Karen Hampson

Karen Hampson is a Senior Lecturer in Optometry at the University of Manchester, serving as the first-year Optics Theme Lead. Her research focuses on adaptive optics systems for vision science, particularly using retinal imaging technology for early diagnosis of neurodegenerative and psychiatric diseases. She is a member of the Consortium for Vision and Oculomics in Psychiatry and co-founder of the European Adaptive Optics Summer School.

Education: MPhys (Swansea University, 2000), PhD in Physics (Imperial College London, 2004), Post-Graduate Certificate in Higher Education Practice, and SEDA Professional Development Award. She trained in Transactional Analysis Psychotherapy and mental health first aid.

Research interests include adaptive optics applications across vision science, microscopy, and astronomy. She led an EPSRC-funded project on pre-symptomatic disease diagnosis via ocular biomarkers. Key roles include Chair of Optica’s Applications of Visual Science Technical Group (2021–2024) and Associate Editor for Frontiers in Ophthalmology.

Teaching contributions include senior laboratory roles at Oxford’s Physics Department and tutorial leadership at Corpus Christie College. Her work aligns with UN SDG targets for health and innovation.