The team behind the upcoming O=MEGA23/WCO4 conference have revealed applied research and collaboration will be core themes of the upcoming event, taking place in Melbourne from 8-10 September 2023.
The conference will consist of five concurrent streams featuring up to five sessions per hour with some sessions delivered by several rotating speakers, in addition to large lectures.
For the first time, O=MEGA23, the biggest eyecare and eyewear fair in Australia, combines with the fourth World Congress of Optometry, to create the most credentialed and largest optometric clinical conference in the Southern Hemisphere.
Melbourne optometrist Mr Timothy Lo, an Optometry Victoria South Australia board member and program director for the event, said the program is unique, and will be a first for Australia due to its global focus and diversity of topics.
“Speakers have all participated in a competitive submission process, and I can confirm it will be a very strong evidence-based program,” he said. “From what I’ve seen so far, there will be significant and cutting-edge content.”
Lo said the partnership with the World Council of Optometry has given O=MEGA a far larger scope than previous events, and the combined program will be the largest Australian event the sector has ever seen.
“A key focus will be the innovative research that can be applied in the clinical practice, and a core theme of the event is collaboration. The breadth and depth of the program is something we are getting very excited about,” Lo said.
“The goal is to provide optometrists around the globe and Australia the opportunity to interact with a host of key speakers and international researchers and see how their work is relevant on the global stage.”
In collaboration with Indigenous Allied Health Australia (IAHA) and other outstanding speakers from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, the program will also incorporate indigenous and cultural diversity sessions in a new format.
The bi-annual O=MEGA event is the biggest in the Southern hemisphere, while the World Congress of Optometry is an international event hosted in a different city across the world also on a bi-annual basis. The partnership is a unique alignment and rare opportunity to combine a national and international audience to create the largest optometry conference in the country.
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