Swansea Immunology Research Lab

02/06/2026

📣We’re looking for people who menstruate to take part in a small group workshop exploring experiences and views of menstrual products such as pads, tampons, menstrual cups and period pants.

The workshop will involve looking at different products, noting pros and cons, and discussing perceptions of safety, chemicals, and what matters when choosing products (e.g. cost, comfort, materials). No specialist knowledge needed.

📍 One off in-person workshop (3 hours plus lunch)
👥 8–10 participants
💷 Reimbursement for your time
🔒 Confidential and voluntary

If you’d like to take part or find out more, please complete this expression of interest form: https://forms.office.com/e/njfj02bUD6

27/05/2026

📢 Help Shape the Future of Women’s Health Research
Colleagues at Swansea University and Cardiff University, working alongside the Women’s Health Research Wales Centre, are inviting participants to take part in a short online survey exploring experiences of menstrual health.

🩸 The study aims to better understand:

Experiences of managing menstruation
Use of different period products
Challenges and perspectives around menstrual health

✅ You can take part if you are:

Over 18
Assigned female at birth
Have had a menstrual period within the last 4 months

⏱️ The survey takes just 10–15 minutes to complete, and your insights could play a vital role in advancing research and improving support for women and people who menstruate.
If you’d like to contribute to this important work, please take part using the link below:

👉 https://cardiffunipsych.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8uMKIUU7yGxXzcG

Please feel free to share this with your networks to help broaden participation. Thank you for supporting research that aims to make a meaningful difference. 💙

09/02/2026

Menstrual Health Education Study

🩸 Teachers - we need your voice!

We’re conducting a research study on menstrual health education in UK schools andare looking for school staff to take part in a short anonymous questionnaire.

We want to learn:
✨ What’s currently being taught
✨ What support teachers might need
✨ How we can build a more empowering curriculum for KS3–KS4 students

Ideal for PSHE, Science, and Wellbeing staff.

Takes just 15–20 minutes. Click the link below to take part: https://tinyurl.com/yvwcxy9x

This project has received ethical approval from Swansea University Medical SchoolResearch Ethics Sub-Committee, Project ID 15051

Thank you for helping improve menstrual health education!
If you have any questions, feel free to get in touch.

22/01/2025

Hi everyone! 🩷

We are looking for participants for a research study we are conducting! 👩‍🔬👨‍🔬

We are conducting research on the perception of menstrual blood 🩸, and the receptiveness to the use of menstrual blood via menstrual cups as a diagnostic tool.

We require females who menstruate over the age of 16 🚺.

Participants would be required to complete an anonymous questionnaire form via Microsoft forms: https://forms.office.com/e/vSfHMvDkA7

Please could you pass on this information to anyone you think might be interested and if you have any questions or require further information, please contact us via the website below or email [email protected]
https://www.swansea-immunology.com/participate-in-a-study

This research has been given a favourable ethical opinion by Swansea University Medical School (SUMS) Research Ethics committee (RESC), project reference 2 2024 12319 11414

06/08/2024

🤩New study requiring participants🤩

Please see poster for details!

Register your interest here

01/08/2024

Hi everyone! 🎉

We are looking for participants for a research study we are conducting! 👩‍🔬👨‍🔬

The study aims to investigate whether pregnant women 🤰 make a different response to air pollution compared to non-pregnant women 👩 and men 👨

We require non-smoking/non-vaping pregnant female volunteers at any stage of pregnancy 🤰 aged 18+ years. Participants will be required to tell us a bit about themselves and their health and then donate a few samples of their choosing. This could include a nasal swab, some saliva, some exhaled breath, a skin sample collected with a sticking plaster, urine, and a few drops of blood from a finger prick. 🩸 Which ones you donate is up to you. This would be carried out at Swansea University Singleton campus. 🎓 Free parking is available and you will receive a £10 voucher for your participation.

Please could you pass on this information to anyone you think might be interested and if you have any questions 💭 or require further information, please contact us via the website below 💬 or email [email protected]

https://www.swansea-immunology.com/participate-in-a-study

This research has been given a favourable ethical opinion by Swansea University Medical School (SUMS) Research Ethics committee (RESC), project reference 2022-0099.

