Islay’s core research focus is on quantitative methodologies for measuring both the prevalence and the impact of impairment and disability in surveys and programs, with an emphasis on the development of modular mobile data collection and analysis tools and building the capacity of local stakeholders to design, implement and analyse their own disability surveys.

Islay is ICEH's lead in coordinating the Rapid Assessment of Avoidable Blindness (RAAB) survey methodology, repository and community, including a new 2 year project with Peek Vision to rebuild RAAB as an end-to-end digital and cloud-based survey solution by the end of 2019. RAAB fieldwork is already underway in Palestine (2018), with further field tests planned for Zimbabwe (2018) and nested within the Gambia National Eye Health Survey (2019).

Alongside various research design, training and data analysis consulting roles, Islay has coordinated a number of international disability and eye health research projects at ICED/ICEH including:

-         2017 - 2018 Diabetic Retinopathy Screening Trials in India and Tanzania [data collection ongoing]

-         2016 National Survey of Disability in Guatemala [Reports] 

-         2015-2016 Measuring the Impact of Physical Rehabilitation Project in Myanmar [Report] 

-          2013-2014 Building the Evidence Base in Disability Project: Cameroon and India [Reports] [Article1] [Article2] [Article3]

-          2011-2012 The Child Disability Key Informant Project: Bangladesh and Pakistan [Report] [Article]

 Islay was also responsible for developing the Key Informant Working Guide  – a working guide for researchers and implementers wishing to use the Key Informant Approach to identifying children with disabilities in surveys and programs.

Islay represents ICED at the UNICEF Expert Group on Child Disability Measurement and the World Bank/CDC Washington Group on Disability Statistics. She has written several disability analysis blogs on SciDev.net and cbm.org (measuring disability article).

Islay has recently completed a Staff PhD based on her work on disability measurement - in particular the relationship between clinical impairment screening and reported activity limitations in population-based surveys.