Background Michael Collins is a Professor in the School of Optometry and Vision Science at the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia. He graduated from QIT in 1977 with a Diploma of Applied Science (Optometry) and then worked as a clinical optometrist. He was appointed to the teaching staff at QIT in 1980 and went on to complete a Master of Applied Science degree in visual psychophysics in 1986 and a PhD in visual optics in 1996. His research laboratory, the Contact Lens and Visual Optics Laboratory, commenced in 1990 and specialises in myopia and the visual and optical characteristics of the eye and contact lenses. The laboratory has graduated 23 HDR students.