Biography
Ivanka Prichard is a Professor of Body Image and Health at Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia, where she has been based since 2014. She holds a PhD in Psychology from Flinders University and her research spans health psychology and exercise science, with a focus on the relationship between body image, social media, and health behaviours including exercise and eating. She is Director of The Embrace Impact Lab at Flinders University, the research arm of The Embrace Collective, a national charity promoting positive body image in young people. She also serves as Higher Degrees by Research (HDR) Coordinator within the College of Nursing and Health Sciences. Her work has examined the harmful effects of social media content such as 'fitspiration' posts on women's body image and exercise behaviour, and she has argued that much wellness content on platforms like TikTok and Instagram reinforces restrictive and perfectionistic attitudes towards eating.
“If someone doesn't measure up to the content that they are viewing when they compare themselves to it, this can make people feel dissatisfied with their bodies and as a result want to use cosmetic enhancements regardless of the risks.”
References
- 1.Professor Ivanka Prichard – Flinders University staff profile — Current title (Professor of Body Image and Health), college (College of Health and Enablement), role as Director of The Embrace Impact Lab and HDR Coordinator, joined 2014, PhD in Psychology, Vice-Chancellor's Award for Early Career Researchers 2013
- 2.New research lab tackles body image with Australian of the Year – Flinders University News — Establishment of The Embrace Impact Lab in 2023 under Prichard's leadership as its founding director, and its connection to The Embrace Collective national charity
- 3.Ivanka Prichard – Google Scholar profile — Citation count (7,624+), research areas: Body Image, Exercise, Eating Behaviour, Health Psychology; affiliation with Flinders University
- 4.TikTok and Instagram wellness posts may reinforce restrictive eating ideals, study finds – Medical Xpress — Prichard described as 'international body image expert'; her public commentary on social media wellness content and orthorexia nervosa risk (September 2026)
Expertise
Cited on
Stated areas of expertise
- Body image and social media
- Health behaviour (exercise and eating)
- Eating disorders and disordered eating
- Youth mental health and wellbeing
- Health psychology
- Positive body image interventions
Notable achievements
- Awarded the Flinders University Vice-Chancellor's Award for Early Career Researchers in 2013 Source ↗
- Appointed founding Director of The Embrace Impact Lab at Flinders University, the research arm of The Embrace Collective, in 2023 Source ↗
- Research cited over 7,600 times according to Google Scholar Source ↗
Recent social activity
#HealthSciences @Flinders #openday Come and ask us about health! https://t.co/rvQ4FPfPV3
I'm supporting Breakthrough's Biggest Men's Meals & Mental Health Dinner which aims to raise awareness (and funds!) for suicide prevention and would love for you to join me! You can make a donation online at: https://t.co/fOl7mov5zS @FIMHWell @BreakthroughMHR
Related media coverage
Recent UK press coverage of their topics — not necessarily citing them directly.
Source references
- A dead person’s fat pumped into your body? Why the ‘zombie filler’ trend has some experts spooked | Antiviraltheguardian.com · 8 Sept 2026
Contact & links
- Staff pagehttps://www.flinders.edu.au/people/ivanka.prichard
- ORCIDhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-8892-9129
- Xhttps://x.com/IvankaPrichard
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Professors, researchers and think-tank analysts quoted on the strength of their research rather than a clinical role. Citations are counted by an automated scan of UK press coverage and may be incomplete. Roles, biographies and contact details are researched and human-reviewed before they appear here; anything not yet reviewed is simply absent rather than shown unverified. See the methodology for how this page is built, or email contact@bridgeheadcommunications.com to correct anything on it.