CooperVision awards 2019 FORCE Student of the Year
Southampton, United Kingdom, 20 June 2019 - Global contact lens manufacturer, CooperVision, has announced that the 2019 FORCE Student of the Year is Juliette Papin, a third year student from the Institut Supérieur d’Optique (ISO) Nantes, France.
This year’s FORCE (Future Ocular Research Creativity Event) final took place at CooperVision’s Centre of Innovation in Budapest, Hungary from 10-11th May with teams of students and educators from 11 countries taking part.
Juliette’s project, supervised by Brigitte Couture, evaluated how phoria measurements were affected in patients wearing Biofinity Energys® compared to Biofinity® multifocal contact lenses.
Marianne Lindenberg and Cor Oosting-Klock from Hogeschool van Utrecht were awarded second place for their research into the content and frequency of contact lens hygiene instruction given by eye care professionals in The Netherlands whilst Aniket Saha from Bharati Vidyapeeth School of Optometry, Pune, Maharashtra, India was awarded third place. His project considered whether current contact lenses meet the corneal physiological needs of both men and women equally.
Recognition was also given to Tsvetelina Mihova and Radoslav Slavov from Bulgaria for their stage presence and teamwork.
FORCE is an annual competition in the field of contact lenses, pitching the very best students from colleges and universities across Europe, the Middle East and Africa against each other. The competition aims to inspire students to strive for excellence in their studies and to encourage them to develop their professional knowledge base and contacts to benefit their future careers.
Entries are invited for clinical trials or case reports on a contact lens related subject and are judged on the evidence for and importance of the project, as well as the quality and clarity of the final presentation.
Winners from each country go forward to the final for a chance to become FORCE Student of Year where the award is a full delegate package, including travel and accommodation, to attend an international contact lens meeting with the opportunity to have their project presented or published.
The teams and topics for this year’s FORCE final were:
- Tsvetelina Mihova and Radoslav Slavov, Medical University, Bulgaria Supervisors: Andreev Jordan M.D. and Prof. Grupchera Christina
The Effect of Zonal Multifocal Lenses with Distance and Near Design on Visual Field Parameters
- Beáta Kovačovicová, Masaryk University, Czech Republic
Supervisors: Mgr. Pavel Beneš, PhD and Mgr. Gabriela Spurná
Comparison Values of Fusion Reserve Depending on Examination Technique Used
- Juliette Papin, Institut Supérieur d’Optique (ISO) Nantes, France.
Supervisor: Brigitte Couture
Variation of Phoric Patterns in a Comparison of Two Contact Lenses: Addition vs Convex Effect
- Kathrin Stork, Ernst-Abbe-Hochschule, Jena, Germany
Supervisors: Prof. Wolfgang Sickenberger Dipl.-Ing. (FH) and Gunther Oesker M.S. Optom. (USA), Dipl.-Ing. (FH)
Time Recording in Contact Lens Practice of High Volume Specialists
- Marianne Lindenberg and Cor Oosting-Klock, Hogeschool van Utrecht, The Netherlands
Supervisors: Dr Jan Roelof Polling, Annemarie Brouwer and Dr Mirjam van Tilborg
Contact Lens Hygiene: The Untold Story
- Aniket Saha, Bharati Vidyapeeth School of Optometry, Pune, Maharashtra, India
Supervisor: Assistant Professor Mr Tonmoy Chottopadhyry
Specialised Contact Lenses for Women - Need of the Hour
- Francesca Treso, University of Salento, Italy
Supervisor: Professor Giancarlo Montani
Modification of Tear Film Osmolarity with the use of Contact Lenses in Omafilcon A and Methafilcon A Materials
- Alina Korzeniowska, University of Science and Technology, Wroclaw, Poland
Supervisor: Dr Dorota Szczęsna-Iskander
Evaluation of Environmental Risk Factors for Dry Eye Disease
- Marina Marí Ribas and Abel Martín González, Complutense University of Madrid, Spain
Supervisor: Professor Jesús Carballo-Álvarez
Variation of Optical Quality in Irregular Corneas After Soft Toric Contact Lens Fitting
- Emma Lundström, Linnaeus University, Kalmar, Sweden
Supervisors: Jenny Roth and António Filipe Teixeira Macedo
Short-Term Effects on Contrast Sensitivity and its Correlation to Over-refraction when Using MiSight® 1 day Contact Lenses
- Christopher Burke, Technological University, Dublin, Ireland
Supervisors: Dr Aoife Lloyd-McKernan and Orla Murphy
A Comparison of Treatment Regimens for Demodex Folliculorum Infestation of Human Eyelash Follicles
Judging the projects were researchers and clinicians Pascale Dauthuile (President of the Association Française des Experts en Lentilles de Contact, France), Elena García Rubio (Instituto Nacional de Optometria, Madrid, Spain) and Dr Eef van der Worp (Eye-Contact-Lens, Amsterdam, the Netherlands), along with panel chairman Professor James Wolffsohn (Aston University, UK).
Presenting the awards on behalf of the judges, Professor Wolffsohn said that the standard this year was very high. “It has been a marvellous competition and you put us in a really difficult position this year when trying to choose our top three presentations.” Awarding the overall prize, he complimented Juliette on her presentation saying “You set the scene really nicely, you had a solid project design and you explained the significance of your findings very well.”
He commended all of the finalists and added “This is the first stepping stone towards an exciting career and I look forward to seeing you all on stage around the world over the coming years.”
Receiving the award Juliette said: “I am so proud to be here and to be the winner. It’s a great opportunity for Optometry in France and I hope it will create more opportunities for me in my future career.”
FORCE Students of the Year 2018 Pablo Arlanzón Lope and Laura Valencia Nieto returned to describe their experiences since winning the award. They are currently studying a Master’s Degree in Research and Vision Science at the Universidad de Valladolid, Spain. Speaking of their experiences Laura said, “The FORCE final encouraged us to continue with our studies and after completing our Master’s degrees we hope to continue our research next year with a PhD.” Pablo added “It has been a truly unforgettable experience; it has given us the opportunity to meet with other finalists and share the different ways and views of practising and studying optometry.” As part of their award, they presented their research at the recent BCLA conference in Manchester.