Jan. 30, 2025 — The American Academy of Optometry Foundation (AAOF) and Meta Reality Labs Research (RLR) have opened applications for a research grant aimed at investigating myopia and the role of visual experience in its onset and progression.
The 2025 Myopia Research Grant will award three grants of $500,000 each to support longitudinal studies utilizing the Visual Environment Evaluation Tool (VEET) device to collect visual environment data and examine its correlation with myopia development. The initiative seeks open-science proposals focused on the quantified visual experience and its potential impact on myopia outcomes.
"The American Academy of Optometry Foundation is honored to partner with Meta Reality Labs Research to bring this impactful grant opportunity to myopia researchers around the globe," says AAOF board president, Valerie Sharpe, OD, FAAO. “This new award underscores RLR’s outstanding investment in the vision science field and AAOF’s commitment to driving industry-academic partnerships in the pursuit of exceptional patient care."
Two of the three grants will be awarded exclusively to Fellows of the American Academy of Optometry, while the third is open to applicants who meet the following criteria:
- Principal investigators must have an institutional affiliation where the research will be conducted, excluding for-profit corporations.
- Institutions must agree to accept the grant as direct costs only.
- Research must address relevant questions related to myopia etiology and prevention.
Eligible studies must:
- Use the VEET device to collect visual experience data for correlation with myopia outcomes.
- Be longitudinal, ideally spanning three years in accordance with International Myopia Institute recommendations.
- Include axial length and cycloplegic refractive error as outcome measures.
- Receive approval from an institutional review board or equivalent ethics committee before funding is released.
The Letter of Intent submission portal will be open from Jan. 30 to Feb. 28 at 11:59 p.m. EST. Selected applicants will be notified by April 15 and will have until July 11 to submit full proposals.
For more details on the grant and application process, click here.