Faculty/School

Faculty of Health

School of Clinical Sciences

Topic status

We're looking for students to study this topic.

Research centre

Centre for Vision and Eye Research

Primary Supervisor

Associate Professor Katrina Schmid
Position
Associate Professor
Division / Faculty
Faculty of Health

Other QUT supervisors

Professor Joanne Wood
Position
Professor
Division / Faculty
Faculty of Health

Overview

Vision plays a critical role in how people interact with their environment. Reduced vision can increase the difficulty of daily tasks (e.g., reading, navigation), and create greater cognitive load, as the brain must compensate for missing visual information.

The aim is to determine how visual impairment affects both functional abilities (everyday tasks) and cognitive performance (mental processes such as attention, memory, and decision-making). Visual impairment will be artificially simulated using occlusion foils, which reduce visual clarity in a graded manner to mimic different levels of vision loss. By simulating visual impairment in individuals with normal vision, researchers can better isolate the direct effects of vision loss without other confounding factors (such as age-related conditions).

Research engagement

Literature review

Data collection

Clinical measures of vision and cognition

Research activities

Assist seeing research participants with AProf Schmid.

Research skills

Learn how research shapes clinical practice.

Developing level skills in: Critical thinking, Research design, Ethical research, Clinical data collection, Data analysis, Report writing.

Outcomes

Data will be published in a vision research journal. Pilot work for collaborations and funding proposals.

Skills and experience

Optometry student of OP45 or OP85; preferably who has completed 1st semester 3rd year of the Bachelor of Vision Science at the time of application. Motivated to learn and participate in research work in optometry.

Start date

16 November, 2026

End date

19 February, 2027

Location

QUT, Q block, 60 Musk Ave, Kelvin Grove Campus. This is an on-campus activity.

Additional information

All the necessary research equipment to conduct this project is available in the clinical research lab of AProf Schmid. Expertise of both AProf Schmid and Prof Wood is available.

Keywords

Contact

AProf Schmid

3138 6150

k.schmid@qut.edu.au