CLEAR: The Child Light Exposure, Axial Length and Refraction Study

Sleep and Circadian Pathways Linking Light Exposure to Ocular Growth
Investigating the relationship between light exposure, sleep, circadian timing and refractive development
The Centre for Eye Research Ireland (CERI) at TU Dublin invites applications for a full-time PhD studentship within CLEAR: The Child Light Exposure, Axial Length and Refraction Study – How Lighting and Sleep Shape Eye Growth and Myopia Risk.
CLEAR is an HRB-funded, school-based longitudinal study investigating how children’s 24-hour light exposure, sleep patterns and near-visual demands influence axial eye growth, refractive development and myopia risk.
This PhD will focus primarily on how sleep, circadian timing and other child-level characteristics influence the relationship between 24-hour light exposure, ocular growth and refractive development. The successful candidate will contribute to the assessment of children’s light exposure, sleep, chronotype and circadian timing using wearable sensors, actigraphy, validated questionnaires and salivary melatonin measures.
The candidate will contribute to all core aspects of CLEAR, including school and participant recruitment, clinical fieldwork, visual and ocular assessments, cycloplegic refraction, ocular biometry, data quality assurance, data stewardship, analysis and dissemination.
They will work closely with the second CLEAR PhD researcher, whose project will focus on patterns of environmental light exposure and their relationship with ocular growth. The two students will draw on a shared longitudinal dataset while retaining distinct areas of research emphasis and planned outputs. The precise research questions will be refined with the successful candidate and supervisory team within the overall objectives of CLEAR.

Applicants must:
Hold a minimum second-class honours, grade 1 (2.1), and a degree in optometry.
Be registered with CORU as an optometrist, orthoptist or medical scientist.
Demonstrate strong clinical, communication, organisational and analytical skills.
Be willing to undertake school-based research involving children and complete all required safeguarding and Garda vetting procedures.
Be able to work independently and collaboratively within the multidisciplinary CLEAR team.
Be willing to work closely with the second CLEAR PhD researcher across recruitment, fieldwork, data collection, data management, analysis and dissemination.
Have a strong interest in paediatric eye health, myopia prevention, sleep, circadian rhythms and the visual and non-visual effects of light exposure.
Be highly motivated, reliable and committed to completing a full-time doctoral research programme.
Experience in research, paediatric optometry, sleep or circadian research, ocular biometry, data analysis or scientific writing would be advantageous but is not essential.
Experience in programming data loggers, sensor deployment, light measurement, processing large time-series datasets, or analysing sleep or circadian data would be advantageous

 Funding Agency : Health Research Board (HRB)

Student Stipend per annum

€ 25000

 Materials & Travel Budget per annum

€1000.00

 Fees covered by the funding per annum

€5500

Duration of Funding

48 months

Application Closing Date: 2^nd September, 2026

If you are interested in submitting an application for this project, please complete an Expression of Interest.

 https://forms.office.com/e/0hCcrv2Gkp