PHD Studentship: Myopia and Visual Development Within the Born in Bradford Cohort

The prevalence of myopia (short-sightedness) is rapidly increasing globally, including in the UK where the prevalence has doubled over the last 50 years. There is literally a pandemic of myopia! While myopia is easily correctable with spectacles, contact lenses or surgery, its effects are not entirely optical; myopia is associated with an increased risk of developing sight-threatening conditions such as retinal detachment and glaucoma in adulthood compared to non-myopic individuals, and more myopia is associated with more risk. Myopia development is known to have a complex aetiology of genetic and environmental influences, but the factors leading to its onset and progression are not well understood.

Born in Bradford (BiB) is a large dataset of children in the City of Bradford consisting of diverse cohort of 12-13 year olds for whom detailed genetic and socio-economic data exist. In a large sub-sample of the BiB children (~4000), vision and refractive data exist from when they were 4-5 years of age.

This project will investigate the current visual status and visual history of the BiB children. This project will involve establishing the vision and refractive status (e.g. whether or not they have become myopic) of the BiB cohort now that they are at an age when myopia typically develops. One of the main questions that will be addressed is whether the vision and refraction data gathered at the age of 4-5 is useful in predicting who will and who will not become myopic in the teenage years. The project will also seek to identify the genetic and environmental factors that predispose children to the onset and development of myopia.

This project will involve two main phases. The first involves gathering of vision and refraction data from the BiB children in their school settings. The seconds will involve working with the large dataset to address specific research questions using data analysis techniques. The project will provide a chance to work in a multi-disciplinary team, alongside a range of biomedical and healthcare researchers.  The successful candidate will join the Myopia Research Group, based in the Wolfson Centre for Applied Health Research and the School of Optometry and Vision Science at the University of Bradford. The supervision team consists of General Optical Council-registered vision scientists and bioinformaticians/health data researchers, who will supervise the project and offer support. The project has scope to expand to post-doctorate research related to visual development.