OptiVisT

 

EU Funding Programme:	H2020 Marie Curie - ETN.
Project coordinator:	Universitair Medisch Centrum Groningen (NL).
Partners:	Royal Dutch Visio (NL), Otto von Guericke Universität Magdeburg (DE), City University of London (UK), Stichting Vrije Universiteit (NL), Feelspace GMBH (DE), Pettern Recognition Company GMBH (DE), Fondazione Istituto Italiano di Tecnologica (IT), International Paralympic Committee (DE), Region Hovedstaden (DK).
Total budget:	4.023.028,08€
Duration:	1 March 2021 – 28 February 2025.
Website:	Under construction.

 

Aim of the project

OptiVisT is a European Research Training Program in Translational Vision Science to ensure Optimal support of Visually impaired individuals through inclusive Tests and Tools for testing, training and augmenting Functional Vision.
OptiVisT’s key mission is to enhance the societal participation of individuals with vision impairment through innovative and inclusive care. To achieve this, we need new knowledge and, in particular, new and innovative tests to assess functional visual abilities, and tools to train and augment them. To overcome current roadblocks, we need Translational Vision Scientists, experts well-grounded in the foundations of vision science, technology and healthcare. OptiVisT will nurture the cutting-edge scientists who will push the scientific and technological breakthroughs to put Europe in the lead on new and better solutions for vision care and rehabilitation. These are urgently required to make a real difference to the lives of millions of individuals with vision impairment, in order to improve their opportunities to work, play sports, and participate in wider society, to their fullest potential.

Relevance

There is a need for new tests and tools, because current visual function testing tests focus on visual acuity and field of vision, while it remains difficult to predict what this really says about what people can do with their residual vision in functioning in their daily life and what is their potential. In addition, existing tests are often cognitively demanding and stressful to perform, making them unsuitable for many people. As a result, healthcare professionals often obtain inaccurate, unreliable, or limited information about an individual's visual abilities. This limits their ability to diagnose or classify problems, which affects the quality of care and increases social costs. In addition, it is also unclear which specific aspects of vision need to be improved in rehabilitation, leaving such efforts common and inefficient at this point.
As expected, better and less demanding testing procedures are among the top research priorities for patients. The type of researcher this requires has expertise drawn from diverse but complementary scientific fields, including vision science, movement, science, engineering, computer science and medicine, familiar with fundamental research challenges, and able to translate new insights into the real world. Such scientists are in high demand, but difficult to find, because there is no integrated and dedicated training program.

Training programme

To take advantage of current major technological advances for information display, measurement and analysis (e.g. Artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality (VR) with built-in eye tracking), the OptiVisT network will be the first pan-European research training program in the field of Translational Vision Science.
In-depth knowledge from decades of research is integrated with their new insights, and with expertise in applying advanced technologies in combination with specialized medical knowledge. 15 Early stage researchers, will earn a PhD and be equipped with:

• Experimental and computational skills required to gain new, quantitative knowledge about the role of vision in complex tasks of daily life;
• Technical and engineering skills necessary to create tools for testing, training and augmenting functional vision by integrating fundamental insights with new technologies;
• Clinical and statistical skills to apply their new solutions and evaluate their effectiveness and added value;
• Entrepreneurial and leadership skills required to boost innovation, set standards in vision care, influence policies, and ensure our new solutions succeed in the real world.