PhD Studentship: Aberration Compensation in Ophthalmic Optical Coherence Tomography

Duration of Studentship: Full-time – 3 Years

Start Date: 1 October 2025

Application Deadline: 29 August 2025

Primary Supervisor: Professor Peter Munro (p.munro@ucl.ac.uk)

Secondary Supervisor: Professor Marinko Sarunic

Project Description:

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is widely used clinically in ophthalmology and is essential in the diagnosis and treatment of retinal disease. Ophthalmic OCT is expected to soon be able to diagnose diseases occurring outside the retina.

OCT images can be aberrated by the eye itself and imperfect optical design. Ocular imaging with adaptive optics promises to compensate for such aberrations, significantly enhancing image quality. Adaptive requires knowledge of the wavefront to be corrected. Our team has been developing a machine-learning approach to wavefront correction. This machine-learning approach, however, needs a realistic model of light propagation in the retina in order to validate it and to generate the large volumes of training data required.

Funding: The successful student will receive a stipend starting from at least the UCL minimum (£22,780 in 2025/26) as well as the cost of tuition fees for Home fee students (£6,215 in 2025/26).

Qualifications required:  Candidates should hold a UK (or international equivalent) first or upper-second Bachelor’s degree. Candidates with backgrounds in electrical and electronic engineering, physics, computer science and mathematics are welcome to apply. Hands-on experience in optical laboratories will be a plus.

How to apply: Please visit the UCL i4health CDT webpage linked above for instructions on the application process.

In your formal application, please name Prof Peter Munro as your proposed supervisor and include Project Code 24001.

Contact: For informal inquiries please contact Prof Peter Munro who will be happy to answer any queries about the project. (p.munro@ucl.ac.uk)

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