What is the METIS project?

METIS (Midwives’ Eportfolio-supported Transition Into Sustainable Practice) is a three-year European cooperation project that helps midwives move more confidently from education into professional practice. It does this by using digital portfolios (ePortfolios) to support job applications, onboarding, mentorship, and wellbeing.

Across Europe, 30–67% of midwives leave the profession within their first years of practice, often due to stress, poor onboarding, and lack of support. METIS addresses this challenge by strengthening the transition-into-practice period, specifically before and after graduation, to improve retention, wellbeing, and quality of maternity care.

METIS works primarily with:

  • Final-year midwifery students

  • Newly qualified midwives

  • Midwife mentors and supervisors

Secondary audiences include employers, educators, professional associations, policymakers, and digital learning providers.

METIS develops and tests two practical, ePortfolio-based interventions:

  • Before graduation: Job application training, digital readiness, and preparation for professional practice

  • After graduation: Structured onboarding, mentorship, continuous professional development (CPD), and wellbeing support

These interventions are co-created with universities, employers, mentors, and professional associations.

An ePortfolio is a secure digital space where midwives can document competencies, learning progress, feedback, reflections, and professional development. In METIS, ePortfolios help:

  • Translate education into employable skills

  • Support onboarding and mentorship

  • Enable lifelong learning and cross-border mobility

  • Align education with EU professional qualification frameworks

METIS is implemented in Belgium, Germany, and Greece by a consortium of universities, applied sciences institutions, digital innovators, and professional experts. The project is coordinated by Ghent University and supported by midwifery education providers, technology partners, and European professional networks. 

METIS integrates wellbeing monitoring and reflective practice into ePortfolios to help midwives recognize stress early and build resilience. This includes structured reflection, mentorship support, and—where appropriate—optional digital tools that promote awareness of workload, recovery, and work-life balance.

METIS runs from September 2025 to August 2028. After the project ends, its tools, training materials, and policy recommendations will remain freely available. Partner institutions, employers, and professional associations will continue using and scaling the results across Europe.

While METIS is designed specifically for midwifery, many of the challenges it addresses—such as early-career attrition, weak onboarding, and lack of structured mentorship—are shared across healthcare professions. A dedicated impact and generalisability assessment explores how METIS tools could be adapted for nursing and other health professions.

Healthcare employers are actively involved in designing, testing, and implementing METIS interventions. They help shape onboarding models, participate in mentorship training, and provide feedback to ensure the tools are practical, realistic, and aligned with workplace needs and staffing realities.

No. METIS is designed to complement and strengthen existing education and onboarding systems. It adds structure, continuity, and digital support—especially at the transition point between education and employment—rather than replacing local curricula or workplace induction processes.

All METIS activities comply with EU data protection and GDPR requirements. Ethical oversight and quality assurance are embedded throughout the project, ensuring that ePortfolios, feedback tools, and wellbeing monitoring respect privacy, consent, and professional standards.

All major outputs, including training materials, guides, tools, and policy recommendations, will be made open-access through the METIS project website, specifically the Resources page. Professional associations and partner networks will also support dissemination so that educators, employers, and policymakers across Europe can adopt or adapt the results.