Dr Aimee Middlemiss

I am a Research Fellow in the Centre for Cultures and Environments of Health, interested in social aspects of human reproduction, reproductive politics and policy, personhood, kinship, and death. My work is feminist qualitative interdisciplinary social science drawing on sociology, anthropology and Science and Technology Studies.

My current research, funded by a Wellcome Early Career Award, investigates the reproductive politics of the cervical stitch, a procedure used in pregnancy to try to prevent preterm birth or miscarriage. 

My ESRC-funded PhD at Exeter was an examination of the politics of second trimester pregnancy loss (including forms of miscarriage and termination for foetal anomaly) in the English context, considering biomedical, legal, and kinship aspects of the experience. This was published as an Open Access monograph, Invisible Labours; the reproductive politics of second trimester pregnancy loss in England, which can be accessed here: https://www.berghahnbooks.com/title/MiddlemissInvisible 

A previous project looked at women's use of foetal Doppler technology outside medical supervision during pregnancies they perceived to be risky.

Prior to returning to Exeter for my current role, I worked on the SIMCA project at the University of Plymouth researching the NHS's implementation of Midwifery Continuity of Carer, and on the 'Human Rights, Human Remains' project at LSE, as well as collaborating with the Early Pregnancy Endings and the Workplace project led by the Open University.