Professor Julie-Anne Little
Professor Julie-Anne Little graduated with a BSc (Hons) Optometry from Ulster University in 2002, and received her PhD in 2007.
She is currently Associate Professor (Senior Lecturer) in the Centre for Optometry & Vision Science at Ulster University, UK, where she teaches Ophthalmic Dispensing, visual perception and function, and clinical optometry on the undergraduate BSc and MOptom programmes, and is course director for the MSc in Advanced Clinical Optometry.
She also pursues research and has supervised several PhD researchers. Her work has a focus on investigating refractive error, accommodation and visual function in childhood, those with special needs and visual impairment. Her research also highlights the unmet need for eyecare services both in the UK and with a European and global focus, and overall aims to optimise vision, educational attainment and quality of life through effective eye care and interventions.
Over 40 publications in high-impact journals and international presentations disseminate this work. She has a strong external profile in optometry as past President of the European Council of Optometry & Optics, and nationally as a Chairman of the Association of Optometrists. She has significant experience in the development and implementation of Optometry curriculums as Chair of the ECOO European Qualifications Board and Co-Chair of the ECOO Accreditation Agency, in external examiner roles, and as a previous Educational visitor for the General Optical Council, UK.
Find out more about Julie-Anne in this interview.
Fiona Anderson
Fiona Anderson is Dispensing Optician based in Scotland. Her interest in optics was borne as an eleven-year-old myopic astigmat. On receiving her first prescription spectacles her life was transformed and this passion has enthused her throughout her career to bring better sight to her patients and information and education to her colleagues.
Throughout her career, Fiona has continually challenged herself by gaining additional qualifications in Business Administration, Refraction and Ophthalmic Manufacturing. She has also authored and delivered numerous CPD articles and workshops in her native UK and around the globe.
Fiona was President of the International Opticians Association 2016 – 2023, President of the Association of British Dispensing Opticians from 2016 – 2018, is the Renter Warden at the Worshipful Company of Spectacle Makers – the oldest optical body in the world – a co-opted Trustee the European Academy of Optometry and
Optics and the only Optician member of the European Council of Optometry and Optics European Qualifications Board.
Dr Stefan Bandlitz
Dr. Stefan Bandlitz is head of school at the Höhere Fachschule für Augenoptik und Optometrie (Cologne School of Optometry), Germany. He is a researcher at the College of Health and Life Sciences, Aston University, UK. Stefan received his Master of Science in Clinical Optometry from Salus University in Philadelphia, USA,
and his PhD from Cardiff University, UK. Stefan is a well-known speaker at national and international congresses and the author and co-author of approximately 100 publications (including peer-reviewed, textbook chapters, and non-peer-reviewed). His current and prospective research areas include contact lenses, anterior eye imaging, the ocular surface, and the tear film.
Dr Roger Crelier
After the typical continental training to become an optician and qualified optometrist in 1985, Roger graduated as an MSc from Salus University in 2000. He taught fulltime from 1988 to 2023 first at the Höhere Fachschule and from 2007 at the FHNW, Olten, Switzerland.
In 2004, he became Director of the HF and in 2007 Head of the Institute and the Optometry degree programme at the FHNW. In 1994 Roger was appointed as Convenor of the BV Section and member of the ECOO Examination Board for the ED of ECOO. In 2002/2008 Roger was Chairman of the Education Committee and member of the Executive Board of ECOO. In 2009 he was Vice President and from 2011 President and at the same time on the Board of Trustees and the Abstract Panel of EAOO.
In October 2023, Roger handed over the directorship of the institute and the teaching and works part-time in research at the FHNW.
Nacho Costa González
Diploma in Optics from the University of Madrid, in Optics and Optometry from the University of Granada and Degree in Optics and Optometry from the European University. University specialist in Pre and Post Surgical Optometry from the (Institute of Ophthalmic Applied Biology (Valladolid). Bachelor and Master of Science from the PCO (USA).
- General Management Program IESE Business School.
- Driving Government Performance by Harvard Kennedy School (USA-Madrid).
- Associate Professor of Optometry, Technology and Legislation at the Faculty of Experimental and Health Sciences at the San Pablo CEU University (Madrid).
- Representative of the Spanish Professional Organization at the GA and member of the Professional Services Committee of ECOO.
- Fellow and member for several years of the Education Committee of EAOO.
- Clinical coordinator of the Visual Health Foundation (Spain).
