WINTER PARK, Fla.—The American Academy of Optometry Foundation (AAOF), the 501(c)(3) philanthropic arm of the American Academy of Optometry, and Meta Reality Labs have announced that they will fund an open-science research initiative to accelerate the study of visual experience as it impacts myopia onset and progression. This collaboration will fund three independent research studies of quantified longitudinal visual experience and subsequent myopia outcomes, totaling $1.5 million, according to the announcement. “In partnership with Meta Reality Labs, AAOF is pleased to announce this open-science research initiative,” said AAOF president, Dr. Rachel A. “Stacey” Coulter.

“This industry-sponsored research opportunity opens the door to transformative partnerships, where academic rigor meets real-world application, to drive innovation and create solutions to benefit both science and society,” Dr. Coulter said.

While there have been many valuable studies on visual experience, they have typically operated independently, with no way to aggregate the data between them to solve this challenging research problem at scale, according to the announcement. To address this, the AAOF and Meta are embracing an open-science model for this research grant. Researchers will make not only their publications publicly available but also the data behind, them according to the findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable (FAIR) data principles, along with metadata artifacts necessary to interpret them. This will allow for additional comparison and harmonization, reproducibility, and federated analysis of these datasets by other researchers enabling a collaborative effort to solve the riddle of visual experience’s role in myopia development, the announcement said.

The submission criteria and application window for these awards will be announced during Academy 2024 Indianapolis, the American Academy of Optometry’s annual meeting, at the AAOF’s Awards Celebration Brunch on Saturday, November 9, 2024.