Insight

Prof. Dr. Sven Degenhardt, University of Hamburg
Dr. Sven Degenhardt has been Professor of Education for learners with blindness and low vision at the Faculty of Education at the University of Hamburg since 1996. He is a teacher of mathematics and physics (Diploma equivalent to M.Ed.) and a teacher for the visually impaired (Diploma equivalent to M.A.) and holds a doctorate in education from Humboldt University Berlin. His teaching and research projects focus on the following areas: development cooperation, the representation of blind and visually impaired people in (mass) media, assistive technologies for blind and visually impaired people, physiological optics, Accessibility in infrastructure (buildings, interior and workplace design, lighting, …) and universal design, and quality and evaluation. He became an honorary professor at Nanjing Technical College of Special Education in 2006 and at He College of Ophthalmology & Visual Science in Shenyang in 2008, and has been a co-opted member of the Institute of Education at Philipps University of Marburg since 2010. He is currently vice Special Needs Officer for Students with Disabilities or Chronic Illnesses at the University of Hamburg and a member of the board of The Association for the Education of Blind and Visually Impaired Persons (VBS).

Professor John Ravenscroft, PhD (Chair of Childhood Visual Impairment) is Director of the Scottish Sensory Centre, University of Edinburgh. He was Editor in Chief of the British Journal of Visual Impairment for over 13 years and is the current President of the International Council for Educators of Children with Visual Impairment (ICEVI) Europe).

He is known for his work on cerebral visual impairment and his “Conversations about CVI” have been views thousands of times on Youtube. Professor Ravenscroft is the course leader at the University of Edinburgh’s Cerebral Visual Impairment module for teachers of children with visual impairment. He is currently working on various research projects on cerebral visual impairment, large scale childhood registers and imaging.

He publishes on Vision, Cerebral Visual Impairment, Research Methods and Inclusion

Dr Nicola McDowell is a Senior Lecturer and researcher in the Institute of Education at Massey University, New Zealand. As founder and creator of the Austin Assessment—a groundbreaking screening app for cerebral visual impairment (CVI)—she has developed innovative tools to identify and address CVI-related visual challenges.
Her research centres on understanding and supporting individuals with CVI across all age groups, with particular emphasis on empowering those with the condition and their families while advancing educational equity. Drawing from both professional expertise and personal experience with CVI, Dr McDowell actively engages in knowledge translation through academic presentations, community talks, and accessible blog writing.
Her dual perspective as researcher and individual with lived experience of CVI uniquely positions her to bridge the gap between academic research and practical application, ultimately working to improve identification, support, and outcomes for the CVI community around the world.

Throughout my clinical career as a paediatric ophthalmologist at Bristol Eye Hospital and as a researcher, I have been interested in visual development. I have worked with the ALSPAC birth cohort study for many years and examined the predictors, outcomes and timecourse of different aspects of visual function including refractive error and stereopsis (3D vision). In my clinical role as a Consultant Paediatric Ophthalmologist at Bristol Eye Hospital (in Southwest UK_ I have an interest in children with both visual and neurodevelopmental difficulties and I run a specialist clinic for them.
Between 2010-2022 I was supported by two NIHR Senior Research Fellowships to develop and evaluate services for children with cerebral visual impairment (CVI). The programme of work was called the CVI Project and involved studies investigating the prevalence, impact and support for cerenral visual iimpairment (CVI) in primary school aged children (4-11 years in UK).

Fabian Winter has been Professor of Education in the Field of Visual Impairment at the Zurich University of Teacher Education in Special Needs (HfH) since 2021. He graduated from the TSVI program (Teacher for Students with Visual Impairments) in Heidelberg and spent several months at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver as part of his doctoral research on dual-media use (braille and print). His teaching and research focus on braille literacy, instructions and diagnostics in the context of visual impairment, and access technologies.
Since 2021, he has been part of a team adapting and standardizing the Intelligence and Development Scales 2 (IDS-2) for learners with visual impairments.

Dr. Lydia Unterberger ist Klinische Neuropsychologin, Psychologische Psychotherapeutin für Kinder, Jugendliche und Erwachsene sowie Diplom-Psychologin. Seit 2021 führt sie eine eigene Praxis in München und bietet dort u.a. neuropsychologische Diagnostik und Therapie bei CVI/VVWS (Cerebral Visual Impairment/ dt. Visuelle Wahrnehmungs- und Verarbeitungsstörungen) an. Parallel ist sie als regelmäßige Lehrbeauftragte u.a. an der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU) sowie an Fort- und Ausbildungsinstituten tätig und als Supervisorin, Dozentin und Referentin, v.a. in den Bereichen CVI und klinische Neuropsychologie aktiv. Aktuell vertritt sie die Gesellschaft für Neuropsychologie e.V. als Mandatsträgerin bei der Konzeption der neuen S2k-Leitlinie CVI. Seit 2018 engagiert sie sich als Vorsitzende der AG CVI des Vereins für Blinden- und Sehbehindertenpädagogik e.V. für die Weiterentwicklung des Fachbereichs.
Vor Gründung ihrer Praxis gründete und leitete sie die multidisziplinäre Beratungsstelle für visuelle Wahrnehmungsstörungen am Sehbehinderten- und Blindenzentrum Südbayern (SBZ) und arbeitete dort im psychologischen Fachdienst. Frau Unterberger verfasste ihre Dissertation über CVI arbeitete hierfür als wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin in einem Forschungsprojekt von LMU und SBZ, das sich mit der Entwicklung neuropsychologischer diagnostischer Standards und therapeutischer Methoden von CVI beschäftigte.

