During the summer of 2020, I received the Summer Undergraduate Research Award (SURE). With the aid of this award, my research supervisor, Dr Margaret Murphy, and I undertook a project to explore and understand women’s experiences of breastfeeding during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. This topic was of particular interest to both Margaret and I and we hoped to highlight the views and voices of women who gave birth before and during the pandemic and decided to breastfeed their baby.

The SURE Award allowed me to enhance not only my research and communication skills but also my knowledge on breastfeeding and the struggles women, their babies and their families faced during the ongoing pandemic. We were also able to highlight the various supports that women tended to rely on during this extremely difficult and uncertain time.

As a fourth year Midwifery student, not only was this a very relevant and important topic of discussion but it was also very interesting to be a part of the research process and apply my academic knowledge to the project. I thoroughly enjoyed my time partaking in this research project and it was only made possible through Dr Margaret Murphy and the SURE Award.

Arisha Sadaf Muhammed,

BSc Midwifery