We're raising money to create a world where menstruation and menopause do not impact mental health.
Who are we?
The Menarche, Menstruation, Menopause and Mental Health (4M) consortium was established in 2021, led by Dr Gemma Sharp. We are a network to facilitate much-needed research into how menstruation and menopause interact with mental health.
Our vision
We want to create a world in which menstrual experiences, including events around menarche and menopause, do not adversely affect mental health and social wellbeing.
Our mission
We believe that decisions and practices about individuals’ menstrual and mental health should be informed by scientific and lived experience knowledge. Therefore, our mission is to facilitate interdisciplinary, stakeholder-informed, impact-focused, inclusive research at the intersection of menstrual and mental health.
The research we facilitate aims to develop a better understanding of:
- The biological, psychological, social, and environmental mechanisms that link menstrual and mental health;
- How interventions can effectively target these mechanisms to improve the relationship between menstrual and mental health;
- How these mechanisms and interventions affect menstrual and mental health differently in different contexts and at different stages of the life course, from menarche to menopause.
Our approach
We connect academic researchers from and across multiple disciplines. This includes early career researchers, who we support to develop and sustain their careers in the field. We also facilitate partnerships with non-academics and organisations, who can provide a unique insight into research priorities, approaches, and help ensure our research can improve experiences of people who menstruate.
Where will the money go?
Women's health research is woefully underfunded. It can be difficult to find sufficient funding using traditional avenues. This creates a barrier for early career researchers trying to build and sustain their careers, and it hinders research progress, leading to many unanswered questions and poor health outcomes for women and people who menstruate.
Your money will allow us to continue our mission to facilitate impactful research at the intersection of menstrual and mental health. For example:
- £500 would enable us to run a hybrid meeting to share research, with a travel bursary for early career researchers.
- £1000 would fund a public engagement activity that helps to describe menstrual and menopausal experiences and research in an engaging way. £5000 would enable us to take this activity to community events and festivals to engage a broader audience.
- £2000 would fund an illustrator to create high quality visual summaries of our next conference we can share online and with each other.
- £3000 would allow us to fund 2-3 early career researchers to attend an international conference to share their important research and build their networks.
- £3000 would fund a data hack-a-thon where researchers work intensively over a short period of time on a single dataset to generate new insights about menstrual health.
- £5000 would fund a part time research assistant to help us organise 4M for one year.
- £8000 would fund a grant writing retreat where researchers and external partners could dedicate time to developing innovative new ideas for collaborative and impactful research.
- £10,000 would enable us to pay travel and accommodation expenses for up to 40 non-researchers and early career researchers to attend the 4M conference in 2025.
- £15,000+ would provide longer term funding to allow us to focus on running 4M and ensure sustained support for our members.
Find us here
You can find us at our website (4Mhealth.uk) and on X @4Mhealth and LinkedIn.
Help us succeed!
Please share our page with your networks. Crowdfunding is all about spreading the word and getting lots of people to come together and donate.
