Our Trustees

In 2019, Carol exited Polarn O Pyret, a Swedish childrenswear company, after leading the retail division for 12 years and contributing to its growth from a start-up business to a multi-channel operation of solus stores, concessions, and website. The role involved defining a brand ambassador approach to build brand awareness, through a network of contacts across the UK and Ireland, along with change management and development of an entrepreneurial culture of trust and loyalty across the retail teams and customers.

Alongside holding various positions within the retail sector over the last 20 years, Carol also supported the growth and development of the Blue Cross animal charity over a similar length of time. Carol has also held officer roles for her local political party, which involved communication, strategic planning and organisational development. Carol has been a donor to Sight Research UK since 2002. She joined the Board of Trustees in January 2020 and was elected as the Board's new Chair in June 2021.

Philip is currently the Product Director for Specsavers, a privately held optical business. In this role Philip holds the responsibility for the product offering across the Specsavers operations in Europe. His experience stretches from operations, supply chain, marketing and commercial delivery. With over 25 years’ experience working with consumer facing organisations, Philip’s focus is on helping businesses build their brand and deliver the best possible customer proposition. A Trustee of Sight Research UK for over two years, Philip is excited about the prospect of supporting the charity to develop its own proposition and ultimately improve eye health for all. Philip joined the Board of Trustees in July 2018 and was elected Vice-Chair in September 2021.

Simon is a qualified accountant who has worked in senior roles in the public, private and charitable sectors. He is currently the Finance Director of a community charity in Bristol. Simon’s career has focused on improving financial results, sustainability, governance and business partnering. He has wide-ranging experience in devising financial strategies for organisations and is also a qualified business coach.

Simon joined the Board of Sight Research UK in February 2021 as Trustee and Treasurer.

Dolores has a degree in Biochemistry and a PhD in Pharmacology and spent her research career studying the role of inflammation in asthma at University of Sherbrooke, Canada, and Imperial College London. In 2004, she took the post of Principal Scientist at Mercia Pharma Inc. working on the development of disease-specific immunotherapeutic vaccines for autoimmune and chronic diseases.

In 2008, Dolores joined Fight for Sight where she became its first Director of Research shaping the charity's research strategy and overseeing its implementation. Since January 2018, Dolores has been the project manager for the ORNATE-India study, which aims to build research capacity and capability to tackle the burden of blindness due to diabetic retinopathy in India. She is based at the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology and is responsible for the day-to-day management of this UK-India collaboration.

Dolores became a Trustee of Sight Research UK in January 2019.