Current Participants to the BaBi Network: 

60,150 as of 24.03.2025

The Innovation, Research, and Improvement System (IRIS) team within the Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) is playing a crucial role in supporting BaBi sites in Harrogate, Hull and East Riding, York and Scarborough, and Lincolnshire and Goole.

Becky Bibby, Programme Director for IRIS said:

“Within Humber and North Yorkshire, we are taking a unique system approach to Born and Bred In (BaBi). In recognition and celebration of this unique approach, we are delighted to be the first ICS to have a collective BaBi logo, representing our joined-up system approach and our mission to secure data driven and evidence-based solutions for our health and care challenges. The logo is a testament to the positive impact that IRIS is having as a system convener and our vision to create a system wide supporting structure and culture which allows research, innovation and improvement to become core business across all of the organizations and partners within our ICS.”

This collaborative effort is expected to significantly enhance the capacity for data-driven and evidence-based solutions to health and care challenges across the Humber and North Yorkshire region.

Aurachelle said: “It is such an honour to be part of BaBi Wakefield. I’m so happy to share our experience of having triplets. It’s really challenging, but also rewarding having these three little miracles.”

The study is exploring what factors influence a person’s health at all stages of their life, such as the environment they live in. This research can give valuable insights into what works well and what can be made better, helping us to improve our services for families living in Wakefield District and north Kirklees.

BaBi Wakefield is celebrating its second birthday this summer and welcoming triplets into the study has been an exciting milestone for the team.

Vanessa Kemp, Clinical Trials Assistant at Mid Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust, signed up Aurachelle and her sons to the study.

Vanessa said: “It was a privilege to sign up our first set of triplets. BaBi Wakefield is a fantastic study and we’re all so excited to welcome Aurachelle and her three sons into the BaBi family.”

BaBi Wakefield works by collecting routine data recorded by the services participants access for themselves or for their babies. This data is joined together anonymously.

Routine recorded data includes lots of different things, such as blood pressure measurements during ante-natal appointments, or the details of baby’s height and weight recorded by health visitors.

Everyone who accesses maternity services at Mid Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust will be offered the opportunity to take part during their midwife appointments.

More information about BaBi Wakefield is available on the Mid Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust website.

The session, attended by approximately 50 parents and their little ones, was designed for families with children aged up to four years. It featured numerous engaging activities for attendees and provided an opportunity to discuss the Born and Bred in Doncaster study with the Research Team at Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals (DBTH).    

The data provided from this cohort study will help the Trust and participating partners gain a better understanding of what local families want and need from healthcare services across the borough, ensuring locally commissioned services are inclusive, with consideration of additional research for further understanding and improvement for our local population.   

BaBi-D was launched in June 2022 and in just under two years, has recruited over 2,500 participants to be a part of the groundbreaking study.   

Speaking about BaBi-D, Lois Mellor, BaBi Doncaster Principal Investigator and Director of Midwifery at Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals, said: “We are amazed to see how much the study has grown in just under two years. I want to thank all the participants who agreed to be part of this study and all the colleagues who supported the project.    

Dr. Sam Debbage, Director of Education and Research at DBTH, added: “Reaching 2,500 participants is a significant milestone for the BaBi-D study. We are incredibly grateful for the community’s support and enthusiasm. This achievement highlights the collective effort to enhance health and wellbeing in Doncaster. We warmly invite more families to join us as we continue to make strides in this important research.  

“We’re looking forward to welcoming more participants onto BaBi-D and changing the future of the health and wellbeing of children and families across Doncaster for the better.”   

To find out more about the study, please follow the link: https://www.dbth.nhs.uk/research-and-innovation/babi-d/    

The interactive exhibition also features the stories of midwives working for Mid Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust as well as historic images of local families and hospital staff dating back to the late 1800s.

Councillor Michelle Collins, Cabinet Member for Culture, Leisure and Sport, said “It’s wonderful to see the experiences of local families shared and celebrated in this new online exhibition. Born and Bred in Wakefield explores the highs and lows of being a new parent in Wakefield and it’s fantastic to have these stories captured for the future in our local museums.”

The exhibition complements  Born and Bred in Wakefield (BaBi Wakefield), which is part of the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration Yorkshire & Humber BaBi Network study. A research project which uses routine health, social and education data to create a picture of local people’s health and lifestyles over time. 

