School of Optometry and Vision Sciences

Research Interests

My primary research interest is achieving a better understanding of sensory and motor mechanisms, especially those underlying normal visual accommodation and the development of shortsightedness or myopia. The incidence of myopia has increased dramatically in the general population, and a growing body of evidence strongly suggests that overaccommodation ('near-work' ) and/or accommodative dysfunction play a role in this increase. Therefore, my work is centred on defining and stimulating the central near response pathways in order to better understand the interrelationship between accommodation and myopia.

Our other areas of research interest include studies of the visual consequences of congenital nystagmus, assessment of nerve fibre layer damage in glaucoma and investigations of the role of the hippocampus in visual discriminations. My team currently comprises two postdoctoral research associates and six postgraduate students. We are supported principally by grants from the BBSRC and the Wellcome Trust, and our laboratories include a state-of-the-art histological and neuroscience laboratories, a suite of videomicrographic image processing workstations, and an eye movement facility that includes both infra-red and scleral search coil systems.