Faculty of ScienceDepartment of Optometry & Vision Sciences

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Overview of the Department of Optometry & Vision Sciences at the University of Melbourne

The Department of Optometry and Vision Sciences is one of the nine academic departments/schools within the Faculty of Science at the University of Melbourne. The Department currently comprises twenty-four academic staff (10 teaching and research, 5 teaching specialist and 9 research only) and eight general staff. Currently co-located with the Australian College of Optometry, the Department over the 2011 and 2012 period will be moving to purpose built facilities on the Parkville Campus, including locating Visual Neuroscience research groups in the Melbourne Brain Institute building. The Department in 2009 opened The University of Melbourne EyeCare clinic which provides clinical training for Optometry students and service to students and staff of the University, as well as to the general public. In 2011 the Department commenced the 4 year Doctor of Optometry (OD) postgraduate degree as part of the new Melbourne Model. The department teaches optics and vision science subjects in the Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Biomedicine degrees and contributes breadth subjects in the new generation degrees offered by the University. The Department is currently teaching out a five-year Bachelor of Optometry degree. Approximately 290 students are enrolled in these professional optometry programs.

The Department offers further professional training through its Postgraduate Certificate in Ocular Therapeutics and Postgraduate Diploma in Advanced Clinical Optometry, specifically aimed at advancing clinical knowledge for practising optometrists.

The Department has a vigorous and expanding research program in vision sciences with particular emphasis on the research areas of i) the biological foundations of ocular disease; ii) visual neuroscience and visual neurophysiology. The Department offers courses of training by research leading to the degrees of PhD, Master of Philosophy, and currently has around 25 students pursuing research higher degrees at any one time. It also offers a Masters of Science by Research (Vision Science).

Staff Profile

The Department currently has eleven academic teaching and research positions. The positions currently filled are Professor Algis J Vingrys (Head of Department), Associate Professor Andrew Metha (Deputy Head), Professor Neville McBrien, Professor Trichur Vidyasagar, Dr Larry Abel, Dr Andrew Anderson, Ms Anthea Cochrane, Ms Alexandra Jaworski, Dr Allison McKendrick, Dr Michael Pianta (Lecturers) and Ms Sarah Conaglen, Zeinab Fakih and Mr Simon Hanna (Clinical Teaching Instructors). Approximately 50 casual teaching staff also contribute to the teaching activities of the Department.

The Department currently employs six research-only postdoctoral staff, and two senior research only staff members.

The Department has an annual core-operating budget in the order of $2.8 million. The Department currently attracts approximately $1.5 to 2 million in external competitive research income each year.

The Department of Optometry and Vision Sciences is located mainly at the northern end of the Parkville campus, with its administrative hub located in premises on the corner of Cardigan and Keppel Streets, Carlton. It is expected that specialist teaching and department offices will relocate to the Alice Hoy building, Parkivlle Campus in late 2011 early 2012. In addition to this Visual Neurosciences laboratories will move to the new Melbourne Brain Institute.

Academic Strategy of the Department

The Department is committed to the teaching of optometry in the context of a scientific understanding of the fundamental principles. For this reason a substantial portion of the course is devoted to the basic, bio-medical, visual and optical sciences.

The Department has an equally strong commitment to teaching and research in clinical optometry. The Department is the first in Australia to expand its core curriculum to five years to include ocular therapeutics and an increased focus on the treatment of ocular disease. It works closely with cognate disciplines of ophthalmology, microbiology and pharmacology in the teaching of the Bachelor of Optometry. In 2011 the Department commenced the Doctor of Optometry degree ( 4-year postgraduate program) which is be the first Optometry Department in the southern hemisphere to offer the OD program.

A parallel commitment is to research and scholarship and to the maintenance of a strong graduate research school. The Department has an excellent record of publication in the international scientific and professional literature. The Department is becoming increasingly competitive in attracting national grants and over the last 4 years has held around 12-16 National Competitive Research Council grants at any one time.

Research Profile

The Department of Optometry and Vision Sciences undertakes internationally competitive research in a variety of areas, including -

Details of the Department's research laboratories can be found here.

Facilities in the Department

Buildings

The department will be located on the University main Parkville campus in purpose build teaching, administration and laboratory space from 2012. This will consolidate our teaching and tutorial spaces, creating collaborative and investigative learning experiences, and will reflect and lead best practice internationally in graduate entry optometry education.. The Department will also occupy several research laboratories in the new Neuroscience building located in the Parkville precinct on Royal Parade from mid 2011.

The Department also operates University of Melbourne EyeCare, a full-scope optometry teaching practice, located on Swanston Street, immediately opposite the main entrance to the Parkville campus. The practice has a modern frame and dispensing area, with all frame types available, from the budget end of frames right up to the top-end designer frames, complimented by the latest dispensing technology aids. Each consulting room is fitted out with the latest technology and equipment and the practice is also equipped with a range of additional ocular diagnostic equipment including Digital Fundus camera, Cirrus Ocular Coherence Tomographer, Corneal Topographer, Humphrey Visual Field Analyser, Matrix screener and anterior eye cameras.

