1. About us
  2. Our people
  3. Staff profiles
  4. Frankie Fair

Dr Frankie Fair PhD, MSc, BMedSci, BSc, RM

Research Fellow in Midwifery

Summary

I joined the Maternal and Infant Health Research Group at Sheffield Hallam University in 2014 to undertake midwifery research projects, with a particular focus on maternal inequalities. 

I graduated from the University of Sheffield with a BSc in Psychology in 1998, before becoming registered as a midwife in 2009. In 2012, I was awarded with a MSc in Clinical Research from the University of Sheffield. And in 2024 completed my PhD evaluating gestational weight management interventions for women with obesity. 

Head and shoulders image of Frankie Fair outside Sheffield Hallam University

About

Over the last decade my research has focussed on inequalities in maternity care across a breadth of topics including ethnic inequalities, nutrition during the perinatal period, breastfeeding and perinatal mental health. I have a track record and expertise in a variety of research methods including systematic review and meta-analysis, feasibility, cohort and mixed methods studies, qualitative interviews, quantitative survey and data linkage (using routinely collected data within two separate NHS Trusts to assess the association between attending a healthy lifestyle service during pregnancy and the child’s long-term overweight status). 

To date I have been co-investigator on 8 funded projects, including with external funders such as the European Commission, Race Health Observatory (RHO), Public Health England and Burdett Trust for Nursing. Community engagement is key to all of our research, working closely alongside maternity service users to identify key research priorities and ensure applicability of our research. 

Teaching

School of Health and Social Care

College of Health, Wellbeing and Life Sciences

I contribute to midwifery education, particularly the Midwifery Evidence and Enquiry for Practice module. 

College of Health, Wellbeing and Life Sciences
Nursing and Midwifery
Midwifery
Research and Evidence

Midwifery Research and Evidence

Research

  • Health Research Institute

The main focus of my research is around identifying and reducing maternal inequalities, focusing especially on ethnic inequalities, care of migrant families, nutrition during the perinatal period, breastfeeding among vulnerable women and perinatal mental health.

Involvement in ongoing and recently completed projects:
• Strengthening health equity for mothers and babies through community engagement [SHRIF]
• DigiCP - Addressing Health Inequalities through the Digitalization of Perinatal Mental Health Care Pathways for Service Providers and Users [SBRI]
• Routine Neonatal Testing (specially in ethnic minority families) [RHO]
• Evaluation Framework to enable analysis of correlation between the Unicef UK Baby Friendly Initiative accreditation and outcomes in maternity and community services [Public Health England (PHE)]
• The effects of a local dairy product supplementation on pregnancy, birth and infant outcomes in West Sumatra: A pilot randomised controlled trial [GCRF]
• Maternal Healthy Weight Services in England [PHE]
• Migrant Maternity Care: "ORAMMA: Operational Refugee And Migrant Maternal Approach", [Collaborative research in partnership with Greece, UK, Sweden, Norway, Netherlands & Belgium-Funded by European Commission 3rd Health Programme]
• An evaluation of the impact of a midwife-led maternal obesity service on pregnancy outcomes and childhood obesity [Green Legacy & The Burdett Trust for Nursing]
• The Impact of Maternal Weight on Maternal and Neonatal Health Outcomes: A Cohort Study (in Padang-Indonesia). {Directorate General of Higher Education, Ministry of Education and Culture in Indonesia, in collaboration with the Department of Nutrition, Andalas University and funded by British Council]
• Pelvic girdle pain during pregnancy [HEALTHCARE UK LTD]
• Midwifery Led Care (MLC) for low risk women: including providing online evidence based information for maternity service users and exploring women's experiences of accessing information when choosing where to have their baby, and health professionals' experiences of providing such information.
• Caesarean Section and wound infection - a pilot study to determine the feasibility of thermal imaging of a Caesarean Section wound to determine infection risk.
• Cochrane review of interventions to support the initiation and continuation of breastfeeding among women with overweight or obesity

The above projects have received funding from a range of sources including CLAHRC-SY, the British Council and the Burdett Trust for Nursing

Publications

Journal articles

Fair, F., Furness, A., Higginbottom, G., Oddie, S., & Soltani, H. (2025). Parent's experiences of the impact of ethnicity and skin pigmentation on perinatal care. Ethnicity & health. http://doi.org/10.1080/13557858.2025.2488893

Fair, F., Furness, A., Higginbottom, G., Oddie, S.J., & Soltani, H. (2025). Systematic review of Apgar scores & cyanosis in Black, Asian, and ethnic minority infants. Pediatric Research, 97, 939-952. http://doi.org/10.1038/s41390-024-03543-3

