Atlanta, GA (October 1, 2026) — As women’s soccer continues to grow at an unprecedented pace, the research and systems designed specifically to support female players have not kept pace. U.S. Soccer’s Kang Women’s Institute (KWI) today announced the launch of the herLENS Research Consortium, a new initiative designed to help close the gap by bringing together researchers, practitioners, players and leaders from across the game.
Made possible through support from Lyda Hill Philanthropies, the herLENS Research Consortium will connect the people studying the women’s game with the people experiencing it every day. Together, they will identify the research questions that matter most, strengthen how female-specific health and performance data is collected and used, generate new evidence and turn what is learned into practical tools and resources for players, coaches and practitioners.
Over the initial two-year program, the herLENS Research Consortium is expected to convene individuals, institutions and organizations across the research-to-implementation lifecycle, including academics, practitioners, players, leagues, governing bodies, community organizations, industry partners and data experts. With reach across every level of the game, U.S. Soccer is uniquely positioned to bring those voices together and help move research from the lab into real-world soccer environments.
“The growth of the women’s game has created an incredible opportunity, but the research and systems supporting female players have not always kept pace,” said Georgie Bruinvels, Kang Women’s Institute Senior Director or Research and Senior Adviser to USWNT “Through the herLENS Consortium, we’re bringing researchers together with the players, practitioners and leaders who experience the game every day to make sure we’re asking the right questions, building stronger evidence and, most importantly, turning what we learn into practical solutions that better support women and girls across every level of soccer.”
“As women’s soccer continues to grow, we have an opportunity to ensure the research supporting female athletes grows with it,” said Nicole Small, CEO of Lyda Hill Philanthropies and Co-Founder of the IF/THEN® Initiative. “We’re proud to support the herLENS Research Consortium and its commitment to strengthening the evidence base for women and girls in soccer while ensuring that knowledge moves beyond research and into the hands of the players, practitioners and organizations who can put it into practice across every level of soccer.”
The goal of the herLENS Research Consortium is not simply to produce more research. It is to make research more useful and ultimately help create better environments and experiences for women and girls throughout their soccer journey.
The Consortium will focus its work across three areas:
Building on Research Already Underway
The herLENS Research Consortium builds on research already underway through the Kang Women’s Institute focused on some of the most consequential questions facing women and girls in soccer, from why girls leave the game to how female health and performance data is collected and used.
Current work includes the Hers to Play: Girls’ Dropout & Retention Study, which is examining why girls stay in or leave soccer between the ages of 8 and 18 and the factors that shape participation over time.
KWI is also conducting the Women’s Performance Insights Study in collaboration with the University of North Carolina. The study examines how female health and performance data is collected, managed and used in real-world soccer environments, with the goal of establishing practical, evidence-informed approaches that can help teams and practitioners better collect and use data to support player health and performance.
Importantly, the work will not stop with research findings. KWI is also developing resources designed to put that knowledge into the hands of people across the game. The forthcoming herLENS Starter Kit will bring together research, expert knowledge and practical guidance to help people better understand and support girls and women throughout their soccer journeys. Its first release will focus on inclusive spaces, puberty, the menstrual cycle, nutrition and injury risk reduction.
Connecting Research and the Game
A central premise of the herLENS Research Consortium is that the most important questions facing women and girls in soccer cannot be answered by researchers alone. Players, coaches and practitioners who experience the game every day will have a role in helping shape what is studied and how findings are ultimately applied.
Through the Consortium, members will help identify research priorities, strengthen approaches to data collection and research translation, and develop resources that can ultimately be applied across different levels of the game. Initial areas of work include alignment around data collection, management and analysis; identifying effective methods for translating research into education; exploring secure approaches for connecting datasets; and identifying gaps that can inform future research priorities.
Individuals with expertise, experience or perspectives that can help shape the future of research for women and girls in soccer can learn more and express interest in joining the herLENS Research Consortium at ussoccer.com/soccer-forward/herlens-research-consortium