Ching Yi is currently completing her PhD and is a graduate representative of the Cookson Scholar program between the University of Melbourne and University of Manchester. The focus of her PhD is understanding the healthy diurnal patterns of ocular surface neuro-immune biology and physiology and tear composition in human and animal models using mice. Understanding these aspects will provide further understanding about relationships between subclinical changes on the ocular surface and feelings of discomfort with conditions such as dry eye disease and contact lens wear discomfort. Her first published paper describes a newly identified population of immune cells in the mouse eyelid margin called meibomian gland orifice associated immune cells (MOICs). She is currently completing a project investigating if these cells are also present in healthy human eyelids at the University of Manchester, United Kingdom. Ching Yi is also a fully qualified and therapeutically endorsed Clinical Optometrist and graduated in 2015. Her other achievements during her PhD include a Travel Grant from Optometry Australia and a co-authored review on corneal immune cell morphology (2021), Best Rapid Fire presentation at the Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences Conference (2022), Academic Choice award at the Melbourne School of Health Sciences Colloquium (2022), Best Biology Presentation at the Department of Pharmacy and Optometry Showcase in Manchester (2023), and reached the grand finals of the 3-minute thesis competition at both the University of Melbourne (2022) and Manchester (2023).