MOORFIELDS EYE HOSPITAL NHS FOUNDATION TRUST

Their core work

Moorfields Eye Hospital is the UK's leading specialist eye hospital and one of the largest centres for ophthalmic treatment, teaching, and research in the world. Within H2020, they contribute clinical expertise and patient cohorts to European research on age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and advanced eye imaging diagnostics. Their role centres on validating clinical endpoints, testing retinal imaging methods, and applying optical coherence tomography to improve diagnosis of eye diseases. As an NHS Foundation Trust, they bridge the gap between laboratory research and real-world clinical application in ophthalmology.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Moorfields' early H2020 involvement (2015–2017) centred on understanding the genetic and non-genetic causes of AMD and developing validated clinical endpoints for measuring disease progression, with a strong focus on retinal imaging and patient-reported outcomes. Their later projects (2018 onward) shifted toward imaging-based personalised diagnostics, incorporating optical coherence tomography and corneal biomechanics — moving from understanding disease mechanisms to building customised diagnostic tools. This suggests a progression from clinical research toward digital health and precision ophthalmology.

Moorfields is moving from disease-focused clinical research toward digital imaging and personalised diagnostic technologies, making them increasingly relevant for medtech and AI-in-ophthalmology collaborations.

How they like to work

Moorfields participates exclusively as a partner or third party — they have not coordinated any H2020 projects, which is typical for a clinical institution that contributes patient data, clinical expertise, and validation capabilities rather than leading research design. They work in substantial consortia (38 unique partners across 9 countries), indicating comfort with large, multi-national projects. Their dual role in IMCUSTOMEYE (as both participant and third party) suggests they provide specialised clinical services that extend beyond a standard partner contribution.

Moorfields has collaborated with 38 unique partners across 9 countries, reflecting broad European reach through large health and digital consortia. Their network likely spans major ophthalmology research centres and medical imaging groups across Western Europe.

What sets them apart

Moorfields is not a university lab — it is a world-renowned specialist eye hospital with direct access to large patient populations, clinical data, and frontline ophthalmic practice. This makes them uniquely valuable for any consortium that needs real-world clinical validation of eye diagnostics, imaging tools, or treatment endpoints. Few partners can offer both the clinical infrastructure and the research credibility that Moorfields brings to ophthalmology projects.

Highlights from their portfolio

• MACUSTAR
  Largest funding (EUR 361,903) — focused on developing and validating clinical outcome measures for intermediate AMD, a critical unmet need in ophthalmology trials.
• IMCUSTOMEYE
  Moorfields participated both as a partner and third party, suggesting deep clinical involvement in this imaging-based personalised eye diagnostics project.