Project Period, the innovation that provides free pads and tampons to students and staff at the University of Nottingham, is seeing millions of products being distributed across all seven UK campus sites.
With around 1.6 billion people across the globe menstruating, a team at the University of Nottingham, led by Professor Chris Denning, recognised the urgent need to help reduce the mental burden and physical side effects of periods.
Period poverty, a lack of access to sanitary products due to financial constraints, is becoming a growing issue across low-income households in the UK, as the team explains in their recently published paper in Perspectives in Public Health.
The Project Period initiative was first started in February 2020, when Professor Denning and a team of volunteers conducted a small pilot study of stocking free pads and tampons they had bought themselves in six bathrooms across the University of Nottingham.
12 months after the project was first launched, an online survey saw more than 150 people share their opinions on the initiative. Of these respondents, more than 60 percent reported they were currently menstruating, with more than 85 percent of these explaining that they were worried about their periods whilst at work.
Following positive feedback from the initial pilot study, and the increasing cost-of-living crisis having a deeper impact on period poverty, the University of Nottingham granted funding for the project, seeing 150,000 disposable products being made available in female-labelled, gender neutral and accessible bathrooms across the campuses.
By January 2024, 1.2 million pads and tampons have been bought, with more than 300,000 of these distributed across seven campus sites. Restocking undertaken is now done by cleaning staff, alongside toilet paper and hand soap.
Whilst providing the products has helped alleviate concerns around having pads and tampons available, Chris is keen to explore more sustainable options for the project. This includes a current trial to evaluate the suitability of period cup, coupled with educational material about the issues caused by menstruation and menopause.
Professor Chris Denning, Director of the University of Nottingham Biodiscovery Institute, said: "The fundamental values of Project Period are to address being 'caught short', period poverty, cultural barriers and education. I am proud that a team effort of volunteers has turned an idea in 2020 into being a major cultural shift by 2024.
The University of Nottingham's backing of Project Period was very rightly a contributing factor in the recent Athena Swan Gold Award, the first University to achieve this accolade, and provides a roadmap to promote equality of wellbeing in the workplace."
