H Barry Collin Research Medal Recipient Award Papers
The H Barry Collin Research Medal is awarded by Optometry Australia to recognize outstanding contributions to the advancement of knowledge in optics, vision science or clinical optometry by a person who is an Australian citizen or a graduate of an Australian optometry school, or who has done a significant part of his or her research in an Australian institution. The Medal was designed and made by South Australian optometrist and Optometry Australia historian, Charles Wright AM.
The award was established in 1977 to recognize the pioneering research Professor H Barry Collin AM, and the inaugural award was made to Professor Collin that year. Prior to his work there had been little optometric research in Australia: his research was an important part of the beginning of investigative scholarship in Australian optometry. His research tackled the response of the eye to injury, novel for optometric research at the time, which more usually explored functional aspects of vision rather than the biological and pathological processes.
When the Medal was established, there was no stipulation as to how often it should be awarded, and only one other award was made between 1977 and 2009; this was to Professor Brien Holden OAM in 1988. Optometry Australia revised the regulations governing the award of the Collin Medal in 2009, making it an annual award; accordingly, the Medal has been awarded annually since 2009. This has resulted in an impressive and growing collection of Medal address papers from the most outstanding ‘Australia-connected’ optometry and vision science researchers, as identified by their academic peers. Recipients of the H Barry Collin Research Medal are as follows, and by clicking on the name of a recipient you will be taken to a biography/profile of that person: