BDI Project Period

Launched in 2020 in the Biodiscovery Institute by Professor Chris Denning and colleagues, Project Period has moved from a grassroots pilot project to an established university service.  It has now spread across University Park, Jubilee, Sutton Bonington, King’s Meadow and Queen’s Medical Centre, Derby and City Hospital campuses.

Period poverty is a global problem, with millions of women and girls being held back and even endangered by not being able to afford basic menstrual care. In the UK, 1 in 10 girls can't afford to buy menstrual products, with many missing classes as a result.

Project Period is the university’s way of trying to address this imbalance, by offering free period products for students and staff across our campuses, home and abroad. By July 2023, we had distributed more than 100,000 pads and tampons across seven of the university's UK campuses. 

In addition to tackling period poverty, the vision of Project Period is to address issues of being ‘caught short’, culture and education, including promoting open and inclusive conversations around menstruation and menopause.

The university has already purchased 1.2 million Grace and Green tampons and pads out of a commitment to buy up to 6 million. These products that are organic, sustainable, plastic-free and chemical-free, meaning they have an indefinite shelf life.    The pads and tampons offered by the Project already help protect the environment and we will go further by soon trialling reusable period products – including period pants and menstrual cups – with staff and student volunteers. This will help gauge need and interest in this type of product, and whether it should be something the project supplies in the future.

At the start of the project, products were dropped off by volunteers who collected them from a central location.  Now, Estates and Cleaning colleagues replenish stocks in the same way that they do for toilet roll or hand soap. Building operation managers are the main point of contact to set up new locations or address any issues.  By moving to a centralised provision of products, the university can take advantage of lower prices – storing the pads and tampons on King’s Meadow Campus for distribution across the university over the coming years.

For more information on Project Period, the locations where free products are available, and to suggest new locations to stock products – visit our website: Project Period - The University of Nottingham

Find out more about Project Period