Funding for sight loss announced by Fight for Sight

Fight for Sight has launched two new grants and is seeking proposals that could help address a range of different eye diseases and conditions linked to sight loss.

The eye research charity has partnered with 10 other charities to offer 12 small grant awards of up to £15,000 each, as well as up to six PhD studentships.

Chief executive of Fight for Sight, Michele Acton, said: “Partnership working is vitally important to help bring us closer to stopping sight loss and we are pleased to be partnering with so many other organisations who share our aims.”

The small grant awards are designed to cover the costs of small clinical research studies into eye diseases such as retinoblastoma, glaucoma and thyroid eye disease. There is also an award for research into dementia and sight loss, and another for research into Charles Bonnet Syndrome.

Fight for Sight has issued a closing date of 23 August for small grant applications, and successful applicants will be notified by the end of October.

Applications are also being sought from supervisors affiliated with UK academic or medical institutions to apply for a PhD studentship of up to £100,000. 

In addition, Fight for Sight is offering a PhD studentship in collaboration with the National Eye Research Centre. The deadline for PhD studentship applications is 30 August. 

Raising the profile

One previous small grant award winner, Dr Suzanne Hagen, from Glasgow Caledonian University, told OT that Fight for Sight had given her the opportunity to present new dry eye data at conferences, which raised her profile in the industry. 

“Ophthalmic research is crucial to overall health and wellbeing. As global populations are ageing better, it is imperative we discover new ways to improve sight and diagnose diseases sooner, enabling people to maintain their vision for as long as possible,” she said.