Julie-Anne Little is a Professor of Optometry and Vision Science at Ulster University. She is the Research Director for Biomedical Sciences, comprising >100 researchers spanning nutrition, diabetes, genomic medicine, pharmaceutical and vision science. Her research focuses on investigating refractive error, accommodation and visual function in childhood, and aims to optimise vision, educational attainment and quality of life through effective eye care and interventions for individuals across the world. She has supervised PhD and MSc students and been awarded significant grant funding from a variety of prestigious sources, including Wellcome Trust, NIHR, Alzheimer’s society and the College of Optometrists..

She has a significant track record of highly-cited peer-reviewed journal articles, with publications predominantly in Q1 Scimago ranked journals in Ophthalmology and has been included in both UK Research excellence frameworks (REF) for 2014 and 2021 submissions. Her outputs demonstrate her sustained focus on improving vision and eyecare for people with developmental disability, using cutting-edge methodologies coupled with clinical expertise in conducting optometric assessment of hard-to-test groups. They also reflect her research investigating the impact of uncorrected hyperopia in children for reading and near tasks, and epidemiological work on unmet visual need.

Prof Little contributes to postgraduate and undergraduate Optometry programmes and has a sustained track record of evaluating learning, teaching and assessment practice for optometry as external examiner for UK Optometry programmes. She is an Educational visitor for the General Optical Council. She is Chair of the European Council of Optometry and Optics (ECOO) Qualifications board, and co-chair of the ECOO Accreditation Agency for the European Diploma in optometry.

She has a strong external profile in optometry as immediate past Chairman of the Association of Optometrists in the UK, and past President of the European Council of Optometry and Optics.