Nature Awards Healthspan Accelerator Grant

The Nature Awards Healthspan Accelerator seeks to support transformative human health research aimed at extending the healthspan through innovative solutions. The program provides funding, mentorship, and training to researchers focused on metabolic health and longevity. Ideal applicants should demonstrate potential for commercial applications, with a focus on translating scientific discoveries into impactful products and services. Winners will receive cash awards and opportunities for advanced training and networking within the scientific and entrepreneurial community.

Our Nature Awards drive the goals and values that matter most to us and to you: research excellence, integrity and transparency, impact, inclusivity, engagement, sustainability, and the importance of evidence in public life.
The Accelerator will identify human health research with the potential to transform the human healthspan. Designed to maintain scientific rigour and integrity throughout the translation process the program provides you with the tools, training / mentorship, and connections to translate your groundbreaking research for maximum impact.
This includes funding, expert insights, science communication guidance, mentorship from industry leaders, specialized training, and a translational science intensive residential programme in London, UK. The Healthspan Accelerator residential programme features a series of hands-on workshops covering the entire translation process, from discovery through development, clinical validation, science communication, and go-to-market strategy.
In 2025, the accelerator will focus on four key areas: regulating host metabolism and the rate of aging better identifying and mediating aging cells reducing risk factors and slowing neurodegeneration attenuating age-associated inflammation
This includes:
Approaches designed to manipulate, modulate, or otherwise influence the biological mechanisms of physical and cognitive aging to promote optimal health outcomes and a longer human healthspan.
Research that could lead to an array of products and treatment modalities to address healthspan optimization through medical devices, natural products, nutritional science and other tools.
Innovative solutions in wearables and real-time biomarker tracking to help individuals monitor biological age and metabolic health and adjust lifestyle accordingly.
Ideal applicants will have validated novel therapies or nutritional supplements that target metabolic or longevity pathways, and/or in vitro or in vivo models for assessing natural product efficacy on metabolic and aging biomarkers.
Applications falling outside of these criteria will still be considered.
Prizes
Four winners will each receive:

• An unrestricted cash award of $10,000

June 2026: an all-expenses paid spot to attend the one-week residential training programme at Springer Nature Headquarters in central London. Ideate alongside iconic scientists, entrepreneurs, Springer Nature editors and a curated group from venture capital. The residential will provide training sessions, 1-2-1 clinic sessions with commercialization experts, guidance in building a pitch, plus networking and social activities.Promotion of your research on nature.com

Eligibility

We welcome applications:
From researchers, principal investigators, and scientific teams working in any human healthspan-related discipline - including multi-disciplinary research group collaborationsWhere the successful translation of your research has the potential to improve any dimension of human health and form the basis of a commercial opportunityCentered on natural compounds in the areas of metabolic health and longevity and healthy aging will be prioritised.
Additionally, in order to apply, the following criteria must be met:The ApplicantResearch group leader/principal investigator or researcher;Employed by a university, non-profit, or government funded research institute;Aspiration to commercialize research via licencing or creation of a spinout/spinoff company;Based anywhere in the world (excluding sanction sensitive countries listed in the Terms).The ResearchThe research shows potential to be translated to develop a product or service and there is some early validation data.The Intellectual PropertyNo active collaborations with companies relating to this commercial idea;Your employer (or you) has the necessary intellectual property rights to commercialize in the field of human health;Your Technology Transfer Office, or equivalent, is aware of your application;A patent application may have been submitted and an academic paper published, but neither are necessary.