Dear Hoover - could you post this over CV-Net.
A S T O N U N I V E R S I T Y
School of Life & Health Sciences
Vision Sciences
Clinical Demonstrators in Optometry
The Division of Vision Sciences is pleased to announce the availability of
research opportunities for three GOC registered optometrists with good
honours degrees (first class or upper second class). The Division is
committed to postgraduate training and provides a supportive research
environment, coaching those with little or no previous research experience.
Research will be undertaken with full-time registration for a PhD and eight
hours per week will be spent working in undergraduate teaching and patient
clinics.
Topic areas for research include:
* Glaucoma.
* Myopia.
* Amblyopia and stereopsis.
* Vision in the elderly.
* Colour vision and colour deficiencies.
* Blindsight.
* Visual acuity in infants and adults.
Projects include:
Bernard Gilmartin. General interests include: Aetiology, onset and
development of myopia in humans. Specific projects include: 1) Intra-ocular
blood flow in human myopia. 2) Ocular biometric correlates of myopia onset
and development in children. 3) Retinal stretch and the Stiles-Crawford
effect.
John Wild. 1) The assessment of structural and functional progression in
primary open angle glaucoma using ocular coherence tomography, confocal
scanning retinal tomography and short wavelength automated perimetry.
Sarah Hosking. 1) Ocular blood flow and posterior segment morphology: Laser
imaging for the physiological interpretation and quantitative assessment of
posterior segment eye disease. Incorporating the latest laser imaging and
blood flow techniques and with a strong ocular pathology bias, this study
will contribute to the understanding of the mechanisms of ocular disease
and the role of imaging in future shared care programmes in Optometry.
Studies with John Wild and Sarah Hosking will take place within an
established multi-disciplinary research team based in the Department of
Ophthalmology, Birmingham Heartlands Hospital.
David Foster. 1) Efficacy of colour filters in colour deficiency. 2)
Variations in colour deficiency in the Birmingham region. 3) Human colour
constancy. 4) Visual shape acuity.
Mark Dunne. 1) Development of a dynamic visual attention test for the
assessment of mobility in visually handicapped individuals.
Kezzy Latham. 1) Visual function in the elderly. 2) Visual function with
low vision. 3) Threshold gradients in peripheral vision.
Tim Meese. Projects in visual psychophysics. 1) Blindsight in normal
observers. Blindsight is a phenomenon where patients who are perceptually
blind due to straite lesions are still able to perform certain visual
tasks. This suggests the existance of a non-perceptual visual pathway with
at least one route that by-passes primary visual cortex. This project will
use psychophysical techniques to explore this putative pathway in normal
observers. 2) Two-dimensional motion processing in the human visual system.
This project will investigate how the human visual system decomposes
retinal motion into the patterns of motion perceived by human observers.
Mitch Thomson. Design of psychophysical tests of infant and adult visual
acuity, specifically modifications to existing Teller/Keeler card designs.
Perception of blur in natural images: optical blur versus
computationally-imposed blur.
Sarah Waugh. Projects in visual psychophysics. 1) Amblyopic spatial vision.
This project will investigate the underlying spatial deficits associated
with amblyopia, and then consider consequences for effective treatment. 2)
Rod spatial and temporal vision. A study to investigate properties,
capabilities and mysteries of rod (night) vision. 3) Assessment of spatial
vision in pathology. An application of the sensitive spatial localisation
task to monitoring perceptual spatial disorder in disease. 4) Basic
mechanisms underlying spatial localisation. This project considers the role
of different visual strategies in processing relative position information
about different parts of an image. 5) Processing-time in pattern
perception. A study to clarify the role of time in optimally processing
spatial patterns. 6) Masking studies of spatial vision. A project to
investigate the validity of using 'narrow-band' stimuli in studies of
spatial vision.
John Siderov. These research projects will utilise standard psychophysical
methods and computer generated displays to investigate stereopsis and
binocular vision. Specific topics include: 1) Stereoscopic mechanisms in
the fovea and periphery: threshold and suprathreshold performance. 2)
Stereopsis in the dark. This project will ask whether observers have
stereoscopic depth perception under scotopic conditions and if so, compare
it with stereopsis under photopic conditions. 3) Stereopsis in observers
with anomalous vision.
Further details on research projects are available from Dr Tim Meese, Tel:
0121 359 3611 X5421
Three appointments will be made with salaries on the 'Other Realted Grade
1' scale 15,159 - 19,371 sterling per annum, depending on age,
qualifications and experience. Appointments will be initially for one year
with the expectation of renewal for a further two years.
Application forms and further particulars may be obtained from the
Personnel Officer (Academic Staff), quoting Ref 9737/CVNet, Aston
University, Aston Triangle, Birmingham, B4 7ET. Tel 0121 359 0870 (24 hour
ansaphone). Fax 0121 359 6470; e-mail: b.a.power@aston.ac.uk
Closing Date: January 5th 1998.