WINTER PARK, Fla.—The American Academy of Optometry Foundation (AAOF) and Meta Reality Labs Research (RLR) have announced that the application process is now open for a new grant opportunity focused on stimulating new investigations in the field of myopia and the role that visual experience plays in the onset and progression of myopia. RLR is the research and development division within Meta Platforms focused on creating immersive technologies like virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR). According to the announcement, the 2025 Myopia Research Grant will provide three awards of $500,000 each. The goal of the award is to accelerate the understanding of myopia development or progression by utilizing the Visual Environment Evaluation Tool (VEET) to collect observational visual environment data. AAOF and RLR are seeking proposals for open-science, longitudinal studies of the quantified visual experience and its relationship to subsequent myopia outcomes.

“The American Academy of Optometry Foundation (AAOF) is honored to partner with Meta Reality Labs Research to bring this impactful grant opportunity to myopia researchers around the globe,” said Dr. Valerie Sharpe, AAOF board president. “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 awards are open exclusively to Fellows of the American Academy of Optometry, with the third award open to any applicant who meets the following criteria:

  • Principal investigators must have an institutional affiliation, where the proposed work will be conducted, and the institutional affiliation should not include a for-profit corporation. The institution must be willing to accept that the grant is direct costs only.

  • The research project must address a relevant research question(s) and have the potential to positively impact the field of myopia etiology and prevention.
Studies must:

  • Use the VEET to gather visual experience data to be correlated with myopia outcomes.

  • Be longitudinal in nature, ideally three years to align with International Myopia Institute recommendations (Wolffsohn, James S., et al. “IMI–Clinical myopia control trials and instrumentation report.” Investigative ophthalmology & visual science 60.3 (2019): M132-M160).

  • Include at least axial length and cycloplegic refractive error in outcome measures (Morgan, Ian G., et al. “Cycloplegic refraction is the gold standard for epidemiological studies.” Acta Ophthalmologica 93.6 (2015): 581-585).

  • Be thoroughly reviewed and approved by a certified institutional review board (IRB), human subjects committee, or comparable qualified body before funding is disbursed.
The Letter of Intent (LOI) submission portal will be open from January 30, 2025, through February 28, 2025, 11:59 p.m. EST. Applicants selected to submit full proposals will be notified by April 15, 2025, and will have until July 11, 2025, 11:59 p.m. EST to submit all application components.

For additional information about this grant opportunity and application requirements, click here.