Dear Colleagues
Welcome to the ninth issue of the SOVS newsletter for 2018. November is a busy month for the school: final exams are underway and significant amounts of marking will be due in a relatively short time-frame. We then look forward to celebrating Graduation on 16 November. Graduation is a time to congratulate the students on their achievements, but it’s also a time to acknowledge and celebrate the significant roles played by academic and professional staff in enabling the students to reach that goal after 5 years of study.
During the summer, several SOVS staff will be supervising summer student research projects. The School normally hosts approximately 8 students for 10 week projects, which give undergraduate students an opportunity to become involved in conducting a research project of their own and in many cases to appreciate first-hand how the evidence-base for their optometry practice is obtained.
We welcome Sam Schwarzkopf’s new PhD student Tasi Watson to SOVS. Tasi will be investigating the use of eye movements and other physiological markers for measuring perceptual function, especially focusing on subjective illusion strengths and visual awareness.
Finally, congratulations to Bob Kinnear whose contribution to the development of optometry education in Nepal was recognised in person by the Health Minister of Nepal at the Inaugural All Nepal Optometry Conference in Kathmandu on 5-6 October. Bob Kinnear was a Senior Clinical Supervisor at SOVS for 30 years and has maintained close links with Nepal over many years.
All the best,
Dr John Phillips
Acting Head of School, Optometry and Vision Science
Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences
