Julie-anne Little

Biography

Dr Julie-Anne Little is a Senior Lecturer in Optometry and Vision Science. As a GOC registered optometrist, she has worked in hospital optometry in England and undertook a post-doctoral research fellowship within The Royal Group of Hospitals, Belfast, prior to taking up her lectureship position at Ulster University. Her research interests include the developing visual system and the impact of intellectual disability on vision. She is also interested in how the structure of the eye impacts on functional vision. Julie-Anne is part of the paediatric vision research team testing the vision of children with and without special educational needs and complex visual problems. She has supervised PhD and MSc students, and been awarded significant grant funding from a variety of sources. She has been supported with a personal research fellowship by the College of Optometrists. Julie-Anne is immediate past-President of the European Council of Optometry and Optics. She was returned in the last Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014, and has produced research outputs making an important knowledge contribution not only to paediatric vision, but also to aspects of vision in special needs populations; including Down syndrome, Cerebral Palsy and Autism Spectrum Disorder. Julie-Anne has collaborative links with International researchers and clinicians. She is part of a multidisciplinary clinic providing vision care for those with complex neurological impairment and promotes the functional assessment of vision with emphasis on communication of results to parents and health and education professionals involved with the child. She has developed a web-based resource for improving communication and understanding of functional visual assessment for children with complex neurological impairment. The information is relevant to parents and professionals working with children with special educational needs and the resource is available under the Vision Resources section of the website.

Research Interest

Accommodative function in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder