News
College welcomes over 450 new optometrists to the profession at the 2025 Diploma Ceremony
On Tuesday 18 November, the College welcomed over 450 new optometrists to the profession in two College Diploma Ceremonies held in Westminster, London. Over 70 members awarded higher qualifications at Professional Higher Certificate or Professional Diploma level. The ceremonies brought...
Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Edinburgh awarded Honorary Fellowship of The College of Optometrists for her outstanding contribution to eye health
The College of Optometrists has presented Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Edinburgh with an Honorary Fellowship of the College in recognition of Her Royal Highness’s outstanding contribution to eye health. The Duchess is passionate about preventing avoidable sight loss...
The Worshipful Company of Spectacle Makers awards two Master’s Medals for early career research
The Worshipful Company of Spectacle Makers (WCSM) this week announced the winners of two Master’s Medals for 2025. Fabian Yii from Edinburgh was awarded the Master’s Medal for his paper, 'Fundus Refraction Offset as a Personalized Biomarker for 12-Year Risk...
OCULUS supports the 23rd German Down Syndrome Sports Festival in Wetzlar
Once again, OCULUS brought the 'Vision Olympics' to the German Down Syndrome Sports Festival in Wetzlar. Participants had the opportunity to have their vision tested and receive a brief screening of the anterior segment of their eyes. This year, the...
Wiseman Fund recipient expands low vision knowledge
Gemma Gould, a lecturer in optometry at the University of Manchester, has recently attended the International Society for Low Vision Research and Rehabilitation conference 2025 in Florence, thanks to support from the Wiseman Fund. “I presented a poster of my...
The College of Optometrists announces new research scholarships, grants and bursaries are open for applications
The College of Optometrists has announced its programme of financial support for undergraduate students, postgraduate students and members engaging in research projects in the 2025-2026 academic year is open for applications. The College has a long history of providing financial...
Nominations now open for the College’s President’s Research Medal
The President’s Research Medal recognises and celebrates outstanding contributions to research and recognises a lifetime's career in optometric, eye health or vision science research. The President’s Research Medal is the College’s most prestigious research award. The winners of this award...
The Scottish Optometry Awards
Join us at the inaugural Scottish Optometry Awards dinner dance at the Glasgow Radisson Blu Hotel on Saturday 15th November. Drinks 7.00 for 7.30pm. Dinner 7.30–9.00pm. Awards 9.00–9.30pm. Dancing with DJ 9.30–11.30. On the Saturday evening at the Scottish Optical...
Small grant award
Fight For Sight/Stargardt's Connected: Short Grant Award Fight for Sight and Stargardt's Connected are pleased to invite calls for early career clinical or research scientists proposing Stargardt’s research projects to collect preliminary or pilot data for developing competitive follow-on funding...
ABDO awards presented at graduation and prize giving ceremony
The president of the Association of British Dispensing Opticians (ABDO), Kevin Gutsell, presented six special awards at the Association's recent graduation and prize giving ceremony held at Canterbury Cathedral. ABDO Life Membership was awarded to Fiona Anderson, SMC (Tech), BSc...
Blind Edinburgh man named Young Volunteer of the Year
Daryl Stewart (23), a long-standing volunteer with sight loss charity RNIB Scotland, has been awarded the Special Recognition Award for Young Volunteer of the Year at the 2025 Inspiring Volunteer Awards, run by Volunteer Edinburgh. The award ceremony, which took...
RNIB’s flagship support service for people with sight conditions wins coveted quality standard
RNIB’s flagship support service for people with eye conditions and sight loss has been awarded the prestigious Advice Quality Standard (AQS) - the only quality standard for organisations working in social welfare and law. The standard was achieved by RNIB’s...