Michèle Mazeau, médecin de rééducation et réadaptation fonctionnelles, a toujours pratiqué la neuropsychologie. A partir des années 1960-80, en lien avec l’essor des neurosciences cognitives et des découvertes concernant la compréhension du développement cognitif, elle s’est spécialisée dans le diagnostic et la prise en soins d’enfants souffrant de divers handicaps (moteurs, auditifs, visuels), et plus particulièrement ceux porteurs de troubles "dys". Elle a travaillé dans différents hôpitaux et Services publics en région parisienne, s'intéressant particulièrement aux conséquences de ces troubles dans les apprentissages et à l’inclusion scolaire. Désormais retraitée, elle transmet son expérience via des formations, des conférences et de nombreux ouvrages.

Rehabilitation educationist, Bochum University, Bochum, Germany and Klinikum Dortmund gGmbH, Dortmund, Germany
Professorship for Rehabilitation Sciences at Bochum University of Applied Sciences. Key area: Children and youth with visual impairment. Funded by Waldtraut und Sieglinde Hildebrandt-Stiftung.
Head of the the German-wide first “Seh-Lotsen-Sprechstunde (SLS)” at Klinikum Dortmund gGmbH
Leading the consortium project SLS: Development of a training course for interprofessional counselling and research at the interface of health care and education in social pediatric centres in Germany. Bochum University of Applied Sciences, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Sozialpädiatrie und Jugendmedizin (DGSPJ) & Klinikum Dortmund gGmbH. 2024-2026, funded by the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space.

• Degree in medicine and special education University of Cologne
• Specialist in pediatrics and adolescent medicine, child neurology
• 2005 Pediatric Neurology Center Sana (KNZ) Clinics Düsseldorf, 2008 Senior physician
o since 2009 Head of the Department Movement Disorders and Cerebral Palsy
o since 2023 Chief physician in a collegial system
• Head of the “Seh-Lotsen (SLS)” working group in social pediatric centers (SPZ) in the central quality
group of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Sozialpädiatrie und Jugendmedizin (DGSPJ)
• Scientific expert advisor in the consortium project SLS: Development of a training course for
interprofessional counselling and research at the interface of health care and education in social
pediatric centres in Germany. Bochum University of Applied Sciences, DGSPJ & Klinikum Dortmund
gGmbH. 2024-2026, funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research of Germany.

Anne Henriksen studied education for the blind and visually impaired at the University of Hamburg and has worked at the State Support Center for Vision in Schleswig since 1989.
She is a low-vision trainer (Swiss Central Association for the Blind) and a Systemic therapist and consultant (SG). Her professional activities focus on the area of Low Vison as well as supporting children and adolescents with complex disabilities and visual impairments and their teachers and parents.
She has a teaching assignment at the University of Hamburg's Institute for Special Education since 2002, with a special educational focus on low vision and among many other activities she has been a lecturer for many years at the Johann Wilhelm Klein Academy, Würzburg and the University of Marburg.

Study of special education at the University of Hamburg
From 1989 to 2014, special education teacher at the State Support Center for Vision, Schleswig
From 2024 to 2025, scientific Assistant at the University of Hamburg
Main focus of work are counseling in educational context, educational work with people with complex disabilities and assistance for students with special needs.

Wanda Diaz Merced. PhD from the University of Glasgow in Scotland. Currently working at Science In Braille Institute of the Royal Academy of Sciences International Trys at the University of LIsbon, Wanda worked at the European Gravitational Observatory in Pisa, Italy, the South African Observatory in Cape Town, SouthAfrica and the National Astronomical Observatory in Japan While performing as a postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics wanda evidenced through careful perception experiments that the use of sound increases the expert sighted astronomer sensitivity to events in the telemetry that by nature are undetectable to the human eye. Wanda has applied the use of audio analysis of data to high-energy astrophysics, gravitational waves, and cosmic rays. She has worked with different subjects in astronomy, specializing in using audio as an adaptive basis of expansion to figure out mathematics corresponding to the nature of space physics. Through Science in Braille, Wanda, researchers how to implement and mathematically model human perception into scientific data analysis, machine learning, medicine and all fields of sciences, sustains dialogs with policymakers and local organizations to work for science to make a transition from a visual technological economy to a multisensorial economy that will support and enhance the way people have to perform at their own maximum to produce better science.

Dr Kathleen Vancleef is an Associate Professor in Cognitive Neuroscience at Durham University in the United Kingdom and supported by a National Institute of Health and care Research Advanced Fellowship. She completed her PhD in 2013 at University of Leuven (Belgium). In 2018, she started her independent research career with a Stroke Association Postdoctoral Fellowship at University of Oxford (UK) before moving to Durham University (UK) in 2021.

Expertise: Her research focuses on improving assessment and rehabilitation of visual perception difficulties after a brain injury through development of clinical tools grounded in cognitive neuroscience and supported by thorough validation studies.