Access to Learning, Learning to Access

Dr Rachel Hewett, Sophie Temple and Dr Ifigeneia Manitsa will present their findings after investigating the experiences and outcomes of children and young people with vision impairment in schools from their perspective and the key people involved in supporting them.

Speaker biographies

Sophie Temple

Sophie is a researcher specialising in mental health and wellbeing in underrepresented populations. She is a Research Fellow in the School of Disability, Inclusion and Special Needs at the University of Birmingham, where her work focuses on vision impairment and social–emotional wellbeing. Alongside this role, she is a final-year Doctoral Researcher at Loughborough University, conducting mixed-methods research on eating disorders and body image pathology during the menopausal transition. She also works as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Edinburgh in Clinical Psychology, contributing to a Medical Research Foundation–funded project developing resources for healthcare professionals supporting individuals with eating disorders living in food insecurity. Sophie is passionate about research dissemination and public engagement, regularly sharing research insights through professional platforms such as LinkedIn. She has also been an invited guest to several well-known mental health podcasts to discuss her research and experiences in clinical practice.

Dr Ifigeneia Manitsa

Dr Ifigeneia Manitsa is a Research Fellow at the School of Education, University of Birmingham, where she joined the Department of Psychology in 2022 after completing her PhD in Psychology at Kingston University London. She also works at the South-East European Research Centre (SEERC) as part of the EQUICARES Horizon Europe Project. Additionally, she is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Department of Special Education at the University of Thessaly and a Supervisor in the Department of Psychology at CITY College, University of York Europe Campus in Greece. Her research focuses on educational inclusion, social emotional development, and Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), particularly vision impairment. She has led several funded projects and has extensive teaching experience across several UK universities. Dr Manitsa also runs her own company, The Genius Fifi, an online platform that connects mental health professionals and educators with potential clients.