Optometric research in the UK has achieved an impressive international profile with formal recognition in the government's 2008 nationwide Research Assessment Exercise (RAE2008).
All UK universities running undergraduate degree courses in optometry contributed to RAE2008 under Unit of Assessment (UoA) C12 'Allied health professions and subjects'. Bernard Gilmartin, Professor of Optometry at Aston University, was nominated by the British Universities Committee of Optometry (BUCO) to serve as a member of Panel C12.
Optometric research was entered into RAE2008 according to the overall research structure and strategy developed by the respective university. Consequently some universities included optometric research in a single submission entered under the generic UoA descriptor 'Allied health professions and subjects' (eg Anglia, Aston, Cardiff and Manchester). Multiple submissions were permitted by the RAE when a university could submit two or more substantially distinct research units that fell within the scope of UoA C12: Bradford's research in optometry was reviewed in a stand-alone submission containing only staff from the Bradford School of Optometry & Vision Science City submitted separately as 'Optometry and visual science' along with 'Language and communication science' Glasgow submitted optometric research under 'Biomedical science and vision sciences' separately from 'Allied health professions' (submitted jointly with the Universities of Glasgow and Strathclyde) Ulster submitted optometry under 'Biomedical sciences' which was submitted separately from 'Rehabilitation science'.
A Summary report for UoA C12 (January 5 2009) identified evidence of internationally excellent or world-leading research in virtually all of the disciplines covered but importantly a high level of performance was highlighted specifically for optometry.
Such research was evident in biomedical science, nutrition and optometry - see www.rae.ac.uk/pubs/2009/ov/p6.
The C12 Panel assessed for each submission (2001-2007) research outputs (eg research journal publications, normally four per member of staff submitted), research environment [including, number of research students, research income and structure and research strategy (presented as a narrative)] and esteem indicators (including honours or awards given to individuals). Sub-profiles for each of these three elements of the submission were developed, weighted (ie outputs: 70 per cent environment: 25 per cent esteem: 5 per cent) and combined to create an overall quality profile expressed as rounded percentages for each of five quality levels (see below).
The diverse format and content of the submissions precludes direct comparison of RAE2008 results between universities but it is clear that optometric research in the UK has achieved an impressive international profile that has justifiably been recognised formally in RAE2008.
? James Wolffsohn (Aston University), Shahina Pardhan (Anglia Ruskin), Tim Wess (Cardiff), Chris Hull (City), Brendan Barrett (Bradford), Alan Tomlinson (Glasgow Caledonian), David Henson (Manchester) and Roger Anderson (Ulster)
The diverse format and content of the submissions precludes direct comparison of RAE2008 results between universities, but it is clear that optometric research in the UK has achieved an impressive international profile that has justifiably been recognised formally in RAE2008.
