Hello, I’m Olumide AdISA A.k.A as 'Dr Adisa' in DASV professional circles. Welcome to my personal website
At the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC), I am leading on the refresh of the Mayor’s VAWG Strategy and accompanying delivery framework that sits under it (job share).
I also lead the Complex Systems Strand on the VISION Consortium, as a Senior Research Fellow in the Violence and Society Centre, and affiliated with the School of Policy and Global Affairs at City St George’s, University of London.
In 2025, I was awarded a CECAN Fellowship to undertake a one-year project entitled, ‘A story-telling approach to developing a complexity-aware theory of change for violence prevention’.
I am passionate about inclusive knowledge production and exchange vis-à-vis research, theory, evaluation, and policy approaches that leads to systemic change at scale.
I am a leading expert on theorising and applying a systemic focus to responding to domestic abuse and related health inequalities, helping individuals and organisations achieve and better grasp systemic understandings and the change effect they want to make happen. I offer unique critical (re)thinking, practical insights and solutions to ‘messy’ problem spaces.
As an engaged and cross-disciplinary professional, I am interested in incorporating useful complex systems change principles into the violence/abuse sphere in accessible ways and through inclusive communities of practice.
What people are saying:
‘One of the many things I value about Olumide is her ability to bring critical challenge and a call for change while still operating from a position of warmth, generosity, and 'calling in'. She never shies away from pointing out inconsistencies, gaps and drawbacks, but she has the skill to do this in a way that brings people forward, enthusiastic to join her in making change.’ - Suzanne Jacob, former CEO Safelives
My Approach
Over the past ten years, I have worked with various organisations to transform services and commissioning to support victims/survivors of violence and abuse through a local and national systems change lens. I truly believe that a siloed and episodic approach is not working, and we need to take a systems focus to achieve sustained change. I am interested in surfacing and discovering innovative and collaborative ways to rethink how we approach the problem of domestic abuse and related areas. We need to create a systemic shift to working with those who use harmful behaviours, alongside considering the role of complexity and intersectionality. We must tackle the root cause of violence and abuse, not just at the individual level, but at a systemic level.
academic And Policy writings
My academic writing engages with different related topics and interests across systems (domestic abuse, child sexual abuse, justice, health, climate change and development, and so on) aimed at policy and practice audiences.
Recent papers in peer-reviewed journals and books:
Ruth McGovern, Claire Smiles, Monique Lhussier, Jenny Woodman, Judith Rankin, Hayley Alderson, Kate Chivers, Olumide Adisa, Claire Powell, Claire Wilson, Kaat De Becker. Supporting the mental health and wellbeing of mothers at risk of recurrent care proceedings: a realist synthesis. PROSPERO 2025 CRD42025642062 Available from: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?ID=CRD42025642062
Adisa, O. (2025). Centring Otherness with Migrant Women Affected by Domestic Abuse. In: Magalhaes, L. (eds) Otherness in Communication Research. Palgrave Studies in Otherness and Communication. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-73788-6_16
Powell, C., Adisa, O., Herlitz, L., Bains, S., Clark, S. E., Deighton, J., ... & Howarth, E. (2024). Domestic abuse, primary care and child mental health services: A systems analysis of service coordination from professionals’ perspectives. Children and Youth Services Review, 108076. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0190740924006480
Adisa O, Bond E, editors. Tackling Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence: A Systems Approach [Internet]. Cham: Springer International Publishing; 2024. (Palgrave Studies in Victims and Victimology). Available from: https://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-3-031-58600-2.
Kumari, M., Adisa, O. (2024). In Search of Hopes for Change: What Can Systems Thinking Offer Racial Justice-Oriented Networks Aimed at Tackling Systemic Invisibility of Black, Brown, and Other Racially Minoritised Voices in the VAWG/DASV Sphere. In: Adisa, O., Bond, E. (eds) Tackling Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence. Palgrave Studies in Victims and Victimology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-58600-2_5
Adisa, O., Ferreira, J., Hill, M., Pack, L. (2024). Promoting Better Outcomes for Migrant Victim-Survivors Through Community-Based Systems Interactions and Levers of Change. In: Adisa, O., Bond, E. (eds) Tackling Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence. Palgrave Studies in Victims and Victimology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-58600-2_3
Bellis, M. A., McManus, S., Hughes, K., Adisa, O., & Ford, K. (2024). The Commercial Determinants of Violence: Identifying Opportunities for Violence Prevention through a Public Health-Based Framework Analysis. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 21(3), 352.
Adisa, O., & McManus, S. (2023). Community mental health through a complex systems lens. The Lancet Public Health.
Allen, K., Adisa, O., & Hermolle, M. (2023). Redefining safety: a narrative review of literature on the underground and open or ‘Dutch’ models of refuge. Journal of Gender-Based Violence, 1-16.
Bland, M., Weir, R., Adisa, O., Allen, K., Ferreira, J., & Maitra, D. R. (2022). Describing patterns of known domestic abuse among different ethnic groups. Frontiers in psychology, 13.
I have authored over 30 research evaluation reports and policy briefings as a primary author. A fuller portfolio can be found via: Reports and recent grants.
co-DESIGNed Community building & Advocacy
In the words of Audre Lorde, “Without community, there is no liberation...but community must not mean a shedding of our differences, nor the pathetic pretense that these differences do not exist.”
I am committed to intersectional race equity, and I support initiatives that have this purpose at their core. Over the last four years, I have worked with H.O.P. E Training and Consultancy , DRIVE Partnership, onEvidence, and other organisations on various systems change projects co-creating with Black and racialised communities.
I launched and founded the successful Domestic Abuse Research Network (DARNet) in June 2019. Based at the University of Suffolk, it is a vibrant network of practitioners, service commissioners, policy makers, academics, and students; and undertaken public engagement activities, in the East of England region and beyond on violence and abuse research. The network now has a membership of 300 people and is represented by 20 Universities.