Over-medicalisation and disrespect in maternity and childbirth care have been identified by international research as an urgent global public health topic (WHO 2014, Simonovic 2019, Council of Europe 2019). The IPOV-RESPECTFUL CARE project intends to bring attention to obstetric violence and respectful maternity and childbirth care by implementing a concrete tool—the International Platform on Obstetric Violence—to bridge academic research and public policy, training for health professionals, women’s perspectives and public engagement on the matter. The Platform will be an innovative, international, interdisciplinary, intersectoral and cross-cultural digital and interactive tool for producing, sharing and transferring knowledge, systematising and exchanging good practices, acquiring skills and planning gender -based innovative training packages on respectful maternity and childbirth care among health professionals, health training managers, decision makers, researchers, women and all of society. To achieve these goals, a network of 39 breakthrough experts, from 19 participating organisations and 9 countries (universities, research centres, civil organisations and health maternity care institutions) will be established.

ABRIL MATER is a project that aims to explore the relationship between the social and political changes ushered in by the Revolution of 1974 and thetransformations occurred in the field of motherhood and childbirth in Portugal. To this end, the research will start by documenting the events that marked thecountry's history in the 1960s to 1980s, in order to, from there, reconstitute the evolution of maternal healthcare assistance in the country, and chart the path takenconcerning the protection of the rights of women and children.Endowed with an exploratory nature, the project pilots a plural methodology, of a qualitative orientation, based on the combination of archives analysis – somepersonal (such as diaries, correspondence, photographic records, etc.), others public (press archives, historical documents, etc.) – with the analysis of interviewsabout experiences of motherhood in the periods that preceded and followed the April Revolution of 1974.Incident on a period of profound and rapid social transformations in Portugal, such as those happening before and following the Revolution of April of 1974, theABRIL MATER project will reveal how the portrayals and practices of motherhood are related to the cultural, political and social environments in which they emerge,being thus subject to processes of reconfiguration. Along this path, this project proposes to find insights on the diversity of circumstances, values and beliefs thatoverlay practices of pregnancy, childbirth and childcare, also throwing light on particular motherhood experiences, such as those endured by women and familiesin the context of clandestinity.Based on the collection of archives and testimonials, the research will not be limited to the compilation and examination of pre-existing files and records. On the50th anniversary of the April Revolution, it is expected that the project will culminate in the creation of original archives and contents, which, in addition tocontributing to the preservation of...

Across Europe, there are different legal and social issues surrounding out-of-hospital births. While it may be framed as an illegal option in some countries, in others it may be offered as part of the public provision of maternity care. However, a systematic mapping of this diversity remains undone. With this project, we expect to identify the common aspects and the differences  between regions and countries, building a comprehensive picture of this social phenomenon in Europe.

nascer.pt - the Laboratory for the Social Studies on Childbirth is a permanent research unit, launched in 2017 and hosted by CIES-IUL. Its aim is to foster knowledge about the conditions and characteristics of childbirth in Portugal, to contribute to the consolidation of the Sociology of childbirth and, at the same time, to develop synergies between structures and multidisciplinary approaches in the study of childbirth, both at national and international level. Through the production and dissemination of scientific information, nascer.pt comes to improve the discussion around policies, practices and paradigms of the childbirth.

Babies Born Better is an international online survey on childbirth experiences. It is an output of the COST Action IS 0907 "Childbirth Cultures, Concerns, and Consequences: Creating a dynamic EU framework for optimal maternity care" and it is currently coordinated by an International Steering Committee. The survey is available in more than 23 languages, having obtained around 40,000 responses in each edition. In Portugal, data is managed and analysed by a multidisciplinary team of researchers from the University Institute of Lisbon: Mário Santos (CIES-IUL), Helena Carvalho (CIES-IUL), Marta Matos (CIS-IUL), Sónia Pintassilgo (CIES-IUL), and Dulce Neves (CIES-IUL).