Fighting Blindness is the only Irish charity funding vision research. Committed to supporting the development of therapies and cures for sight loss and the wide spectrum of retinal degenerative disease, we fund internationally-competitive initiatives that are patient focused, clinically-linked and translationally orientated.
Our research aims to improve our understanding of the causes and consequences behind retinal disease, and to develop the evidence base required to inform the development of better clinical care and disease-modifying therapies. As such, all our research will align with the following principles:
We fund in a variety of ways including through the receipt of expressions of interests but also through joint funding and partnership schemes such as the HRCI-HRB Joint Funding Scheme, Irish Research Council Enterprise Partner Scheme (Postgraduate) and Irish Research Council Enterprise Partner Scheme (Postdoctoral).
Cross-disciplinary collaborations are very much encouraged. We recognise that by including the patient perspective, more impactful and relevant research will result. As such, all our research must demonstrate meaningful public and patient involvement (PPI) in research .
To date, we have invested over €20 million to fund more than 115 research projects.
Read more about our current and past projects.
For further information, contact research@fightingblindness.ie.
Fighting Blindness is a member of Health Research Charities Ireland (HRCI), which was founded in 1998 with the aim of supporting charities in Ireland to increase both the quality and quantity of healthcare research being done in Ireland.
HRCI represents the joint interests of charities specialising in restoring health through medical research, diagnosis and treatment and, where possible, the prevention of disease.
Since 2006, the work of the HRCI has been supported by the Department of Health through annual funding to the Health Research Board (HRB) for the co-funding of research projects with medical research charities.
Together the HRCI and the HRB operate an innovative joint funding scheme that allows members of the HRCI to support research of particular interest to specific patient populations, where they might otherwise not be in a position to finance the full cost of that research.
The HRCI-HRB awards will be up to a maximum total award value of €300,000 for projects from 12 up to 36 months.
Please visit the HRB website for a detailed description of the HRCI/HRB Joint Funding scheme application, external peer review and award process.
The Irish Research Council’s Enterprise Partnership Scheme is a unique national initiative linking excellent researchers to enterprise. The scheme supports suitably qualified candidates in any discipline working in partnership with academia and industry/charity.
Postgraduate students benefit from the opportunity to gain valuable insight into a patient organisation alongside the commercial and academic arena while completing their scholarship. Fighting Blindness is an eligible Enterprise Mentor for this programme.
Please visit their website for a detailed description of the scheme application, external peer review and award process.
The Irish Research Council’s Enterprise Partnership Scheme is a unique national initiative linking excellent researchers to enterprise. The scheme supports suitably qualified candidates in any discipline working in partnership with academia and industry/charity.
Post-doctoral researchers benefit from the opportunity to gain valuable insight into a patient organisation alongside the commercial and academic arena while completing their projects. Fighting Blindness is an eligible Enterprise Mentor for this programme.
Please visit their website for a detailed description of the scheme application, external peer review and award process.