The International Orthoptic Association (IOA) Congress is coming to the UK this year, taking place 20-23 June in Liverpool. This is a fantastic opportunity and could be the we are keen to encourage as many members as possible to take advantage of this.

We are therefore pleased to announce that we are offering two types of funding to support members in covering the costs of attending – Presenter Awards and New Graduate Awards.

Presenter Awards – Deadline Extended

The Council has agreed that £1500 will be made available to fund 6 awards of £250 each to help members who have submitted an abstract for an oral presentation as presenting author.

Priority will be given to those who have worked on unfunded projects, those who would otherwise not be eligible for other funding, and who are early career researchers (pre-doctoral).

Applications are open now but will be conditional on the abstract being accepted when the Scientific Committee sends out notifications at the end of January 2020.

All awards will be made on the basis of both the quality of the abstract, and a 500 word supporting statement explaining why and how the support will help your career and the profession.

All successful applicants will be expected to feed back to the membership about their experiences.

Please get working on your application now. We will aim to notify the winners in January, so that they can take advantage of the Early Bird Registration Rate before it closes on February 26th.

To apply, send a copy of your abstract, your supporting statement and your contact details to the BIOS Research Director Professor Anna Horwood. [email protected]

The closing date for all applications wards is now January 20 2020. Judging will be carried out by a group of BIOS Council members.

New Graduate Awards – Applications closed

BIOS have had a very kind donation from the family of an Orthoptist who sadly passed away this year and remembered BIOS in her will. We are using this money to support 4 new graduates with a funded one-day place.

This is an opportunity to learn about recent advances in the field of orthoptics and ophthalmology and to meet colleagues from all over the world. The conference is only held every four years, and it is unlikely that it will be held in the United Kingdom for quite some time after this event, so do not miss out on the opportunity to gain a funded one-day place.

If you are interested and are a new graduate in your first 2 years of practice and would like to apply for one of the 4 one- day funded places we would like you to submit a supporting statement explaining why you should be given the opportunity to attend. You do not need to be experienced in research or have submitted an abstract, you just need to tell us why we should choose you and what you hope to gain by attending. For those who are chosen, we would like to hear how you will disseminate your learning from the event and you should be prepared to write a small article for PV about the experience, learning or inspirational research that you gained by attending the conference.

Please get working on your statement now. We will aim to notify the winners in January, so that they can take advantage of the Early Bird Registration Rate before it closes on February 26th 2020. If you have any questions, then please contact Joe Smith on [email protected]

Please submit to [email protected] by 31st December 2019 marking the header of your email New Graduate Application for IOC

If you are interested in finding out more:

  • More information on the IOC, including how to register can be found on the website.

  • Find out more about the research being done by Orthoptists here.

If you’re a BIOS member, remember you can join groups via the members area:

  • The New Grad Group is or those in their first two years following graduation, to discuss and share helpful resources and information.

  • The BIOS Research Group is for anyone interested in research-related issues within the Orthoptic profession

2020-01-08T10:30:55+00:00