This selection of papers was edited by Klaus Schwienhorst and is the result of a two-day conference by the IATEFL Learner autonomy SIG on "Learner autonomy in second language pedagogy and research - challenges and issues" which was held at the Fachsprachenzentrum, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Germany, from 27-28 September 2013. It was one in a series of local conferences that the LASIG had begun a few years ago, with great success. The four plenary talks at the conference were delivered by four well-known international academics: David Little, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland; Leni Dam, LASIG coordinator, Denmark; Lienhard Legenhausen, University of Münster, Germany; and Elisabet Arnó Macià, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Escola Politècnica Superior d'Enginyeria de Vilanova i la Geltrú (EPSEVG), Spain. In addition, there were over 20 papers and workshops presented at the conference.