Kayty Richards is part of the team on Rotherham Hospital's Labour Ward and was last month named Royal College of Midwives (RCM) Student Midwife of the Year.
Kayty was nominated by Emilie Edwards, a lecturer at Middlesex University, who she had met at several RCM events. They worked together on a neurodivergence acceptance toolkit, and it was for her work on this that Kayty was nominated for the award.
Kayty has been a key voice for midwifery students with the RCM and beyond. She has written articles for MIDIRS and the Student Midwife Journal, and has spoken at conferences as a panel speaker about student experiences and advocating for student voices. Kayty has advocated for students on placements to get and have equitable experience and for positive changes such as support groups and MDT training days and established a midwifery society (MidSoc) at the University of Derby, where she studied.
Kayty said: "It feels amazing to have been named the RCM Student Midwife of the Year! RCM have been a massive part of my student journey, which is why it meant a lot to win the award.
"I hope by winning this award, I can inspire other student midwives and people to find their own voice and their own place in the workforce. I’m a big advocate for leadership and feel it isn’t just seniority that makes a leader - it comes from every level and its important people recognise and reach their potential! I want to be someone who models this way of leading that others can follow."