How do scientists in polar research deal with periods?

"The reason that we want to bring these topics up, as simple and as basic as they might seem, is because historically toileting has actually been a barrier for people entering into fieldwork."

Periods are a matter of fact for all young women but somehow the subject still remains taboo. The UKPN’s workshop seeks to remove barriers to getting women in polar research the menstruation support they need to thrive in extreme conditions.

"Knowing where to go to the bathroom, and knowing where to change a tampon, and how to do that in a remote environment, shouldn't be hard,” added Honan.

Without the new initiative there may be less women joining the Arctic and Antarctic for important missions they can contribute much to.

"I wonder if people don't do fieldwork and don't do science because they're worried about the taboo things, the things that people don't talk about," told the BBC PhD student Phoebe Noble.

"When I was 13, at school, you'd be smuggling your pads to the bathroom because you didn't want people to know that you're on your period. And then you think about going into the field where you don't know what conditions you're going to have, so having an open discussion… is really important."

A workshop geared towards both men and women

The workshop is geared towards both men and women, offering the same resources to polar scientists regardless of gender.

"Having men and women in the room when talking about things like menstruation in the field has been really useful so that I can understand as a male colleague how to support teams and how to be a better leader," told the BBC Andrew McDonald, a PhD student.

So far, the workshop has been very well-received by scientists who praise the UKPN for its efforts to create a safe and healthy environment for women to thrive in.

"It's been eye-opening," PhD student Maria Stroyakovski told the BBC. "The insights that we've had, especially as women on this course, have been invaluable in pushing us a bit further to the frontlines of actually going on these expeditions."

As times evolve, women are increasingly welcomed in spaces that were largely solely male dominated. More and more initiatives like the UKPN’s will be required to ensure the future of science is gender neutral.