Blurred Jurisdictions: investigating the professional boundaries in Eye-Care in the UK

King’s Business School (King’s College London), Public Services Management & Organisation & College of Optometrists Collaborative PhD Studentship

King’s College London, in partnership with the College of Optometrists, is offering a PhD studentship to examine how optometrists cooperate with other eyecare and healthcare professionals. This doctoral project thereby investigates how optometrists maintain professional autonomy while navigating complex, multi-professional relationships.

The doctoral student will undertake case studies across diverse settings, including high street and independent practices, hospital eye departments, laser clinics, domiciliary services, and others. They will conduct qualitative interviews with eyecare and healthcare professionals and analyse professional magazines, conference proceedings and scholarly journals in the area of eyecare/health as well as government policy documents and reports related to eye health. The doctoral project will enhance our understanding of the optometry profession and the eyecare/health sector that scholars in management and organisation studies as well as in sociology have rarely investigated.

The student will benefit from being supervised by a team of social scientists based at King’s Business School and optometrists based at the College of Optometrists.

Project Details: The PhD will be supervised by Professor Dirk vom Lehn and Dr Juan Baeza (King’s Business School, PSMO) as well as by Michael Bowen (College of Optometrists).

Collaboration: The studentship is  supported by the Research and Knowledge department at the College of Optometrists , and the student will work closely with and be mentored by College of Optometrists staff. The student will have the opportunity of spending periods of time working at the College of Optometrists offices in London, with access to their Library and Information Services (including the physical specialist and historic library collections) and to the College’s museum and archives.

Qualifications and skills required: Applicants must have a 1^st or good 2:1 degree, preferably in a related social science discipline, and must hold a relevant master’s degree, that included a dissertation module.

Applicants will also be required to demonstrate some applied knowledge of qualitative research methodologies, including qualitative interviewing, ethnography, and document analysis. However, when joining the KBS PhD programme the student will receive support and training in both qualitative and quantitative research methods as part of the PhD.

Funding details:  

Stipend – £23,805 (for 2025-26)

Tuition fees –  Full Home and International fees for 2025-26)

Research training & support grant – £1,000 per year

Conference fees and UK fieldwork – £230 each year

Length of award: 4 years (PhD) (3 years full time + 1 year writing up)

Deadline: The closing date for applications is 31 March 2026.  Short-listed applicants can expect to be interviewed within 2 weeks of the closing date.

Further information

You can email Prof Dirk vom Lehn (dirk.vom_lehn@kcl.ac.uk) for an informal discussion about this studentship.