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Academic Research Grants

This section is only for academic and hospital departments and educational institutions. 

The Trustees are keen to support small scale and pilot research projects but our funds are very limited.  Any grants made are likely to be less than £3,000.

Please check first to make sure that your project will meet the criteria set out below under “Application Requirements“. Specifically, we can only support applications from departments and institutions, NOT from individuals, and any funds granted must be used and accounted for within the UK.

Application Requirements

The Spectacle Makers’ Charity will consider applications for grants from academic and hospital departments in the UK teaching and researching in the eye health field and from institutions undertaking research on lens development.

    Within this category, the Charity will not consider:

    • projects which do not relate principally to the improvement or treatment of vision or clinical aspects of preventing or reducing the human impact of sight loss
    • grants for visits or projects being run outside the UK
    • grants to individuals eg for funding of research required as part of Masters' or PhD degrees

    The Spectacle Makers’ Charity (together with its founder member, The Worshipful Company of Spectacle Makers) is interested in developing mutually beneficial relationships with those that it supports. The impact of each grant made is very important to us. Honest reporting of outcomes against original hypotheses and intentions will be expected, and the Trustees will ask for a written analysis of the likely longer-term academic, scientific and public benefit which may follow from the research.

    Application Process

    The Trustees meet four times a year.

    Applications can only be accepted online. Here are the deadlines:

    February 2026 meeting: applications must be received by 31 December 2025

    November 2026 meeting: applications must be received by 1 September 2026

    If you have a vision impairment and cannot submit an online form, please call us on 020 7236 2932 and we will be pleased to suggest an alternative.