A day in the life of a student at the BCLA Focus conference

I regard myself be fortunate to be able to be a part of BCLA. As a PhD student at Aston University, I believe this to be one of those rare opportunities where I was given exposure to one of the most prominent forums in the field of contact lenses where I met amazing researchers, clinicians and business representatives. It was a great platform to meet various personalities, not only to get to know them but as a way of introducing myself. As a volunteer, I was enabled with the responsibility of making sure the members were in the right place and helping with scanning their badges which led to earning CPD points. The tasks were easy and were well explained. In return for this work, I was allowed to attend various lectures, I particularly found topics like myopia management and new ways to improve contact lens practice extremely interesting. I was also responsible to help manage the number of people attending a workshop and in exchange, I got to attend them as well. Workshops on screral lenses, dry eye - diagnosis and its management were so insightful. Volunteers were given enough breaks and time to visit exhibitions. It was wonderful to see new and innovative products and technologies to improve ocular health and its management. Overall it was a great platform to learn,  work, interact and make connections and also helped me boost my confidence.  I would love to do the same next year if given the opportunity.