Judith Holliday, Head of Research at Mid Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust said: “BaBi Wakefield is a really important study helping us to better understand the health and wellbeing of local families.

“The study will give valuable insights into what works well and what can be made better. Over time this will help to shape local services, creating a healthier environment for families to enjoy.”

The Born and Bred in Wakefield exhibition features the first-hand experiences of four different families who are all taking part in the research study. Malvika speaks about the realities of parenting her two-year-old daughter Mishka whilst being pregnant with twins. Bex shares the challenges of conceiving her daughter Lucy through IVF. Isabelle speaks about some of the anxiety she experienced whilst pregnant with her son Marco, and how she is keen to try gentle parenting.

Charlie shares her experiences of being a single mum to son Levi and her hopes to home school him so that he can have the freedom to be himself.

Charlie said: “I’ve loved being part of the BaBi Wakefield exhibition with my son Levi. It’s nice to be able to capture this special moment in our lives and share it with others. I hope Levi will enjoy looking back at this snapshot of our life when he’s older.”

The museum service plans to follow the four families over the coming years, visiting them each year to document how their children are growing up. This will help them to collect and share the experiences of having a baby in Wakefield District in the 2020s.

Cllr Maureen Cummings, Cabinet Member for Communities, Poverty & Health, said: “This is a wonderful exhibition that shines a light on four families in our district and their experience of having a baby in 2024. It is also helping to support health research to benefit other families, as well as adding to historical records.”

The museum service is eager to hear from other families who are interested in sharing their own stories. If you’d like to be involved, please contact Leah Mellors, Museums Development Manager at lmellors@wakefield.gov.uk.

View the Born and Bred in Wakefield exhibition.

We are delighted to share that our BaBi Network Research Fellow, Hollie Henderson, has been awarded her PHD. Using BaBi Network and BiB4All data, Hollie’s PHD looked at ‘How can practitioners, service providers and commissioners be best supported to make use of research cohort data as a local health intelligence tool for child and early life health?’.

Increasingly, data that is routinely collected by health and other public services is being linked together for research, particularly around children and families. However, there is limited evidence of research using this data being used to inform policymaking around child and early life health. Hollie’s PHD explored how local early-years decision-makers could be engaged and supported to make use of linked routinely collected data in their decision-making. 

The BaBi Network is delighted to announce that three additional NHS Trusts across Yorkshire & Humber and the East Midlands have become the newest research sites in our initiative to understand and improve family health and wellbeing.

We extend a warm welcome to Hull, Nottingham, and Harrogate, which have joined our existing BaBi sites, taking our total to 12 sites across England. 

"Connecting this type of data is hugely valuable for helping us understand what influences keep families healthy and happy," said Sally Bridges, BaBi Network Director. "We're thrilled to have Hull, Nottingham, and Harrogate onboard so more communities can enjoy the benefits this research brings."

This recognition applauds Kerry's outstanding contributions and unwavering commitment to the field of midwifery, with a particular emphasis on improving the care of women and their families through research.

Speaking about her nomination, Kerry said: “It was a tremendous honour to be nominated for this award and to be shortlisted in this category. 

"I think it’s so important to have specialty nurses and midwives who raise the profile of research and increase research activity and engagement and I hope I can help to inspire others to do so. I want to thank the Trust for its continued support and encouragement.”

Dr Sam Debbage, Director of Education and Research at DBTH, said: "Kerry's tireless efforts and dedicated approach have significantly contributed to our Research department's success. Through her exceptional work, we have gained invaluable insights into the unique needs of expectant mothers and families in Doncaster, all of which will ultimately drive positive changes in maternity care."

Kerry's commendation highlights the critical role played by research midwives in advancing knowledge and improving healthcare outcomes for local communities and we are incredibly proud to have her representing the Trust in the work she has achieved.

The ‘Born and Bred In’ study, known as BaBi, has reached 20,000 participants across its five recruiting sites in England.

BiB4All, the original name for the study in Bradford, is part of the world-leading Born in Bradford research programme, started recruiting in 2019 and was joined by Leeds, Wakefield, Doncaster and East London in 2022, to create the BaBi Network.