Equipment

With the aid of infrastructure grants obtained from the University of Melbourne, the Department of Health and Community Services and the Australian Research Council, the research laboratories of the Department are well equipped.

The Department's facilities include:

Further details of the Department's research activities can be found on its website.

The Faculty of Science

The Faculty of Science was formally constituted in 1903, although science has been taught since 1854 when the first Professors of mathematics and natural science joined the University. It is one of the University's largest faculties with some 7,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students, and has an annual budget in the order of $120m.

The Faculty of Science has a deserved reputation for the delivery of high quality teaching and research programs across a breadth of disciplines. The subjects and courses offered are integral to the quality of a significant number of the educational programs in other faculties. The Faculty has a long-standing and distinguished record of providing postgraduate education at the Masters and Doctoral levels and it has established strong international research and research education linkages within the USA, Europe and throughout the Asian region.

The Faculty is made up of four Schools and five Departments as follows: Schools of Botany, Chemistry, Earth Sciences and Physics; and the Departments of Genetics, Information Systems, Mathematics and Statistics, Optometry and Vision Sciences and Zoology. The Faculty also is responsible for the Bio21 Molecular Science & Biotechnology Research Institute.

The Faculty, through its Departments and Research Centres, is active in professional development, continuing education nationally and internationally, and in links to schools and the community.

Information on the Faculty of Science can be found at http://www.science.unimelb.edu.au/departments

The University of Melbourne

The University of Melbourne is a leading international university with a tradition of excel­lence in teaching and research. With outstanding performance in international rankings, Melbourne is at the forefront of higher education in the Asia-Pacific region and the world. The University of Melbourne is consistently ranked by the THES among the world's top 50 universities.

Established in 1853, shortly after the founding of Melbourne, the University is located just a few minutes from the centre of this global city. The main Parkville campus is recognised as the hub of Australia's premier knowledge precinct comprising eight hospitals, many leading research institutes and a wide range of knowledge-based industries.

The University employs people of outstanding calibre and offers a unique environment where staff are valued and rewarded. Further information about working at The University of Melbourne is available at www.hr.unimelb.edu.au/careers.

Growing Esteem and the Melbourne Model

Growing Esteem describes Melbourne's strategy to achieve its aspiration to be a public-spirited and internationally-engaged institution, highly regarded for making distinctive contributions to society in research and research training, learning and teaching, and engagement. www.growingesteem.unimelb.edu.au

The University is at the forefront of Australia's changing higher education system and offers a distinctive model of education known collectively as the Melbourne Model. The new educational model, designed for an outstanding experience for all students, is based on six broad undergraduate programs followed by a graduate professional degree, research higher degree or entry directly into employment. The emphasis on academic breadth as well as disciplinary depth in the new degrees ensures that graduates will have the capacity to succeed in a world where knowledge boundaries are shifting and reforming to create new frontiers and challenges. In moving to the new model, the University is also aligning itself with the best of emerging European and Asian practice and well-established North American traditions.

Equity and Diversity

Another key priority for the University is access and equity. The University of Melbourne is strongly committed to an admissions policy that takes the best students, regardless of financial and other disadvantage. An Access, Equity and Diversity Policy Statement, included in the University Plan, reflects this priority.

The University is committed to equal opportunity in education, employment and welfare for staff and students. Students are selected on merit and staff are selected and promoted on merit.

Governance

The Vice Chancellor is the Chief Executive Officer of the University and responsible to Council for the good management of the University.

Comprehensive information about the University of Melbourne and its governance structure is available at www.unimelb.edu.au/

City of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Situated in the State of Victoria , the capital city Melbourne (population 5.5million) enjoysVictoria has a mild, temperate climate with warm to hot summers, moderate autumns, cool to cold winters and sunny springs. Melbourne is a cosmopolitan, multicultural city that is consistently ranked in the top 3 'world's most livable city' by the Economist Intelligence Unit (UK).It was number 2 in 2010. The award is based on a survey of a city's infrastructure, access, education levels, crime rate, focus on the environment, culture and events, its diversity and how connected it was with the rest of the world. Melbourne also ranks as 5th as one of the worlds best "University Cities" according to the 2007 Global University City Index.

Victoria is Australia 's most ecologically diverse Australian mainland state. Within a maximum two-hour drive of the city centre you will find:

For more information about migration and living in Victoria visit: www.liveinvictoria.vic.gov.au

Australia is an incredible country in which to live and travel. It is a nation diverse in its culture and environment. Its people are friendly and relaxed.

For information about Australia see the official Australian tourism website.

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