Profile
Michael Kelly
Thanks for the questions, break a leg Nancy Emma and Andrew
My CV
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Education:
Aston University 1986, Open University 1996, University of Manchester 1999, University of Manchester 2012
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Qualifications:
BSc(Hons) Ophthalmic Optics 1986, Dip Optometry 1987, BA Mathematics 1994. MSc Ophthalmology & Vision Science 1999, PhD Neuroscience 2012
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Work History:
I started my career as an ophthalmic optician, testing eyes, dispensing spectacles and contact lenses.
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Current Job:
I am a research associate funded by an NIHR i4i award investigating the usefulness of measuring vision in low light to assess diseases of ageing in the eye
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Read more
My work has several different strands. My main work is developing a device that measure how well people adapt to a dark environment. This work will tell us lots about the health of the eye before there is any loss of sight. It will also help in the development of treatments for age related eye disease. This work includes a clinical trial to evaluate the device we are developing and this means quite a lot of paperwork and meetings. I will be recruiting participants for this study in two months (fingers crossed).
I also investigate other aspects of vision. I have worked on how well people see when they are dazzled, and have made mathematical models of how changing a light alters how we perceive a colour under that light. I have created software to analyse the flow of tears under contact lenses, the flow of liquids/tears over a contact lens and the interaction between the surface of a contact lens and the air.
My MSc project was concerned with the production and sequence of proteins used as the eye heals following surgery.
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My Typical Day:
A brief meeting first thing to set priorities for the day, see what has been done and what needs to be done.
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Read more
After an initial meeting I usually attend to those things highlighted in the meeting. The things I usually do are as follows
writing
a new paper or a review of one that we have submitted
the documentation so that we can get ethical approval for any experiments we carry out on people
reports to funding bodies or industrial collaborators
presentation or lectureadmin
finance – time sheets
purchasing – equipmentobtain regulator permission to use devices we build in human experiments
recruit subjects
perform experiments
think of experimentsbuild the apparatus
write software to control the new apparatus
write software to analyse data I have collecteddrink tea
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What I'd do with the prize money:
I’d like to build something to show how we interpret colours.
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My Interview
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How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
geek, creative, quiet
Were you ever in trouble at school?
I did get into trouble at infant school, for digging up and throwing tulip bulbs over the fence.
Who is your favourite singer or band?
Faithless
What's your favourite food?
Jaffa cakes
If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!
More work as enjoyable as this job. A unimog 404 and somewhere to drive it.
Tell us a joke.
I dream of a world where chickens can cross the road without having their motives questioned
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