PMA, City St George's, University of London, December 2024 - present
• Link Lecturer, City St George's, University of London, December 2024 - present

Fellowships

• Fellow of Higher Education Academy, AdvanceHE

Memberships of professional organisations

• Nursing and Midwifery Council
• Royal College of Midwives
• Greek Midwives Association

Awards

• The Iolanthe Midwifery Trust (2025). Midwives Award
  Funding Award used to continue with pursuing her PhD research: "MiROG - Midwifery Research on Out of Guidance birth choices Clinics and services: a mixed method study" at the University of Hertfordshire.
• The Iolanthe Midwifery Trust (2024). Midwives Award
  Funding Award used to continue with pursuing her PhD research: "MiROG - Midwifery Research on Out of Guidance birth choices Clinics and services: a mixed method study" at the University of Hertfordshire.

Languages

English (can read, write, speak, understand spoken, peer review), French (can read, write, speak, understand spoken) and Greek, Modern (1453-) (can read, write, speak, understand spoken, peer review)

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