19 March 2025
Fight for Sight is teaming up with a group of vision science professors to launch a first of its kind vision research network in the UK.
The UK Vision Research Network has been created to foster collaboration and connection between leading professors in vision research in the UK.
All four nations of the UK are represented, with Professor Marcel Votruba of Cardiff University, Professor Andrew Dick of University College London (UCL), Professor Alan Stitt of Queen’s University Belfast, and Professor Baljean Dhillon of the University of Edinburgh joining as members of the network.
Ellie Southwood, director of impact and external affairs at Fight for Sight, said: “In speaking with leading experts in the field, we were surprised to learn that many believed there were not enough opportunities for them to connect with peers and establish research collaborations.
“We aspire to change this by establishing the UK Vision Research Network, which will foster an environment which favours collaboration, bringing experts together to tackle some of the biggest challenges in vision research.”
The UK Vision Research Network will begin its work through the launch of a doctoral training programme, which will begin in April 2025.
The programme will match students with co-supervisors from different institutions and different disciplines, with the aim of providing them with a wider than usual team of experts from whom they can learn.
It is hoped that the programme will help to emphasise the importance of cross-institutional and cross-discipline collaboration in academic research.
Southwood said: “In this first grant call, we will provide PhD students with opportunities to work across institutions and disciplines, equipping them with essential skills for collaborative research.”
Professor Andrew Dick, director of the Institute of Ophthalmology at UCL, believes that working together is vital when it comes to fulfilling research potential.
“While competition is good, it shouldn’t be at the expense of being able to collaborate in an interdisciplinary manner and harness the greatness that we have in the UK,” Dick said.
The UK Vision Research Network and its inaugural doctoral programme will focus on retinal degeneration, including age-related macular degeneration and inherited retinal diseases.
By enabling collaboration between researchers across institutions, it is hoped that the programme will drive progress at a faster pace than has been seen previously.
Professor Marcela Votruba, professor of ophthalmology at Cardiff University and a leading expert in hereditary retinal and optic nerve diseases, added: “Currently a lot of treatments are at a stage where they don’t have enough of a momentum to push them over the line because funding is very tight.”
The UK Vision Research Network hopes to expand and provide further research grants in the coming years.
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