First Optometry Education Conference welcomes 150 attendees

The inaugural Optometry Education Conference brought together researchers, optometrists and educators involved in undergraduate and postgraduate optometry teaching to share best practice and discuss developments in the field.

The conference, organised by a team at The University of Manchester, was held online on 29 June and saw more than 150 attendees join from all over the world.

William Holmes, reader in optometry education and MSci optometry programme director at The University of Manchester, explained: “The main aim of the first conference was to establish a network and provide people a platform to share what they do. We saw a good number of people join from across the world and a good level of engagement.”

Inside the programme

The conference began with a panel discussion of international speakers from different modes of practice who considered how optometry education has changed and what the future might look like.

The day was divided into four presentation sections, with 28 speakers discussing topics ranging from reflective practice, communication skills, patient-centred care, assessment and simulation, artificial intelligence, and student engagement.

One segment of the day saw colleagues from medical and healthcare education share insights.

Professor Gabrielle Finn, chair of The Association for the Study of Medical Education, provided an introduction to the organisation and the benefits of being involved in the wider healthcare profession education community.

Dr Emmanuel Oladipo, from The University of Manchester, discussed how communication skills are taught in medical programmes.

Holmes explained: “In other healthcare disciplines, the research area of education is well developed. Whether medicine, nursing, or pharmacy, you find they have established communities of researchers in those areas with journals and good attendance at well-known healthcare education conferences.”

The Optometry Education Conference was launched to try and provide a similar resource for the optometry profession.

Abstracts from the talks will be published in the Ophthalmic and Physiological Optics journal, sponsored by The College of Optometrists.

Recordings of presentation sessions will be released on YouTube and the event website in the coming months.

Recognising presenters

The day ended with an award presentation with four categories: early career researcher, student presenter, first time presenter, and the Manchester Optometry Education Prize for best overall presentation.

Holmes said: “The idea was to encourage people who were there early on in their careers, whether they were students or presenting for the first time, and to also recognise the best overall presentation.”

The early career researcher prize, sponsored by Hoya Vision Care, was presented to Sanele Buthelezi from The University of Johannesburg.

The prize for best student presentation, sponsored by Specsavers, went to Kate Doorduyn from The University of Huddersfield.

Rachel Lim, from The University of Melbourne, received the first time presenter prize, sponsored by Specsavers.

Finally, the inaugural Manchester Optometry Education Prize for best presentation, sponsored by the Hakim Group, went to Anthea Cochrane, of The University of Melbourne.

The conference will return online next year on Monday 28 June 2027. A call for abstracts will open this autumn.