Dr. Debbie Van Biesen works as  postdoctoral research at KU Leuven (Belgium). Since January 2021 she divides her time across KU Leuven and Virtus. She was appointed as the Virtus Academy manager, leveraging on international, and evidenced-based knowledge of elite athletes with intellectual disability and autism. She has published more than 25 peer-reviewed scientific articles in top journals in her field.  She specialised in the domains of ‘Adapted Physical Activity’ and ‘Disability Sport’. The focus of her research was on the role of cognition on sports performance, among elite Paralympic athletes with intellectual disabilities (ID).