Okai, E., Fair, F., Konadu, H.D., Darteh, E.K.M., & Soltani, H. (2024). Feasibility of the use of Kangaroo mother care in the transfer of preterm and low-birth-weight infants: a two-arm nonrandomized controlled cluster feasibility study of neonatal transport in Cape Coast, Ghana. BMC pediatrics, 24 (1). http://doi.org/10.1186/s12887-024-05340-7

Fair, F., Furness, A., Higginbottom, G., Oddie, S., & Soltani, H. (2024). Understanding stakeholder perspectives on Apgar score, cyanosis and identifying jaundice in ethnic minority neonates. PLOS ONE, 19 (10). http://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0311977

Fair, F., & Soltani, H. (2024). Differing intensities of a midwife-led antenatal healthy lifestyle service on maternal and neonatal outcomes: A retrospective cohort study. Midwifery, 136. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.midw.2024.104078

Fair, F., Morison, A., & Soltani, H. (2024). Stakeholders' views of the Baby Friendly Initiative implementation and impact: a mixed methods study. International breastfeeding journal, 19 (1). http://doi.org/10.1186/s13006-024-00639-8

Rangel Bousquet Carrilho, T., Wang, D., Hutcheon, J.A., Wang, M., Fawzi, W.W., Kac, G., ... Zhu, Z. (2024). The impact of excluding adverse neonatal outcomes on the creation of gestational weight gain charts among women from low- and middle-income countries with normal and overweight BMI. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 119 (6), 1465-1474. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajcnut.2024.03.016

Furness, A., Fair, F., Higginbottom, G., Oddie, S., & Soltani, H. (2024). A review of the current policies and guidance regarding Apgar scoring and the detection of jaundice and cyanosis concerning Black, Asian and ethnic minority neonates. BMC Pediatrics, 24. http://doi.org/10.1186/s12887-024-04692-4

Okai, E., Fair, F., & Soltani, H. (2024). Neonatal transport practices and effectiveness of the use of low-cost interventions on outcomes of transported neonates in Sub-Saharan Africa: A systematic review and narrative synthesis. Health Science Reports, 7 (3). http://doi.org/10.1002/hsr2.1938

Fair, F., & Soltani, H. (2024). A retrospective comparative study of antenatal healthy lifestyle service interventions for women with a raised body mass index. Women and Birth, 37 (1), 197-205. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.wombi.2023.08.010

Fair, F.J., & Soltani, H. (2024). Association of child weight with attendance at a healthy lifestyle service among women with obesity during pregnancy. Maternal & Child Nutrition. http://doi.org/10.1111/mcn.13629

Dib, S., Fair, F., McCann, L.J., Nicholls, A., Kalea, A.Z., Soltani, H., & Fewtrell, M. (2023). Effects of exclusive breastfeeding promotion interventions on child outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism. http://doi.org/10.1159/000535564

Fair, F., & Soltani, H. (2023). Factors associated with gestational weight gain in women with morbid obesity. Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, 43 (2). http://doi.org/10.1080/01443615.2023.2288228

Perumal, N., Wang, D., Darling, A.M., Liu, E., Wang, M., Ahmed, T., ... Fawzi, W.W. (2023). Suboptimal gestational weight gain and neonatal outcomes in low and middle income countries: individual participant data meta-analysis. BMJ. http://doi.org/10.1136/bmj-2022-072249

Darling, A.M., Wang, D., Perumal, N., Liu, E., Wang, M., Ahmed, T., ... Fawzi, W.W. (2023). Risk factors for inadequate and excessive gestational weight gain in 25 low- and middle-income countries: An individual-level participant meta-analysis. PLOS Medicine, 20 (7). http://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004236

Marvin-Dowle, K., Oshaghi, G., Fair, F., Ratcliffe, J., & Soltani, H. (2022). Training on cultural competency for perinatal mental health peer supporters. British Journal of Midwifery, 30 (12), 668-676. http://doi.org/10.12968/bjom.2022.30.12.668

Fair, F.J., Watson, H., Marvin-Dowle, K., Spencer, R., & Soltani, H. (2022). “Everything is revolved around me being heavy … it’s always, always spoken about.” Qualitative experiences of weight management during pregnancy in women with a BMI of 40kg/m 2 or above. PLOS ONE, 17 (6). http://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0270470

Fair, F.J., Morrison, A., & Soltani, H. (2021). The impact of Baby Friendly Initiative accreditation: An overview of systematic reviews. Maternal & Child Nutrition. http://doi.org/10.1111/mcn.13216

Fair, F., Soltani, H., Raben, L., van Streun, Y., Sioti, E., Papadakaki, M., ... Vivilaki, V. (2021). Midwives’ experiences of cultural competency training and providing perinatal care for migrant women a mixed methods study: Operational Refugee and Migrant Maternal Approach (ORAMMA) project. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, 21 (1). http://doi.org/10.1186/s12884-021-03799-1

