Sonya Macvicar

Dr. Sonya MacVicar is an Associate Professor at the School of Health and Social Care, Edinburgh Napier University. She is affiliated with the Maternal and Child Health and Wellbeing Research Group, focusing on maternal-infant health and advanced nursing practices.

• Registered Nurse, Midwife, and Independent Prescriber (NMC)
• MSc in Advanced Clinical Practice (Neonatal, 2011)
• Doctoral Research on Breastfeeding Support for Substance-Exposed Mothers

Her research interests center on substance use disorders in pregnancy, neonatal abstinence syndrome, and breastfeeding promotion, particularly for socially disadvantaged populations. She has led international projects like the Neonatal Nurse Training in Vietnam (2018–2022) funded by Newborns Vietnam.

Recent publications span breastfeeding strategies, neonatal withdrawal management, and continuity of midwifery care. Notably, her work includes developing a Core Outcome Set for infants with neonatal opioid withdrawal (2020) and evaluating education models in low-resource settings.

She supervises PhD and master’s students and contributes to pedagogical research, including advanced practice education and non-medical prescribing. Her expertise extends to maternal care policy and clinical advisory roles, such as for the BBC drama The Nest (2020).