Aukje Maria Snijders, MA is Programme Manager at Royal Dutch Visio in the Netherlands where she is responsible for the International Knowledge Development and Innovation portfolio at Visio’s department of Expertise, Research and Improvement of Care. With a master in Contemporary East European History her academic background is far outside the field of Low Vision Research. However, she has been managing (research) funding in the socio economic field and the care sector for many years. Also, she has a vast experience in international project development and building international consortia in and outside academia, which she will use in her position as secretary of the ISLRR board. Aukje is also a board member of Enviter, the European Network for Vision Impairment Training, Education and Research which is a European network of service providers for rehabilitation of people with visual disabilities. She is actively involved in other relevant networks on Visual Impairment such as ICEVI and MDVI Euronet.