Professor Svetlana Bogomolova is the Inaugural Deputy Director of the Centre for Social Impact (CSI) at Flinders University – a node of a national research concentration internationally recognised for driving social impact research and implementation.

Svetlana leads a team of mix-methods researchers specialising in co-designing and evaluating social and health programs through end-to-end engagement with consumers with lived experience of disadvantage and practitioners who serve those communities. Her particular interest is the role of food (and food relief) in overcoming social inequalities and creating pathways to wellbeing for all.

Svetlana has led numerous competitively awarded research collaborations with a range of industry stakeholders, including international, national, state, not-for-profit and private organisations. Notable examples include:

• ARC Industry Mid-Career Fellowship ‘Transforming harvest surplus into nutritious meals for food relief’ (2024-28), as sole CI, in partnership with Foodbank SA/NT and Green Industries SA;
• ARC Linkage ‘Towards zero hunger: improving food relief services in Australia’, as lead CIA (2021-24), in partnership with Wellbeing SA, Department of Human Services SA, The Food Centre, Foodbank SA/NT and Anglicare SA; and
• SA Government collaborations, aimed at bringing consumer and practitioners’ voices to the design and evaluation of government programs that promote physical, social and emotional wellbeing.

She serves as a Director on the Board of Country SA Primary Health Network (PHN), where she acts as a conduit between social services and primary health sectors through the systems thinking lens and co-design method.

Through the process of co-creation and co-design, she brings the voice of the consumer to the design of preventative health initiatives, including those improving healthfulness of food choices, financial and consumer literacy, increasing physical activity, improving quality of health services, and preventing illicit drug use.