The BaBi Network is an important research initiative which aims to find out what influences the health and wellbeing of families. It is a network of local birth cohort studies that work together to link existing data across health, education, and social care to create a picture of families’ lives over time. Over time, this will help to shape local services, creating a healthier environment for families to enjoy.

This means that with consent from pregnant women, routine data recorded by the services they access themselves or for their babies such as healthcare and education are joined together anonymously.  This helps to create a bigger picture of local people’s health, for research purposes. By looking for patterns in the data, the research can give valuable insights into what works well and what can be made better, helping us to improve our services for the future.

Whilst each BaBi site focuses primarily on local outcomes for local people, establishing a wider BaBi network provides opportunities for important national research and learning. The BaBi Network has five recruiting sites at present, with more sites in set up, and is welcoming expressions of interest from across England.

Listening to parents, families and practitioners to drive the way in which local services are improved is really important, and BaBi provides the opportunity to do just that. This starts with setting the local priorities for each research site, and continues as the research progresses.

Parents, families and practitioners in each area are invited to join with researchers and medical staff in a workshop to discuss local health priorities and understand what matters most in their area. This then informs the local research priorities the study is used for.

Sally Bridges, BaBi Network Director, at Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation NHS Trust said: 

‘We are delighted to have hit this major milestone in recruitment within just 11 months of the creation of the BaBi Network. We would firstly like to thank all the women who have agreed to be part of our study. The BaBi Network is only possible thanks to the generosity of women and babies who joined the BaBi family and the enthusiasm and dedication of the midwives who invited them.  We are grateful to all the women, babies, health professionals and researchers who make BaBi happen.

We are looking forward to welcoming thousands more families to the network this year. The more women who join, the better our understanding will be of what influences the health of families in their own local area. This can then drive the way in which local services are improved and make a big difference to people’s lives for the better’.

This year's theme for International Day of the Midwife is 'Together again: from evidence to reality'. To mark this day we would like to introduce you to some of our BaBi Research Midwives, who are the driving force behind BaBi, running the study day to day, and gathering the evidence to make real changes in their local areas. 

Thank you for all your hard work! We couldn't do it without you!   

In Wakefield, the Principal Investigator of BaBi Wakefield  Judith Holliday wished all the BaBi Wakefield mums and mums to be a 'Happy Mother's Day' 

Thank you to everyone who is contributing to Born and Bred in Wakefield. This work will help us to build a picture of families and services and to understand how we can make things better for people. Mother's Day gives us the opportunity to thank those mothers who have signed up and those who work to deliver this important study. Happy Mother's Day! (Judith Holliday, Head of Research, Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust and BaBi Wakefield PI)

We are delighted to announce that East London has joined the BaBi Network. We are looking forward to working with our first site outside of Yorkshire! 

On the 6th July 2022 new siblings joined the world leading research programme in Yorkshire and created the 'BaBi Network'

Doncaster, Leeds and Wakefield came together with Bradford to begin the BaBi (Born and Bred In) research initiative which aims to find out what influences the health and wellbeing of families. Over time, this will help to shape local services, creating a healthier environment for families to enjoy.

BaBi is network of local birth cohort studies that work together to link existing data across health, education, and social care to create a picture of families’ lives over time.

This means that, with consent from pregnant women, routine data recorded by the services they access themselves or for their babies is joined together anonymously.  This helps to create a bigger picture of local people’s health, for research purposes. By looking for patterns in the data, the research can give valuable insights into what works well and what can be made better, helping us to improve our services for the future.

Routine recorded data includes lots of different things, such as, blood pressure measurements from when a woman sees her midwife, or the details of baby’s height and weight recorded by health visitors.

The concept began in Bradford, where it is part of the world-leading Born in Bradford research programme. Now, in an exciting venture to help more local people in different locations, three new areas in Yorkshire have joined the study as local research sites. Doncaster, Leeds and Wakefield are all now part of the BaBi family.  

Whilst each BaBi site focuses primarily on local outcomes for local people, establishing a wider BaBi network provides opportunities for important national research and learning.

Listening to parents, families and practitioners to drive the way in which local services are improved is really important, and BaBi provides the opportunity to do just that. This starts with setting the local priorities for each research site, and continues as the research progresses.

Parents, families and practitioners in each area are invited to join with researchers and medical staff in a workshop to discuss local health priorities and understand what matters most in their area. This then informs the local research priorities the study is used for.