Following the 2025 Richard Wilson Essay Prize competition, we are delighted to announce our winners.
First Prize:Â Yasaman Salari, Academic Foundation Year 2 Doctor, York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals
Runner Up: Saw Yu Waddi Nwe, Final Year Medical Student, Queen’s University Belfast
Third Prize: Jaskaran Singh, Medical Graduate, Swansea University
The Nystagmus Network runs an annual essay competition in memory of the late Richard Wilson OBE the former chair of trustees, to encourage nystagmus research and exploration.
The 2025 essay question was ‘What are the barriers to nystagmus research and how can they be overcome?’ Our winners each presented well-reasoned arguments with thoughtful solutions.
Yasaman Salari received her first-place prize on 25 November in London with Nystagmus Network trustee and research committee chair, Harshal Kubavat and charity volunteer, Anthony Blackman.
As part of their prize, both Yasaman and Saw were given the opportunity to speak about their research for their essays at the International Nystagmus Network Symposium 2025. The symposium hosted over 190 delegates from 27 countries spreading awareness and encouraging research into nystagmus. Their impressive reports inspired conversation and drew questions from seasoned nystagmus researchers, clinicians and academics.
Runner up, Saw said ‘I learnt a lot about nystagmus and myself whilst writing this essay’.
The winner, Yasaman is now an Ophthalmology Research Fellow at Sussex Eye Hospital.
Congratulations to Yasaman, Saw and Jaskaran, from everyone at the Nystagmus Network.
The Richard Wilson Essay Prize 2026 is now launched. Details here.
