Background
My wife recently relocated to the UK and is currently employed in the Imaging Department at Moorfields Eye Hospital, City Road. She has been fortunate to receive an offer to pursue a PhD aimed at developing a Core Outcome Set for clinical trials on myopia treatments in children and young people. The project is supervised by Dr. Annegret Dahlmann-Noor, Dr. Helen Baker, and Professor Carol Rivas, and is registered with the COMET Initiative. This project is very close to her heart as she has been in glasses since 2 years old. Growing up, she faced teasing due to her thick glasses. This personal experience ignited a lifelong passion for optometry. As a young person with myopia, she experienced firsthand the challenges of vision correction without the benefit of modern research and preventative measures. Determined to prevent others from going through the same, she dedicated her career to providing comprehensive eye care and advocating for early intervention to address vision issues in children.
While she has secured the position, there is a funding shortfall due to the distinction between home and international student fees. Despite an appeal for home fee status, she does not yet meet the three-year UK residency requirement. She is seeking financial sponsorship to cover the remaining £11,000 per academic year for two years, as the third year of fees is already covered by UCL.
Research Overview
The PhD project focuses on developing a Core Outcome Set for clinical trials on myopia interventions for children and young people. The project involves:
• Building a national network of stakeholders, including families and professionals
• Conducting focus groups and semi-structured interviews with children and families from diverse backgrounds
• Analyzing data from these sessions
• Facilitating a modified nominal focus group with children of different ages and ethnicities
• Conducting an online Delphi consensus with children from various backgrounds
• Organizing a final consensus workshop
• Disseminating the findings to both communities and professionals
This research will be crucial in creating standardized outcomes for myopia treatments, improving the efficiency and effectiveness of clinical trials and, ultimately, leading to better interventions for affected children and young people.
For more information about the project, please refer to its registration on the COMET Initiative: (https://www.comet-initiative.org/Studies/Details/3102).
My wife is requesting financial sponsorship to cover the remaining £11,000 per year for two years of the PhD program. The support would enable her to continue research and contribute to the future of clinical trials in paediatric myopia. The third year of study will be fully covered by UCL, ensuring that this contribution will complete the financial requirements for their studies.
This project represents a vital step towards improving myopia treatments in children and young people, and your support would be instrumental in its success.