We are delighted that our project Menstrual Health at Work: From an Organizational Blind Spot to Collective Destigmatization received 3rd place at the Innovation Award in Menstrual Cycle Research (IAMCR) 2026.

The project, conducted together with EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg AG, investigates how organizations can make menstrual health needs visible, reduce stigma, and translate awareness into concrete workplace support. Combining an online field study with 384 employees and interviews with 15 managers, our findings show that knowledge alone is not enough to reduce stigma. Instead, organizations need to address social norms, create safe ways to make health needs visible without requiring individual disclosure, and enable managers to translate awareness into support.

Our work introduces the “Legitimacy Gate” to explain why health needs can remain invisible in organizations even when their impact is substantial, and how digital interventions can help open this gate.

We are very grateful to the Institute for Cycle Health (Institut für Zyklusgesundheit) and especially Dr. med. Rebekka Westphal and Isabell Witt for organizing the award and creating a platform that makes menstrual cycle research more visible.

A special thank you also goes to the independent scientific jury, Prof. Dr. Julia Sacher, Paulina Ioannidou, Dr. Jennifer Chan de Avila, Dr. med. Tina Cadenbach Blome, and Prof. Dr. Cornelia Weise, for recognizing our work.

Project team: Davinny Sou, Vassilka Kavassakali, Achim Reuther, Tobias Kowatsch, and Marcia Nißen