Kathryn Rose is Professor and Head of Discipline (Orthoptics) at the University of Technology Sydney. She has a career long interest in children’s eye health relating to vision screening and impacts of refractive error, strabismus and amblyopia on the wellbeing of children and adolescents. Originally trained as an orthoptist (University of Sydney) and later as a neuroscientist (John Curtin School of Medical Research, Australian National University) she plays a leading role in Australian large epidemiology studies examining environmental and genetic risk factors that influence childhood eye development and lead the research of the effects of time spent outdoors on the development of myopia. She also works collaboratively with international groups, including those in China, to further explore the role of light in development of the eye.