Natasha’s Prize will fund bold thinkers and breakthrough ideas from across disciplines to help prevent food allergy before it starts and create a future without food allergy.
This once-in-a-generation opportunity will fund global research focused on preventing and dialling back a disease that affects millions of people in the UK and around the world.
We know that food allergy has a profound impact on individuals and their loved ones. Families live in constant fear of life-threatening allergic reactions and sudden hospitalisations.
Natasha’s Prize offers the hope that future generations will be able to live free from food allergy.
If we take action now, we could significantly reduce the number of children being diagnosed with food allergy.
Finding ways to prevent food allergy is an ambitious target. But with the right minds on the case, backed by significant funding, Natasha’s Foundation believes it is also achievable.
Food allergy is a growing problem affecting millions of people worldwide.
“Natasha’s Prize sounds brilliant. Even if it’s not going to cure me, if it’s going to cure other people and eventually put an end to food allergies then that’s great.”
Jess Hoque, 9, who lives with a dairy allergy
Scientists believe food allergy is preventable. Natasha’s Prize will ask the question: what interventions can be made in the first 1,000 days, from conception to age 2, that could stop food allergy developing in the first place?
The first 1,000 days represents a critical window of opportunity. During this time, our immune system is trained to correctly identify threats. In people with food allergy, this process goes wrong.
Natasha’s Prize will explore ways to shape the immune system to stop food allergy before it starts.
The Prize will invite leading scientists and experts from around the world, including allergists, dieticians, microbiologists, epidemiologists, engineers, AI data analysts, environmental scientists and social scientists, to work together on new ideas and breakthrough solutions.
Jess Hoque, 9, who lives with a dairy allergy
Natasha’s Prize offers the hope that future generations may one day live free from food allergy
Tanya Ednan-Laperouse OBE
People living with food allergy, and the families who love them, live with fear every single day. Every meal, every food label, every school lunch, every birthday party, every holiday and every restaurant visit can carry risk.
“This Prize has been in our hearts for a long time. It is 10 years this year since Natasha died and, like everything we do, it is dedicated to our daughter, Natasha, and all those who live with and have lost their lives to food allergy.
“Natasha’s Prize offers a once-in-a-generation opportunity to create a future without food allergy. It will fund research focused on turning back the dial on a disease that affects millions of people both in the UK and around the world, leaving many living in fear.”
Tanya Ednan-Laperouse OBE, Founder of Natasha’s Foundation
Uniting the world’s brightest minds for a future without food allergy
Professor Sir Stephen Holgate CBE, Natasha's Prize Director
Natasha’s Prize will take a bold new approach to food allergy research, bringing together the world’s brightest minds from different disciplines to spark breakthrough ideas and new ways of thinking about prevention.
By encouraging collaboration across fields, Natasha’s Prize aims to challenge convention, inspire innovation and accelerate discoveries that could help create a future without food allergy.
Up to 35 successful applicants will come together in October 2026 for an intensive research sandpit, the Natasha’s Prize Thinkery, where ideas will be explored, tested and developed collaboratively.
“With a complex condition like food allergy we need a completely new approach, involving people from all different disciplines and that is what Natasha’s Prize is seeking to achieve.”
Professor Sir Stephen Holgate CBE, Natasha’s Prize Director and Clinical Professor of Immunopharmacology at the University of Southampton
Why Natasha’s Prize matters
Dame Dr Maggie Aderin, Ambassador for Natasha’s Prize
By concentrating efforts on prevention and encouraging fresh thinking across scientific fields, Natasha’s Prize aims to unlock breakthroughs that could transform the future of food allergy research and, ultimately, help spare future generations from the fear, anxiety and challenges of living with food allergy.
“What is exciting about Natasha’s Prize is that it is looking at preventing allergies in the future for the next generation.
“As kids develop food allergies it can affect the rest of their lives. But if we can stop food allergy from birth, they will have a completely different life.”
Dame Dr Maggie Aderin, Ambassador for Natasha’s Prize
A future without food allergy
Natasha’s Prize includes support from Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Marks & Spencer, JAB, and donations raised through The Times and The Sunday Times Christmas Appeal.
But creating a future without food allergy will need even greater investment, collaboration and ambition. Natasha’s Foundation is seeking additional investors and partners to help accelerate innovation, fund more food allergy research and drive greater impact.
Winners of Natasha’s Prize will be announced on 1 June 2027.