Co-creating emotional literacy tools for menstrual health and lifelong well-being
What does the menstrual cycle reveal about our body? What types of activities relieve distress? How can co-creation make research useful in daily life?
About the Project
We track steps, sleep, and calories—but not the emotional patterns that shape half the population: Many women and people who menstruate experience recurring emotional ups and downs, but they often lack the language, knowledge, and tools to understand them. WELL ConnecTUM makes this invisible dynamic visible and usable in everyday life.
The project develops a science-based prototype (e.g., app, video, or digital tool) that helps users recognize emotional patterns, understand cycle-related changes, and apply simple, evidence-based strategies for self-regulation. To achieve this, WELL ConnecTUM combines interdisciplinary expertise from medicine, psychology, education, and technology with systematic research that identifies effective activities to reduce menstrual-related emotional distress. These insights are translated into practical, easy-to-use interventions and iteratively refined with user perspectives. The result is a usercentered solution that turns scientific knowledge into concrete guidance and supports emotional awareness, healthier routines, and more confident decision-making.
By addressing a widely overlooked aspect of health, WELL ConnecTUM strengthens prevention, improves health literacy, and contributes to more inclusive, gender-sensitive innovation.
About the Fellow
Iris Schüller is a postdoctoral researcher at the TUM School of Medicine and Health. She explores how co-created, evidence-based interventions strengthen emotional and social competencies and how they translate into practical, scalable solutions in everyday health and education.
