Ophthalmic Research

Guide Dogs is one of the largest charitable funders of ophthalmic research in the UK, and each year we award a number of research grants to projects selected through open competition.

We are committed to funding high quality research that:

• may lead to better diagnosis or treatment to aid the preservation of sight, and prevent further visual loss in people who are blind or partially-sighted; or
• encourages developments in ophthalmology (including optometry) that may lead to a clinical application within years.

The preservation and enhancement of sight is one of Guide Dogs’ primary research goals, and our ophthalmic research programme plays a key part in supporting that goal and informing our services, policy and campaigns activity.

Projects currently funded include those of a medical nature, for example looking at retinal abnormalities, or investigating the specifics of diseases such as glaucoma and diabetes, and non-clinical projects such as the funding of a surveillance unit to monitor the more unusual causes of sight loss across the UK.

Download the Ophthalmic Research Update 2009 pdf or word