Dr Olumide Adisa

Overview

Dr Olumide Adisa is an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the Violence and Society Centre, where she continues her engagement with the Violence and Society Centre and the VISION Consortium. She is affiliated with the School of Policy and Global Affairs. Olumide specialises in complex systemic change theories and approaches to informing thinking and practice on violence prevention and mitigation, mental health, and improving services and commissioning. Olumide led the Complex Systems Strand in the VISION Consortium. Olumide also worked as a Policy and Commissioning Manager at the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime, co-leading the Mayor of London's refreshed strategy for tackling violence against women and girls. Olumide holds a senior leadership role in the Greater London Authority to strengthen and lead the Mayor's Universal Free School Meals (UFSM) team in the Health, Children and Young Londoners Unit.

 

Olumide is a leading expert on theorising systemic change and applying a systemic focus in evaluation, policy and practice to responding to domestic abuse, VAWG, and related health inequalities. Olumide holds a prestigious CECAN Fellowship to translate systems thinking further in complex policy spaces. Bringing in her systems mapping and strategic expertise, she is Co-Investigator on the NIHR-funded project, "Supporting the mental health and wellbeing of mothers at risk of recurrent care proceedings: a realist synthesis".

Her current interests include undertaking systemic reviews, evidence synthesis, and exploring the use of creative poetry and spoken word to make sense of complexity (with lived and living experience). She wants to expand the space for equity, inclusion and diversity as part of workforce development policy and strategies. She co-developed the Safe Spaces for Black and Racialised Leaders in VAWG (currently being piloted, 2025-)

Olumide previously led the Centre for Abuse Research (CARe) at the University of Suffolk. As Head of Centre, she successfully managed a team of researchers to deliver a collaborative research and evaluation programme on domestic abuse and related areas. In 2019, Olumide founded the Domestic Abuse Research Network (DARNet) at the University of Suffolk, growing the network to a representation of 21 Universities and over 250 members.

Olumide's research interests are interdisciplinary and have centred around domestic abuse, childhood sexual abuse, intersectionality, health equity, and complex systems theories and approaches. She has authored various publications on violence, abuse, and intersectional equity, including co-curating the book Tackling Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence: A Systems Approach.

In 2024, Olumide led the foundational work in establishing the Advisory Group forum for the Drive Partnership's National Systems Change work as Interim Chair.

Olumide is a national advisory council member for the Employers' Initiative on Domestic Abuse (EIDA). She sits on the National Working Group on Teenage Relationship Abuse. She has sat on national advisory positions on key systems change areas such as domestic abuse perpetrators, economic abuse, women's health, and funding ecosystems.

Employment

• Honorary Senior Fellow, City, University of London, United Kingdom, March 2026 - present
• Policy and Commissioning Manager, Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime, United Kingdom, December 2024 - February 2026
• Honorary Research Fellow, City, University of London, United Kingdom, April 2023 - November 2024

Publications by category