PhD Optometry and Vision Science

Ulster University

The Centre for Optometry and Vision Science brings together a diverse range of researchers, but all with a focus on clinically relevant vision research employing the best techniques to optimise measurement of visual function and its underpinning structure. Some areas of research have been summarised below, but we are open to discuss particular ideas or projects potential PhD researchers may have in mind if it is a good fit with our expertise. Refractive error results when the eye grows abnormally so that light does not focus accurately on the retina. One increasingly common error of focus, myopia (short-sightedness), tends to increase during school years as the eye continues to grow and can affect a child’s self-image and may impact his/her ability to participate in sports. Our Centre conducts the Northern Ireland Childhood Errors of Refraction (NICER) study, which is the largest longitudinal study in the UK and Ireland to examine how children's vision, in particular their refractive error, changes through childhood and adolescence. Further work is investigating the influence of how much time children spend studying, playing outside and using smart phones and tablets, and we have ongoing clinical trials investigating optical and pharmaceutical interventions to retard myopia progression.