SCONe - Scottish Collaborative Optometry-Ophthalmology Network EResearch

Data Conversations is a public engagement project exploring what health data means to people, through dialogue across generations.

It was co-designed by SCONe researchers together with the SCONe Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) Group, comprising six members aged 50+ with lived experience of eye disease and one 17-year-old participant.

The term ‘data’ covers a wide range of information, which can make it challenging for the public to engage in discussions about data research. The project team worked with members of the public to break down complex ideas into tangible examples. They explored the implications of using – or not using – health data in research about disease prevention, care and early detection.

Data Conversations was funded by Research Data Scotland.

Usher Institute 2 likes. "Data Conversations Bridging Generations"

Our Spring newsletter is out now! Follow the link in the comments below to view it in full on our website.

Our paper describing the SCONe dataset has been selected as one of BMJ Health & Care Informatics Top 10 Best Papers of 2025!

'SCONe: a community-acquired retinal image repository enabling ocular, cardiovascular and neurodegenerative disease prediction'
https://informatics.bmj.com/content/32/1/e101236

The paper acts as an introduction to the SCONe dataset, describing the characteristics of the cohort and highlighting its enormous potential to support research into earlier detection of disease.

Since publication, we have expanded the SCONe cohort significantly; the total number of images now stands at just under 1.5 million. We are in the process of writing and submitting a number of new papers to journals, which will provide further insight into our progress since then.

𝗦𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘄𝘀! 📰

SCONe has recently featured in a number of media articles by Optometry Today, Optician, Eye News, Fight for Sight, ACCORD (The University of Edinburgh and NHS Lothian) and more!

"𝘈 𝘚𝘤𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩 𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘴𝘦𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘢𝘧𝘦𝘨𝘶𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘦𝘺𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘮𝘢𝘫𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘦.

𝘏𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘴 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘭𝘢𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥, 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘱 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘤𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘢𝘨𝘯𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘥𝘦𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘺𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴."

We are extremely grateful to the Scottish optometrists and optometry practices who came forward to participate, without whom this project would have not been possible.

You can find the links to the full articles here:
https://clinical-sciences.ed.ac.uk/scone/news-and-updates