The Fighting Blindness Career Development Award supports early-stage researchers and clinicians in advancing their careers. These awards have funded attendance at international conferences and laboratory training abroad. Our awardees have participated in prominent conferences, including ARVO.
Dr Laura Cushley and Dr Sarah Palko were recipients of the 2024 Career Development Awards. Read more about the 2024 awardees here.
Please review our Guidelines for Applicants for full information on applying for the 2025 Fighting Blindness Career Development Award.
A key priority for Fighting Blindness is to support the next generation of vision researchers. We recognise that training, networking and developing collaborations are key to the career development of early-stage career researchers and clinicians.
With this in mind, we are pleased to announce the ‘Fighting Blindness Career Development Award’.
The purpose of the award is to provide funding for applicants to:
A. Attend an official training course (in-person or virtual), and/or
B. Attend training in another laboratory on a specific technique(s), and/or
C. Present research papers/posters at national/international conferences/workshops (in person or virtual), and/or
D. Facilitate national and/or international networking and collaboration meetings or events
All activities must be in the area of vision loss specifically in the areas of inherited retinal diseases (IRDs) and age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Applications in the area of diabetic retinopathy will also be considered.
The maximum total funding available for the award is €1,500. Eligible costs include registration, travel, accommodation, subsidence and activity costs.
The activity must take place between January 2026 and December 2026.
Applicants can apply for funding for more than one activity, but costs must be no more than €1,500 total. For example, an applicant can apply to attend a vision research-related training course and also to present at national/international conferences/workshops once the budget does not exceed €1,500 and it is clear how these activities will be of benefit to their career development.
Please see Use of Funds Guidelines before completing budget section.
Open to:
Please see the guidelines for the eligibility criteria for applicants. We strongly recommend that you read the guidelines to be made aware of requirements.
Below is an indicative timeline for the award.
| Applications open | Wednesday 23rd July 2025 |
| Deadline for submission | 5pm, 6th October 2025 (Extended to 5pm, 13th October 2025) |
| Review | October – November 2025 |
Please use the Application Form which you can download from this page. Use one application form even if applying for funding for more than one activity. The associated documents can also be downloaded from this page.
Completed application forms should be sent to research@fightingblindness.ie in Word format by the extended deadline of 5pm, 13th October 2025.
Checklist for submission:
If you have any questions please contact our Research department via email at research@fightingblindness.ie.