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).

• 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.

Sara Catela Monteiro is a psychologist at the Centre pour le Développement pour les Compétences relatives à la Vue (CDV). Her PhD focused on the development of a national large-scale screening tool for Cerebral Visual Impairment-related difficulties in Grade 1, resulting from a collaboration between the CDV and the Luxembourg Centre for Educational Testing (LUCET).

Adrien is a researcher in the Visualisation and Interaction Group at the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology, passionately working on innovative interactions and interfaces. He holds a PhD in Science (Computer Science) from the University of Mons, where he was part of the Software Engineering Lab, and under the co-supervision of the Faculty of Architecture and Urban planning. Since joining LIST in 2022, Adrien has mainly worked on enabling mixed-presence collaboration for Wall-Sized Displays, through custom-built human behaviour analysis software and multimodal interfaces, replacing natural workspace awareness cues (e.g. pointing and gazing) that would otherwise be lost for remote collaborators.

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.

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.

Astrid Hönekopp is a psychologist and neuroscientist. At the Department of Rehabilitation Sciences at TU Dortmund University, her research focused on the prevalence of myopia in school children and the measurement of light exposure as an environmental factor in myopia development. She currently works in the German public health sector as a data analyst.

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.

Frank Laemers is a research associate at the University of Education Heidelberg. He works in the field of education for individuals who are blind or visually impaired, focusing on teacher training and academic research. After studying education for the blind and visually impaired at the University of Dortmund, he was employed there as a research associate from 1998 to 2006. During this time, he coordinated the EU project „Low Vision in Early Intervention“ and contributed to the development of the project „Inclusive Services and Rehabilitation“ (ISaR).
From 2006 to 2011, he worked at various schools for students with visual impairments, specializing in early intervention, itinerant teaching, and low vision counseling. Since 2011, he has been affiliated with the University of Education Heidelberg. His research and teaching focus on children and adolescents with Cerebral Visual Impairment (CVI), Low Vision, Inclusive Education and Early Intervention in the context of VI.

Associate Professor Dr habil. Sabine Lauber-Pohle Philipps University of Marburg Institute of Education Head of the Centre for Visual Impairment Education in the Context of Lifelong Learning Head of cooperation between the Institute of Education and the German Institute for the Blind in Marburg.
My research focuses on rehabilitation for blindness and visual impairment in old age, professional development in this context, inclusion, organisational development and inclusive adult education.
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7959-3579
Curriculum Vitae: Born in Munich in 1976. Studied Education at Philipps University Marburg. Doctorate on 'Social Network Formation and Online Learning' (2016). Habilitation on 'Inclusive Adult Education for Blindness and Visual Impairment' (2022). Appointed Associate Professor for Blind and Visually Impaired Education at Philipps University Marburg. Academic Director of the Continuing Education Master's Programme in 'Visual Impairment Education' and the Certificate Course 'Fundamentals of Inclusive Education in the Context of Blindness and Visual Impairment'. Editor of "blind-sehbehindert".

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.

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.

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. Marie-Luise Schütt is the Coordinator for Accessible Learning at Schools and Universities at the University of Hamburg (Germany). She received her doctorate in 2014 from the University of Hamburg in the field of education for blind and visually impaired people. Dr. Marie-Luise Schütt has successfully initiated and coordinated various projects in the field of teacher training for inclusive education, accessibility at schools and universities, and education for the blind and visually impaired.

Sonja Ugen is an Associate Professor in Educational Testing and Head of the Luxembourg Centre for Educational Testing (LUCET). Her main research interests encompass typical and atypical learning, as well as test development for multilingual contexts, with a particular focus on reading, writing, and mathematics.
With a background in developmental psychology and psycholinguistics, she has acquired experience in (large-scale) standardised test development through her role in setting up the national school monitoring programme. Her interests extend from educational to psychological testing. In this context, LUCET has recently developed specific test batteries aimed at diagnosing developmental learning disorders within a multilingual school population. Along the same lines, bridging large-scale and diagnostic testing, she has supervised a PhD project to develop a large-scale visual screening tool. To this end, LUCET works closely with the national competency centres.

Dr. Lydia Unterberger is a Clinical Neuropsychologist, Psychological Psychotherapist for children, adolescents and adults, and holds a Diploma in Psychology. Since 2021, she has been running her own practice in Munich, where she offers neuropsychological diagnostics and therapy for CVI (Cerebral Visual Impairment), among other services. In parallel, she works as a regular lecturer at different institutions and is active as a supervisor, lecturer and speaker, particularly in the fields of CVI and clinical neuropsychology. She is currently representing the German Society for Neuropsychology (Gesellschaft für Neuropsychologie e.V.) as a mandate holder in the development of the new guideline for CVI. Before founding her practice, she established and led a multidisciplinary counseling center for CVI at the Sehbehinderten- und Blindenzentrum Südbayern (SBZ). Dr. Unterberger wrote her dissertation on CVI and worked as a research associate in a research project between LMU and SBZ that focused on developing neuropsychological diagnostic standards and therapeutic methods for CVI.

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.

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.