05 May 2015
Third-year Glasgow Caledonian University student, Fiona Buckmaster (pictured), has been named the 2015 CooperVision Future Ocular Research Creativity Event (FORCE) Student of the Year.
Ms Buckmaster’s research explored the effects of environmental conditions on tests of tear production. Her study showed that many patients with borderline results with the Schirmer test may be misdiagnosed as having dry eye if the test has been undertaken in a low humidity environment.
Second place was given to Antje Brenner, of the Beuth Hochschule für Technik, Berlin, Germany. While in joint third place were Benoit Pelatan, from the Institut Supérieur d’Optique in Bordeaux, France, and Remke Sep and Maikel Vermeer, a team from Hogeschool Utrecht, in the Netherlands.
Hosted annually, CooperVision’s FORCE competition sees students from universities and colleges across Europe compete in contact lens related projects. This year students from nine countries attended the competition in Budapest, Hungary.
Presenting the awards, optometrist Nick Rumney said: “Fiona challenged orthodoxy by overturning our understanding of a technique we thought was familiar. She approached the subject rigorously and scientifically, and she designed an elegant experiment which was, at heart, simple but gave results and conclusion of great clarity.”
He added: “CooperVision is to be congratulated on maintaining this unique cross-Europe competition, which goes from strength to strength. FORCE is very much a force to be reckoned with and is a great vehicle for cross-country collaboration and young optometrist development.”
Ms Buckmaster’s research explored the effects of environmental conditions on tests of tear production. Her study showed that many patients with borderline results with the Schirmer test may be misdiagnosed as having dry eye if the test has been undertaken in a low humidity environment.
Second place was given to Antje Brenner, of the Beuth Hochschule für Technik, Berlin, Germany. While in joint third place were Benoit Pelatan, from the Institut Supérieur d’Optique in Bordeaux, France, and Remke Sep and Maikel Vermeer, a team from Hogeschool Utrecht, in the Netherlands.
Hosted annually, CooperVision’s FORCE competition sees students from universities and colleges across Europe compete in contact lens related projects. This year students from nine countries attended the competition in Budapest, Hungary.
Presenting the awards, optometrist Nick Rumney said: “Fiona challenged orthodoxy by overturning our understanding of a technique we thought was familiar. She approached the subject rigorously and scientifically, and she designed an elegant experiment which was, at heart, simple but gave results and conclusion of great clarity.”
He added: “CooperVision is to be congratulated on maintaining this unique cross-Europe competition, which goes from strength to strength. FORCE is very much a force to be reckoned with and is a great vehicle for cross-country collaboration and young optometrist development.”
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