The Arclight Project is a social enterprise based in the School of Medicine at the University of St Andrews.
We enable those working in low to middle income countries to equip, train and empower health workers of all grades to confidently diagnose and manage eye and ear disease. Frugal kit and targeted learning helps users can make on-the-spot decisions themselves.
Teaching videos
Visual Acuity
Ophthalmoscopy
Fundal Reflex
Anterior Segment
Arclight
Wilson
Sim eye/ear
Holo BIO (end 2024)
Philosophy
The growing team is made up of active clinical practitioners, designers, artists and inter-professional education experts. Our mantra is to: simplify, use plain language, and to keep iterating towards clever, scalable, low-cost solutions. Less really is more.
Solar panels and LEDs in sleek designs create robust instruments, ideal for use in low resource settings. No replacing blown bulbs, no worrying if the battery is dead, just easy-to-use yet powerful devices.
Workshops and Research
Hands-on workshops using simulation eyes/ears in India, Africa and Central America over many years have helped us refine and tailor teaching to the actual needs of those working on the ground.
Take a look at some workshop ideas
This pragmatic and focused approach has slowly and steadily led to worldwide adoption. Over 40,000 devices have been distributed and are being used every day by students, rural health workers, nurses, GP’s, Vets and experienced hospital specialists alike.