Across the UK, we have a wealth of potential to tackle problems in vision research and produce some of the world’s leading science in the field. But there's a crucial puzzle piece that holds the key to success in the field: collaboration and coordination.
To discuss how collaboration can lead to patient impact, we invited Alastair Denniston, Professor of Regulatory Science and Innovation at the University of Birmingham, and Professor Pearse Keane, Professor of Artificial Medical Intelligence at the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology.
Professor Alastair Denniston and Professor Pearse Keane have published 90+ papers together to date, with one of their first collaborative projects funded by a Fight for Sight Small Grant.
This webinar took place on Thursday 9 October 2025. A recording of the event is below.
Watch the recording here
More information
“Collaboration is where the magic happens… particularly when it’s at the boundary between disciplines, and at the boundary between academia and industry."
About the speakers
Professor Denniston and Professor Keane received their first Fight for Sight Small Grant back in 2012. This grant helped them find out how we can use OCT scans to measure disease activity in an inflammatory condition called uveitis. Since then they have been co-authors on 86 research publications, enabling them to build a strong collaborative relationship to help tackle vision loss together.
This key relationship enabled them to establish INSIGHT, the Health Data Research Hub for Eye Health.
Professor Alastair Denniston:
Alastair Denniston is a Professor of Regulatory Science and Innovation at the University of Birmingham.
He has been awarded a number of Small Grant Awards, including a 2015 Small Grant Award for a project with Professor Keane, building on their research in measuring disease activity in uveitis. This project led to multiple publications, which in turn helped secure a £560,000 Wellcome Trust grant.
Professor Denniston has also been awarded two Fight for Sight Project Grants, including one with Professor Pearse Keane entitled 'Quantitative Imaging and Artificial Intelligence in Birdshot Chorioretinopathy'.
Professor Pearse Keane:
Professor Keane is a Professor of Artificial Medical Intelligence at the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology.
He has worked on multiple Fight for Sight projects, as well as being awarded his own Fight for Sight Small Grant in 2017 to kickstart a project called 'AlzEye' with Moorfield's Eye Hospital. AlzEye is using AI to see whether dementia can be detected in the retina before other symptoms appear.
AlzEye provides a unique opportunity to explore patterns of retinal change associated with dementia development across a diverse population of varying ethnicity and socioeconomic status.
