Retina NZ has an ongoing commitment to supporting scientific and medical research that leads to better outcomes for us all in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of retinal disorders. We are also supportive of other research that might lead to a practical benefit to kiwis living with a visual impairment. Our research fund has been predominantly funded by the generous donations from members. In recent years, the strategic investing of the capital has seen the fund experience good growth of over 10% year on year.

In 2017 it was given a great boost with a generous bequest of $50,000. Our strategy is to wisely invest the capital to achieve strong growth and use the interest income to fund research projects. That way the capacity for ongoing research funding will endure in perpetuity.

In 2010 we donated $10,000 to the Genetic Eye Disease Investigation Unit (GEDI) at the University of Auckland. This was to assist with the establishment of a New Zealandwide patient database for people with inherited retinal disorders. The same year we also supported the “Walking into the Light” fundraiser for the database.

In recent years, we have funded a number of summer-studentship research projects. 

In the video below, summer-studentship grant recipient Jack Maran talks about a Diabetic Retinopathy research project he recently undertook, as well as explaining the significance of the outcomes that were achieved.