- Coordinator of the Business Gazette section of the Official information bulletin of the General Council of Colleges of Opticians-Optometrists (Spain).
- General Secretary of the General Council of Colleges of Opticians-Optometrists of Spain.
- Official Accountant of the National College of Opticians-Optometrists of Spain.
Peter Gumpelmayer
Peter Theo Alfred Gumpelmayer is the President of the Federal and Upper Austrian Council of Allied Health Science Practitioners, having held this position since 2010. Previously, he acted as President of the Upper Austrian Council of Opticians, Hearing Aid Specialists and Orthopaedic Technicians, from 2004, and as Chairman of the Scientific Association of Optometrists and Opticians in Austria, from 2002-2010. Mr. Gumpelmayer earned his Bachelor of Optometry from the University of Durban-Westville (South Africa), and has been practicing as an optometrist and hearing aid practitioner for over 12 years, with professional stints in his native Austria, but also the UK, New Zealand, and Africa. He has also been involved in academia, teaching at the WVAO Easterakademie in Hall in Tirol (Austria), as well as writing, compiling and translating examination items of the ECOO European Diploma (German/English). Mr. Gumpelmayer was the Chairman of the ECOO Professional Services Committee until October 2014, after having previously been a member of the ECOO Education Committee between 2006-2010. He was the ECOO President from 2016 until 2018. He speaks German, English, French and has an understanding of Afrikaans.
Dr José Manuel González Meijome
Graduated with honors in Optometry at the University of Santiago de Compostela in 1997. After a fellowship at CCLRU, University of New South Wales in Australia, joined the Universidade do Minho in Braga, Portugal where he is currently Full Professor and Dean of the School of Sciences.
Along with teaching tasks in Optometry and Vision Sciences, different institutional management tasks, coordinates the Clinical and Experimental Optometry Research Lab with activities in clinical visual optics, specialty contact lenses, myopia management, presbyopia and epidemiology research. Published more than 200 articles in indexed journals (Web of Science h-index=38). Authored 3 books and 30 book chapters and has presented conferences in over than 30 countries.
Currently:
• President/Dean of the Faculty of Sciences, University of Minho, Portugal.
• Chief Editor of the scientific magazine ‘Journal of Optometry’,
• Chair Educational Committee of the European Academy of Optometry and Optics,
• Member European Qualifications Board and research funding agencies evaluator in 4 countries,
• Ambassador of the Society of Ocular Surface and Contact Lenses for Portugal.
Dr Sigrid Müller Schotte
Sigrid Mueller-Schotte is a lecturer at the University of Applied Sciences Utrecht (TheNetherlands), both in the field of optometry and nursing (Master Advanced Nursing Practice and Physician Assistant). She holds a research position at the research group “Technology for Innovations in Health Care” at the same university and works closely together with the Ophthalmology department of the University Medical Center Utrecht.
Sigrid has published numerous professional and scientific articles in international peer-reviewed journals and regularly acts as a reviewer of scientific papers for peer-review journals herself. Since 2009 she is a bord member of the European Qualification Board (and its predecessors).
Education:
- 2018 Doctor of Philosophy (Utrecht University, The Netherlands)
- 2010 Master of Science in Epidemiology (Utrecht University, The Netherlands)
- 2001 Residency in Primary Care Optometry (The Eye Institute, USA)
- 2000 Doctor of Optometry (Pennsylvania College of Optometry, USA)
- 1996 Staatl. Geprüfte Augenoptikerin & Augenoptikermeisterin (Higher Technical College
- of Optics, Germany)
Gustav Pöltner
Augenoptiker-Meister, contact lens optician, lecturer, head of degree programme, expert for the court, author of specialised books
- CL- Institute – Miller – Innsbruck/Austria
- FH-Gesundheit-Tirol – Innsbruck/Austria
- HTL-Kolleg-Optometrie, Hall in Tirol/Austria
- ECOO-European Qualifications – Boards of Accreditation and Experts Panel
- Generally sworn and court-certified expert
- Author of specialised books
Awards:
- 2001 Peter Abel Prize at the VDC/O Conference, Obendorf,D., Wilhelmer,M.,
- Pöltner,G., Oxygen permeability measurements of soft contact
- contact lenses with the HPLC sensor and their practical relevance,
- Weimar-BRD
Lecturer: 141 lectures and seminars at home and abroad since 1987
Publications: 62 publications in scientific journals