The announcement of The Princess Royal’s patronage of the Quadram Institute follows a recent visit to the institute to meet scientists, PhD students, patients, clinical trial volunteers and NHS staff in December 2024.

The Quadram Institute opened in 2019 and combines a regional endoscopy centre and training academy, a clinical research facility and state-of-the-art bioscience laboratories, with a mission to deliver healthier lives through innovation in gut health, microbiology and food.

Quadram Institute Director and Chief Executive Officer, Professor Daniel Figeys said, “Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal has been an inspiring and active champion for science over many years, and we are deeply honoured that The Princess Royal will support our institute with her Patronage.”

The Quadram Institute is a partnership between Quadram Institute Bioscience, the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, the University of East Anglia (UEA) and the UKRI Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC).

Dr Bernard Brett, Medical Director of the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, said: “I am delighted that Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal has become the patron of the Quadram Institute. My clinical and scientific colleagues were truly impressed with her depth of knowledge and insightful questions which stimulated discussion after she had departed following her visit last December. It is fantastic to have such a patron with true interest in the work that is being undertaken by our clinicians and scientists.”

The institute brings together researchers, academics and NHS clinicians and during her visit in 2024 tour, Her Royal Highness spoke to over sixty members of its staff and students who are working to address challenges in human health, food and disease.

The Lord-Lieutenant of Norfolk, The Lady Dannatt MBE, said: “The Patronage of HRH The Princess Royal is brilliant for the Quadram Institute, and brilliant for our research park, confirming as it does Norwich and Norfolk’s growing reputation for scientific innovation and excellence on the world stage.”

Note to editors

Based on the Norwich Research Park, UK, the Quadram Institute is a partnership between Quadram Institute Bioscience, the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, the University of East Anglia and the UKRI Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC).

The institute’s mission is to deliver healthier lives through innovation in gut health, microbiology and food and its vision is to understand how food and microbes interact to promote health and prevent disease.  Interconnected research themes deliver a pipeline of research in microbes, food, nutrition and health; the gut and the microbiome; and food innovation.