Ten years after the 15-year-old’s death, the Natasha’s Prize will unite the world’s brightest scientific minds to develop solutions to the food allergy epidemic which affects 220 million people worldwide.
The £10 million investment over five years by the newly named ‘Natasha’s Foundation, the food allergy charity’ (previously The Natasha Allergy Research Foundation) will focus on food allergy prevention.
It represents the largest fund for food allergy research ever awarded in the UK and leading scientists believe it could transform the food allergy landscape for future generations. Food allergy cases have doubled in a decade in the UK, and one in 13 children now has a food allergy.
Tanya commented: “This Prize has been in our hearts for a long time. It is ten 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.
“We want this prize to galvanise the best science to stop food allergy before it starts, so no other families have to go through the heartbreak we will always endure. Natasha was really brave and she really cared a lot about other people. We know if she was here now and she knew what we were doing to help so many other people, she would be right behind this Prize. She would be so proud.”
Scientists believe food allergy is preventable, so Natasha’s Prize will ask the question: what interventions can be made from conception to age two that could stop food allergy developing in the first place? The first 1,000 days have been chosen as it represents a critical window of opportunity to intervene to prevent food allergy.
From today (1st June), leading scientists from across the world from all different disciplines – such as allergists, AI data analysts, dieticians, engineers, social and environmental scientists, microbiologists and epidemiologists - are invited to apply to Natasha’s Prize.
Applicants chosen by the Prize’s scientific advisory panel will be brought together later this year to brainstorm the solutions needed to prevent food allergy. Working collaboratively in multidisciplinary teams, they will generate bold ideas and breakthrough solutions aimed at preventing food allergy.
The most promising and impactful ideas aimed at preventing food allergy will then be invited to submit detailed proposals. The Foundation’s trustees with the Prize’s scientific advisory panel will select the research it will fund, with the winners announced on 1st June 2027.
Jess Hoque, a child nine years-old who lives with a dairy allergy, said: “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.”
People with food allergy, and their loved ones, live with fear every single day. Natasha’s Prize offers the hope that future generations will be able to live free from food allergy. To sign up for updates and more information about Natasha’s Prize go to: www.natashasprize.org.uk