Jayden Jap, a fourth-year optometry student at Queensland University of Technology (QUT), has been recognised with the mivision award for communication at the QUT student awards for the 2025 academic year.
Mr Jap, who received the award for a poster he developed to communicate the main risk factors for myopia to parents and children, said he felt “ecstatic – and also quite surprised” to be awarded for a project that combined his lived experience with myopia, learned clinical knowledge, and creativity.
“I didn’t know awards like this existed… If you spend hours upon hours upon hours studying and getting the highest mark, that should be awarded. However, this assignment was not so much about how many hours you put in the books, but more about spreading a message, and having an interest. I actually had a lot of fun on this assignment – I’m someone who does enjoy designing things.”
Mr Jap said studying myopia at university and considering key messages to communicate in his poster had been a personal experience.
it is targeted at both parents and kids so that they can not only learn about what myopia is but then build better habits to stop it
“My poster highlights the risks of myopia and the habits to avoid. Essentially, it is targeted at both parents and kids so that they can not only learn about what myopia is but then build better habits to stop it.”
“As someone who’s been wearing glasses since I was eight years old, when developing the poster, I got to learn and reflect about my own history and experience, and see exactly how my myopia developed over the years.
“I now have insight into everything that I was doing, and could have been doing, over the years, that might have changed the trajectory of my own myopia. It was like studying myself, and my past self, and I became interested to know the effect that a poster like this could have on outcomes.”
Students Awarded
The QUT School of Optometry and Vision Science presented awards to the following students:
CooperVision Australia Contact Lens Prize: Anderson Som.
Johnson and Johnson MedTech – Vision Made Possible Prize: Ebony Massa.
mivision Media Communication Award: Jayden Jap.
Optometry Queensland and Northern Territory First-Year Prize: Summer Clare.
Optometry Queensland and Northern Territory Final-Year Prize: Olivia Almond.
Optometry Queensland and Northern Territory Peter Swann Prize for Achievement in Eye Diseases: Anthony Tran.
