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Northern Ophthalmic Research and Innovation (NORI) Institute

The Northern Ophthalmic Research and Innovation (NORI) Institute provides health intelligence that helps predict, detect, and prevent disease. We link routine eye imaging with NHS and civic data and apply AI and advanced analytics to turn insights into deployable technologies and care pathways.

Northern Opthalmic Research and Innovation (NORI) Institute colour iris logo
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NORI focuses on a simple but powerful idea: the eye can reveal early signs of many serious diseases long before symptoms appear. Every year, millions of routine eye scans take place across the NHS and in the community. We bring these scans together, securely and responsibly, with health and community data in a joined-up, AI-ready system to improve health outcomes at pace and scale.

NORI was established as a long-term, cross-institutional platform for data science, device innovation, and translational health research. It's built on a strategic co-investment of more than £5m between:

  • University of Sunderland
  • Durham University
  • Newcastle University
  • The new £36m purpose-built Sunderland Specialist Eye Hospital at South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Trust (STSFT)
  • Sunderland City and South Tyneside local authorities.

We're a national INSIGHT centre – the Health Data Research (HDR) UK Hub for Eye Health, enabled through UKRI funding (£3.7M MRC/NIHR-funded project) – and supported by system and industry partners from across the globe.

Thematic areas

Our work focuses on five core programmes:

  1. Prevention and early detection: We use frontier imaging technologies and advanced analytical tools to reveal hidden patterns in complex data. This provides insight on how diseases cluster and interact across communities. It also helps determine how best to target prevention and intervention in a fair and effective way.
  2. Health beyond hospitals: We support the development of smaller, more affordable eye imaging devices and community-based diagnostic models. This shifts care closer to home and enables earlier monitoring and self-management.
  3. Place-based innovation and system integration: We develop and test new innovative health solutions in real-world settings. We work with NHS, civic, and industry partners to embed them into care and scale what works.
  4. Workforce and capability development: We build the workforce needed for prevention-led, data-enabled care. This includes defining new roles, skills, and training across the life sciences.
  5. Enabling infrastructure: We build the secure data platforms, AI tools, and technical systems that connect complex multisource data. This supports early detection, insight generation, and deployment at scale.

Institute governance

NORI operates as a distributed institute across partner organisations. We embed leadership and delivery across academia, the NHS, and civic partners.

Advisory board

Get involved

Learn more about NORI, attend events, or get involved in shaping our research through public involvement (PPIE). Contact nori@sunderland.ac.uk.

Work with us

We welcome partnerships, contract research, and collaboration to inform policy and real-world deployment. Contact nori@sunderland.ac.uk.

Study with us

NORI supports academic clinical fellows (ACFs). We also welcome enquiries from motivated and qualified applicants from around the world who are interested in postgraduate research study.

Across our research themes, NORI PhDs operate at the interface of:

  • Biomedical imaging
  • Health data science
  • Clinical translation
  • Digital infrastructure.

You'll work with large-scale linked datasets, NHS partners, and industry collaborators to move from methodological innovation to real-world deployment.

Our current fully-funded PhD studentship opportunities include: