It is with great pride that we announce that the RRSV will welcome its third cohort of students/interns in 2026. Building on the success of 2022 and 2024, the Organizing Committee team is preparing a scientific program that will be as exciting and interesting as the first two editions. Don’t miss this unique opportunity in Quebec to discuss, over several days, in an enchanting setting with local and international vision researchers, and build relationships between students passionate about vision!
Promotional Clip on the VSRN Summer School
2026 Cohort
Mission
The Vision Restoration Summer School focuses on new concepts and cutting-edge research in vision science, the impacts of visual impairments, recovery of function, and restoration. World class faculty will provide insights into a broad range of current topics including retinal circuits and function, retinal degeneration and regeneration, vascular dysfunction, brain and perception, visual impairment and rehabilitation.
Our mission comprises three (3) main objectives:
- To train the next generation of vision scientists by exposing them to inspiring topics in an immersive environment;
- To provide extensive opportunities for student-faculty interactions and networking;
- To enhance the ability of students to pursue a successful career in vision science.
Join us for this unique opportunity to learn and share knowledge with experts and colleagues.
Scientific Program
Description
The Summer School will take place over 2 1/2 days (3 nights), from July 13 to 16 inclusively. Ten (10) guest speakers (international and local) will present a 50-minute lecture. Presentations will be given exclusively in English. Three main themes will be addressed: “Eye and retina, vision loss and restoration” (July 14), “Vision in the real world” and “From lab to patients” (July 15). Two workshops will also be presented to participants: “ Braille basics for vision science” and “Learn how the brain builds visual feature detectors with RetINaBox”.
Several awards were presented during the Summer School (recipients of the Suzanne-Véronneau-Troutman Chair, best oral and poster presentations)
Recipients
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Toolkit for a More Accessible Summer School
This toolkit helps conference organizers and presenters design conferences that are accessible, equitable, and inclusive, from the planning stages through to post-event follow-up. Based on the principles of universal design, it provides practical recommendations to promote meaningful participation for everyone. It places particular emphasis on the inclusion of people with disabilities, whether visible or invisible. While the examples focus primarily on individuals with vision loss, the needs of people with other types of disabilities should also be considered.
Johns Hopkins University Disability Health Research Center (DHRC) – TOOLKIT (May 2023)
Other languages available here.
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Documents to Download
Pictures
To come
Organizing Committee
Adriana Di Polo, Ph.D., Tenured professor, Centre de recherche du CHUM
Department of neurosciences, Université de Montréal, Montreal QC Canada
Stuart Trenholm, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI)
Department of neurology and neurosurgery, McGill University, Montreal QC Canada
Logistic Committee
Valérie Lavastre, Ph.D., VSRN Coordinator
Deborah Villafranca-Baughman, Ph.D., VSRN Assistant Coordinator
Email: reseau.vision@ircm.qc.ca
Monday July 8 to Thursday July 11 2024
Le Baluchon Éco-Villégiature, St-Paulin, Quebec
Participants Profile
Figure 1. Participant Status and Origin (for a total of 31 students)
Nearly 40% of the participants came from outside the province of Quebec.
A short survey conducted among the participants allowed us to learn the hometowns of some of them: Sherbrooke (Quebec), Trois-Rivières (Quebec), Vancouver (Canada), Calgary (Canada), Togo (Africa), Taraz (Kazakhstan), London (UK), Mexico City (Mexico), San Jose (Costa Rica), Talesh (Iran), and New Jersey (United States).
Scientific Program
The Summer School took place over two and a half days (three nights), from July 8 to 11 inclusive. In total, 10 invited speakers (both international and local) delivered 50-minute presentations. All participants presented a poster, and among these, 12 were selected by the organizing committee for oral presentation. Two patient-partners from Fighting Blindness Canada shared an insightful testimonial about their current reality as individuals living with visual impairment. Dr. Trenholm led a creative workshop entitled “Retina-in-a-box.” Working in small groups, the summer school participants had to complete circuits to make a rabbit move forward—a challenge that proved quite tricky for many teams! All presentations were given in English.
Organizing Committee
From Monday 25 to Thursday 28 July 2022
The Baluchon Eco-Resort , St-Paulin, Quebec
Origins outside Quebec
Fighting Blindness Canada (Ontario, CA), University of Toronto (Ontario, CA), University of Victoria (British Columbia, CA), University of Waterloo (Ontario, CA), University of Ottawa (Ontario, CA), Dalhousie University (Nova Scotia, CA), Harvard University (Boston, MA, USA), University of Rochester (NY, USA), University of Washington (WA, USA), University of California Los Angeles (CA, USA), Oregon Health & Science University (Portland, OR, USA) and University of Basel (Switzerland)
Assignment
The Vision Restoration Summer School will cover new concepts and the latest research advances in the biology, functions and restoration of vision. International speakers will inform you on a variety of topics including corneal regeneration, pain and dry eyes, retinal circuits and their functions, stem cells and photoreceptor replacement strategy, ganglion cell regeneration, vascular dysregulation, the brain and visual perception and finally, retinal rehabilitation and prosthetics.
Our mission includes three (3) main objectives
- Informing the next generation of vision scientists by exposing them to inspiring, timely topics within an immersive environment
- Promote interactions between students and researchers by creating opportunities for exclusive meetings while encouraging networking between them
- Encouraging access for students to pursue a rewarding career in the field of vision health
Join us for a unique experience of enrichment and knowledge sharing with experts in the field.
Scientific programming
The summer school lasted 2 and a half days (3 nights), from July 25 to 28, inclusive. In total, 10 invited speakers (international and local) presented their conference for a duration of 1 hour each. All presentations were in English. All participants presented a poster and among these, 12 were selected by the organizing committee to be presented orally.
Organizing Committee
Retina axis and posterior segment
Adriana Di Polo, Ph.D.
Professor, CHUM Research Center
Department of Neuroscience
University of Montreal, Montreal, Canada
Brain and perception axis
Stuart Trenholm, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Montreal Neurological Institute
Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery
McGill University, Montreal, Canada
Corneal axis and anterior segment
May Griffith, Ph.D.
Professor, Research Center
from Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital
Department of Ophthalmology
University of Montreal, Montreal, Canada
Visual impairment and rehabilitation axis
Walter Wittich, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, School of Optometry
Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery
University of Montreal, Montreal, Canada
Logistics Committee
Valerie Lavastre, Ph.D.
RRSV Coordinator
reseau.vision@ircm.qc.ca
514-987-5636
Deborah Villafranca-Baughman, MS.v.
deborah.villafranca.baughman@umontreal.ca
514-890-8000 #30240
For any questions regarding your registration or for any request for information about the Summer School, please contact the Logistics Committee.