Fair, F., & Soltani, H. (2021). A meta-review of systematic reviews of lifestyle interventions for reducing gestational weight gain in women with overweight or obesity. Obesity Reviews. http://doi.org/10.1111/obr.13199

Fair, F., Marvin-Dowle, K., Arden, M., & Soltani, H. (2020). Healthy Weight Services in England before, during and after pregnancy: a mixed methods approach. . http://doi.org/10.21203/rs.2.20767/v2

Soltani, H., Watson, H., Fair, F., Burke, C., Oshaghi, G., Vivilaki, V., & Team, O.R.A.M.M.A. (2020). Improving pregnancy and birth experiences of migrant mothers: A report from ORAMMA and continued local impact. European Journal of Midwifery, 4. http://doi.org/10.18332/ejm/130796

Fair, F., Raben, L., Watson, H., Vivilaki, V., van den Muijsenbergh, M., Soltani, H., & the ORAMMA team, (2020). Migrant women’s experiences of pregnancy, childbirth and maternity care in European countries: A systematic review. PLOS ONE, 15 (2), e0228378. http://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0228378

Fair, F., Ford, G., & Soltani, H. (2019). Interventions for supporting the initiation and continuation of breastfeeding among women who are overweight or obese. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. http://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD012099.pub2

Fair, F., Watson, H., Gardner, R., & Soltani, H. (2018). Women’s perspectives on antenatal breast expression: a cross-sectional survey. Reproductive Health, 15 (58). http://doi.org/10.1186/s12978-018-0497-4

Soltani, H., Lipoeto, N., Fair, F., Kilner, K., & Yustawati, Y. (2017). Pre-pregnancy body mass index and gestational weight gain and their effects on pregnancy and birth outcomes: a cohortstudy in West Sumatra, Indonesia. BMC Women's Health, 17 (102), 1-9. http://doi.org/10.1186/s12905-017-0455-2

Childs, C., Siraj, M.R., Fair, F., Selvan, A., Soltani, H., Wilmott, J., & Farrell, R. (2016). Thermal territories of the abdomen after Caesarean Section birth : infrared thermography and analysis. Journal of wound care, 25 (9), 499-512. http://doi.org/10.12968/jowc.2016.25.9.499

Soltani, H., & Fair, F. (2016). Interventions for supporting the initiation and continuation of breastfeeding among women who are overweight or obese. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2016 (2), CD012099. http://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD012099

Soltani, H., Arden, M., Duxbury, A., & Fair, F. (2016). An analysis of behaviour change techniques used in a sample of gestational weight management trials. Journal of Pregnancy, 2016, 1085916. http://doi.org/10.1155/2016/1085916

Soltani, H., Fair, F., & Hakimi, S. (2015). Reduction in global maternal mortality rate 1990–2012 : Iran as a case example. Midwifery, 31 (2), 271-273. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.midw.2014.11.009

Soltani, H., Fair, F., & Duxbury, A. (2014). Exploring health professionals’ and women's awareness of models of maternity care evidence. British Journal of Midwifery, 23 (1), 22-31. http://doi.org/10.12968/bjom.2015.23.1.22

Fair, F., Marvin-Dowle, K., Arden, M., & Soltani, H. (n.d.). Healthy Weight Services in England before, during and after pregnancy: a mixed methods approach. . http://doi.org/10.21203/rs.2.20767/v2

Conference papers

Soltani, H., Watson, H., Fair, F., van den Muijsenbergh, M., Papadakaki, M., Jokinen, M., ... Vivilaki, V. (2021). Perinatal mental health services for mothers from ethnic minority and migrant backgrounds. EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH, 31, 176.

Fair, F., & Soltani, H. (2020). Evaluating the long-term impact of an antenatal healthy lifestyle service: retrospective cohort study. European Journal of Public Health, 30 (Supplement_5). http://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckaa165.722

Fair, F., & Soltani, H. (2020). Experiences of maternal weight management services among women with a raised body mass index. European Journal of Public Health, 30 (Supplement_5). http://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckaa166.865

Soltani, H., Fair, F., Watson, H., Raben, L., & Van den Muijsenbergh, M. (2018). Migrant women's experiences of perinatal care in European countries: a systematic review. European Journal of Public Health, 28 (Supp 1). http://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/cky047.147

Theses / Dissertations

Fair, F. (2024). Evaluation of gestational weight managementinterventions for women with obesity. (Doctoral thesis). Supervised by Soltani, H., & Spencer, R. http://doi.org/10.7190/shu-thesis-00625

Other activities

Honorary contract at Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust to enhance research capacity in women’s health and early years. 

 

Postgraduate supervision

Advisor on international PhD exploring neonatal transport practices in Sub-Sahara Africa. 

Cancel event

Are you sure you want to cancel your place on Saturday 12 November?

Close
}