We are delighted to announce that the Menstruation Research Conference this year will be co-hosted by 4M (Menarche, Menstruation, Menopause & Mental Health) Consortium and the Menstruation Research Network (MRN) at the Brighton and Sussex Medical School, University of Sussex, on the 7th and 8th July 2026.
We look forward to bringing together researchers, clinicians, industry partners, policymakers, charities, artists, and community voices. The conference will explore menstruation as a psychosocial, biomedical and environmental experience across the life course.
This event builds on the success of previous MRN and 4M conferences. Previous events have sold out and drawn wide interdisciplinary engagement, which reflects our shared commitment to fostering collaborative, inclusive, and impactful menstrual health research.
The 2026 Menstruation Research Conference centres around three core thematic areas, each reflecting our shared focus on interdisciplinarity, wellbeing, and the psychosocial, biomedical and environmental contexts of menstrual health.
Menstrual Health & Wellbeing
This theme focuses on the intersection of menstrual health and wider health and social wellbeing. We welcome work exploring how biological, psychological, social and environmental factors shape health and wellbeing across the menstrual life course, from menarche to menopause. This includes (amongst others): research and projects on premenstrual disorders; experiences of menstruation for people living with physical, mental, or neurodevelopmental conditions or differences; the influence of problematic menstrual symptoms on health and quality of life; and menstrual health inequalities.
Menstruation and Movement: Participation & Performance in Physical Activity
This theme examines the dynamic, two-way relationship between menstruation and movement. We welcome work on how menstruation, menopause, symptoms and experiences shape participation, performance and inclusion, from everyday physical activity to high performance sport. We are equally interested in research exploring how movement, exercise and sporting environments influence menstrual health, symptoms and wider menstrual wellbeing. Submissions may draw on research, sociocultural, policy or lived-experience perspectives.
Menstrual Products: Access, Design, Health & Sustainability
Focusing on menstrual product access and affordability, user-centred design, product safety, sustainability, innovation, and the wider social, economic and environmental factors that shape product use and equity. We invite research that explores access and affordability, product design and safety, environmental impacts, user experience and bodily wellbeing, as well as the social, economic and political structures that shape product choice and exclusion.
We particularly welcome interdisciplinary and stakeholder-informed work that can inform policy, improve product development and innovation, tackle inequalities, and translate evidence into more equitable and sustainable menstrual product futures.
Additional Themes
Alongside the three core themes, we also welcome submissions addressing broader areas of interest within menstrual health:
Menstruation Research Conference 