Yayah (Rochayah) Siegers Samaniri is the communication and event coordinator of the institute and the project coordinator of the 'Island(er)s at the Helm: Co-creating research on sustainable and inclusive solutions for social adaptation to climate challenges in the (Dutch) Caribbean' project. 

Besides working for KITLV, Yayah also works for the secretariat of the European Association for Southeast Asian Studies (EuroSEAS) which is hosted by the KITLV in Leiden. 

Yayah studied Southeast Asian/Indonesian Studies at Leiden University. In the past Yayah has worked as an education and research staff member for the School of Asian Studies (SAS Indonesia), Leiden University Institute for Area Studies (LIAS).