30/06/2023

🔔 This study is now closed, thank you to all who participated 🔔

Hello everyone,
We are inviting women who were pregnant and/or gave birth during the COVID-19 pandemic to participate in a research study.

The participation criteria includes:
• Women who were pregnant and/or gave birth during the COVID-19 pandemic, between the end of March 2020 and March 2022.
• Received maternity care from a Health Board in Wales

This study aims to examine the experiences of women who were pregnant and/or gave birth during the COVID-19 pandemic to assess what impact the pandemic had on their pregnancy, birth, and postnatal experiences and their experiences of using maternity services and the maternity care they received during the pandemic when significant changes to maternity services were put in place.

With this data, we aim to make recommendations on how maternity services in Wales should be managed during any future crisis situations.

Participation in this study involves:
• Attending an interview (on Zoom in English), likely to last between 30-45 minutes.

The research has been approved by Swansea University Medical School Research Ethics Committee (SUMS RESC 2022-0045).

Please could you pass on this information to anyone (friends and family) you think might be interested. For more information about this study, please contact the principal investigator, Lucy Stone, by email at [email protected] or message us on Facebook.

Thank you.

27/06/2023

Hi everyone, we are looking for new participants for a research study we are conducting at Swansea University.
The study aims to investigate if pregnant women 🤰 make a different response to air pollution compared to non-pregnant women 👩 and men 👨
We require non-smoking/non-vaping pregnant female volunteers 🤰 aged 18+ years who are 37+ weeks pregnant. We also require non-pregnant females aged 18-40 👩 and men aged 18-40 👨 who are non-smokers/non-vapers.
Participants will be required to tell us a bit about themselves and their health and then donate a few samples of their choosing. This could include a nasal swab, some saliva, a skin sample collected with a sticking plaster, urine, and a few drops of blood from a finger prick. 🩸 Which ones you donate is up to you. This would be carried out at Swansea University. 🎓 Free parking is available and you will receive a £10 Amazon voucher for your participation.

Please could you pass on this information to anyone you think might be interested and if you have any questions 💭 please contact us on Facebook, email [email protected] ✉️ or visit our website: https://www.swansea-immunology.com/

This research has been given a favourable ethical opinion by Swansea University Medical School (SUMS) Research Ethics committee (RESC), project reference 2022-0099A.

At Swansea Immunometabolism research lab we are led by Principal Investigator Professor Cathy Thornton. Our group is comprised of undergraduate & postgraduate project students, PhD students, postdoctoral researchers, research assistants and lecturers. We have several research projects underway with....

21/04/2023

Here is an article by us on why research into the link between endometriosis and the immune system is necessary.

If you'd like to participate in one of our studies looking for a biomarker and the underlying immunology of endometriosis, please drop us a message or email us at [email protected]

Further exploring this connection could potentially lead to better treatment of the condition.

20/04/2023

Hello everyone,

We are inviting women who were pregnant and/or gave birth during the COVID-19 pandemic to participate in a research study.

The participation criteria includes:

• Women who were pregnant and/or gave birth during the COVID-19 pandemic, between the end of March 2020 and March 2022.
• Received maternity care from a Health Board in Wales

This study aims to examine the experiences of women who were pregnant and/or gave birth during the COVID-19 pandemic to assess what impact the pandemic had on their pregnancy, birth, and postnatal experiences and their experiences of using maternity services and the maternity care they received during the pandemic when significant changes to maternity services were put in place.

With this data, we aim to make recommendations on how maternity services in Wales should be managed during any future crisis situations.

Participation in this study involves:

• Attending an interview (on Zoom in English), likely to last between 30-45 minutes.

The research has been approved by Swansea University Medical School Research Ethics Committee (SUMS RESC 2022-0045).

Please could you pass on this information to anyone (friends and family) you think might be interested. For more information about this study, please contact the principal investigator, Lucy Stone, by email at [email protected] or message us on Facebook.
Thank you.