Joan Lalor completed her PhD studies " A Longitudinal study of women's experiences of carrying an baby with a fetal abnormality up to the birth and beyond". Her ongoing work in the area of fetal abnormality continues as male partner experiences of an adverse diagnosis are being explored. She is also a member of the ICM expert research group, is a reviewer for several professional peer review journals and is an associate editor with the BMC. She is also a member of the Pregnancy and Childbirth Group of the Cochrane Collaboration and is currently involved as a lead an co-reviewer for two systematic reviews. Joan has worked in midwifery practice and education and her research plan is centered around the following themes: prenatal screening and diagnosis, communication and theory development, assessment of maternal and fetal wellbeing and service evaluation. Additional research interests include guideline development to support evidence based practice, research utilisation and ensuring informed choice for women in maternity services.

Adaption Following Pregnancy Loss; assessment of fetal wellbeing; Fathers in maternity care; Foetal Abnormality; Health psychology; healthcare ethics and law ; Identification and quantification of health care needs; Maternity Care; medical and health humanities ; Midwifery; Parenthood; Perinatal health; Population based intervention trials; prenatal diagnosis and screening; Prenatal Screening; Scanning in Pregnancy; service evaluation and development ; Ultrasound screening in pregnancy