Women's Health Research Priorities (WHRP)

About the project

The Women’s Health Research Priorities (WHRP) project was developed by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) to help shape a new, evidence-informed research agenda that reflects the real-world priorities of patients, healthcare professionals, and wider society.

The project’s objective was to identify the most pressing unanswered research questions in women’s health, thereby guiding research funders, policymakers, and clinicians towards areas of greatest need and potential impact.

By combining clinical expertise, lived experience, and insights from advocacy groups, the WHRP project aimed to deliver a list of prioritised questions to help inform future funding calls and research programmes

Findings and outputs

Last month, the Lancet published the findings of the WHRP project that identified the top 10 priorities for women’s health research - the questions that matter most to women themselves. 

The full project report is now available, sharing details of the methods used within the project as well as the full results.  

The findings highlight the need for research that includes women, explores hormonal changes across life stages, and drives new treatments for conditions like endometriosis and breast and gynaecological cancers.

Major gaps remain in our understanding of women’s reproductive health, and we are calling on funders and researchers to use these priorities to shape future research agendas. 

Professor Asma Khalil, RCOG Vice President for Academia and Strategy (2022-2025) said:

“To close the women’s health gap, we need to change how we do research – not just fund more of it. We want to work closely with funders and researchers to use these priorities to shape future research agendas that truly reflect women’s needs. It’s vital that we look beyond short-term outcomes and understand women’s health across the whole life course.As the Government prepares to refresh the Women’s Health Strategy in 2026, we urge them to embed these priorities and turn research into real-world change for women’s health across the UK.”

Project oversight

The project has been led by Professor Asma Khalil, RCOG Vice President for Academia and Strategy (2022-2025), supported by a dedicated team of clinical research fellows and RCOG staff. A diverse advisory steering group has provided strategic direction and oversight of the project, with members including women and people with lived experience, academics and health professionals.

Our partners

The following organisations have joined us as WHRP project partners – a supportive group of stakeholders with an interest in this work, who collectively commit to sharing and promoting the project within their respective networks: