Vision Research Foundation Fund

Donations to the Vision Research Foundation Fund grows the income it uses to accelerate eye research, through backing cutting-edge studies and reducing inequity of access.

The Vision Research Foundation exists to move beyond the safe and incremental, to attract the funding and knowledge needed to make life-changing discoveries, and to unlock the potential medical talent shut out by inequity.

Scientific Director Professor Helen Danesh-Meyer founded the Foundation in 2022.

“We are at a time when technology is developing faster than most research ideas,” says Helen.

“The Vision Research Foundation is therefore aimed at using those rapidly developing technological advances to disrupt traditional modes of eye care and research. Our philosophy is that by challenging established paradigms we can make transformative discoveries in vision science.

“We are driving a collaborative, multi-disciplinary network of researchers who are committed to translational and impactful research. The emphasis is on building a strong and dynamic vision research environment.”

Good vision and eye health are precious. Our eyes connect us to the world and are a window into the health of our brain and entire body.

Helen says we will all be directly impacted by vision-related disorders or the threat of blindness at some stage of our lives, whether for ourselves or our family and friends. And we will all face neurological and degenerative conditions as we age.

“The Vision Research Foundation has a laser-sharp focus on three goals. First, to support young researchers and keep bright minds in New Zealand.

“Second, we back research that challenges current thinking and paradigms, in particular in the areas of glaucoma and neurological diseases.

“Third, we are committed to developing the entire research environment, which means building diverse research teams, addressing research culture, and supporting the next generation,” says Helen.

Vision Research Foundation grants go to scholarships and clinical and social research, which to date has included the relationship between Alzheimer’s and Glaucoma, preservative toxicity in Glaucoma eyedrops, optic nerve diseases in children, and identifying and removing barriers to waahine Maaori becoming surgeons.

New Zealand researchers are significantly underfunded per capita compared to Australia, UK, Canada and the US, with less than eight per cent of all research grant applications to the existing bodies here being funded.

The Vision Research Foundation Fund at Momentum invites donations from anyone anywhere, as the VRF supports eye and health research wherever it is happening in New Zealand.