Marlies Visser, postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Public and Occupational Health at Amsterdam UMC, has been awarded a Rubicon grant from the Dutch Research Council (NWO). The grant will allow her to spend 21 months at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health in the United States, where she will conduct research on stigma surrounding menstrual health.

At Amsterdam UMC, Visser conducts research within the ABCD study, one of the cohorts connected to Amsterdam Cohort Hub. Her research focuses on menstrual health challenges, from their drivers to their impact on daily life, as well as gender-related factors that shape health.

Many girls and women experience taboo and stigma related to menstrual health, which can negatively affect health outcomes and social participation. In her Rubicon project, Visser will investigate how menstrual health stigma develops during adolescence and young adulthood, and how it can be disrupted. The aim is to develop a new theoretical stigma framework for women’s health.

Visser is one of 15 recently graduated researchers awarded a Rubicon grant in this round. NWO made more than €3.1 million available. The Rubicon programme enables recently graduated researchers to gain experience at an international research institution, providing an important step in their scientific careers.

Read more about the Rubicon programme and the awarded researchers on the NWO website.