Dr Nicola Szostek
Profiles

Dr Nicola Szostek

Lecturer in Optometry

School of Health Professions (Faculty of Health)

Dr Nicola Szostek can be contacted through arrangement with our Press Office, to speak to the media on these areas of expertise.
  • Optometry
  • Eye health care
  • Sight test
  • Presbyopia
  • Optometry education
  • Eye aging
Biography

Biography

I currently split my time between leading the Acute Eye Care and Paediatric Ophthalmology modules on the MSc Applied Clinical Practice in Ophthalmology programme, and working as a Specialist Optometrist in the Emergency Eye Care team at the Royal Devon University Hospital Trust.  I have worked in Higher Education since 2013, initially as a Clinical Demonstrator at Aston University before moving to the University of Plymouth to undertake a postgraduate research position studying for a PhD entitled; 'Ocular Accommodation in Humans'.  I was a Clinical Demonstrator on the BSc (hons) Optometry Programme at the University of Plymouth until I was awarded my PhD in 2017 and joined the academic lecturing team full-time and became a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.  On the undergraduate programme I held additional roles of Third-year tutor, Clinical lead, Head admissions tutor and Programme Lead.  I taught across numerous modules during this time including Clinical Skills, Ocular Pathology and Therapeutics, and Clinical Case Management.  I joined the MSc Applied Clinical Practice in Ophthalmology programme in 2023 and supervise MSc ACP research students.
I took a brief hiatus into a full-time clinical role as a Specialist Optometrist at the West of England Eye Unit working in acute eye care and paediatric ophthalmology clinics at the Royal Devon University Hospital Trust, and like to incorporate my clinical experiences into Problem-Based Learning to underpin the modules that I lead.  
I have a broad range of active research interests including: optometric public health and the accessibility of eye care, accommodation and the ciliary muscle, and the influence of lifestyle of ocular ageing. I have published in national and international peer-reviewed journal publications, and presented research internationally in the USA, Australia and Europe.

Qualifications

Diploma in Therapeutics (Independent Prescribing) - Aston University/College of Optometrists (2020)
PGCAP -University of Plymouth (2017)
PhD -Ocular Accommodation in Humans - University of Plymouth (2017)
BSc (Hons) Optometry -Cardiff University (2009)

Professional membership

Association of Optometrists
College of Optometrists
Registered with the General Optical Council

Roles on external bodies

Education Visitor Panel member for the General Optical Council 
Alcon Scholar
Teaching

Teaching

Teaching interests

Current Module Lead for 
  • ACO703 Acute Eye Care
  • ACO709 Advanced Paediatric Ophthalmology
Previous Module Lead
  • OPT604 Clinical Case Management Pharmacology and Ophthalmic Drugs
  • OPT507 Introduction to Pathology and Therapeutics
  • OPT302 General Optometric Practice 
Previous Module Teacher for 
  • OPT402/OPT105 Clinical Optometry Skills 1
  • SoHP401 Preparation for Professional Practice
  • OPT 201 Clinical Optometry Skills 2
  • OPT 202 Specialist Skills (including contact lenses)
Also contributed to
  • OPT603 Enhanced Pathology and Therapeutics
  • PARA301 Refining Practitioner Skills for Patient Care
  • ADV710 Pathomechanics and the Rehabilitation of Gait and Balance (Post-graduate module)
Research

Research

Research interests

Optometric Public Health
  • Accessibility of eye care services for: marginalised groups, ocular emergencies, rural and coastal communities.
  • Public perception of eye care and optometrists
Accommodation and presbyopia
  • Clinical uses of the Accommodative Facility Test
  • Ageing of the crystalline lens and ciliary body 
  • Effects of nutrition, UV exposure, smoking and exercise on the ageing of the crystalline lens/development of presbyopia

Grants & contracts

College of Optometrist Undergraduate Research Scholarship 2018 - £2000
Publications

Publications

Journals
Szostek, N, Buckhurst, H, Purslow, C, Drew, T, Collinson, A, & Buckhurst, P. (2018). Validation of Novel Metrics from the Accommodative Dynamic Profile. Vision. 2. 34.

Conference Papers
The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology: May 2018, Honolulu USA

Szostek N, Buckhurst H, Purslow C, Collinson A, and Buckhurst P. 2018 In vivo assessment of ciliary muscle morphology using swept source optical coherence tomography. Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci. 59 (9) 2948.

British Congress for Optometry and Vision Science: September 2016, Ulster UK

Presentation: Optimising the calculation methods for analysing depth of focus from defocus curves.