EyePod: The optometry podcast

College Clinical Adviser Denise Voon MCOptom talks to Dr Debarun Dutta MCOptom, clinical scientist, Director of Research and Senior Lecturer at Aston University, where he leads contact lens education. In 2025, Debarun received the Frank Petticrew Award for contact lens research at the College of Optometrists Diploma ceremony, recognising his work on antimicrobial contact lenses and technologies to make rigid gas permeable (RGP) lenses more comfortable. He shares what drives his research and what it could mean for practice. We also catch up with Eve Barrett, who has just started her PhD at Ulster University, as we begin following her journey through postgraduate research.

Recorded in front of a live audience at Optometry Tomorrow, this special episode of EyePod brings together the College's clinical advisers for an open, practical conversation about the issues optometrists are facing right now.

College Clinical Adviser Denise Voon MCOptom talks to Dr Parth Shah MCOptom, optometrist and sports vision consultant to a Premier League football club, about his career at the intersection of optometry and sport. They discuss how goalkeepers are trained to track and react to the ball, what optometry can bring to professional football, and how the science of sports vision applies in everyday practice.

College Clinical Adviser Denise Voon MCOptom talks to Marsha de Cordova, Labour MP for Battersea, and Shockat Adam, Independent MP for Leicester South, about their work in Westminster advocating for eye care professionals in England. They discuss their connections to eye health, the current challenges facing the sector, and what College members can do to help champion the profession.

College Clinical Advisor Denise Voon MCOptom talks to Dr Louise Gow, Head of Eye Health, Optometry and Low Vision, and Preeti Singla, Optometry and Low Vision Engagement Manager, both at the RNIB. They discuss their work developing the Adult Low Vision Service Quality Framework, which was created to define best practice for low vision services in any setting across the UK.