Flavia is a writer and teacher with decades of experience leading and developing peer promotions, career development and grant-writing programs. She has a strong track record in winning grants from the Australian Research Council, the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, as well as a Fellowship from the British School at Rome.

Alongside a colleague, she pioneered the use of design thinking approaches to grant-writing and ran a highly successful series of workshops at Swinburne University of Technology and the Women in Science Precinct Parkville.

Flavia has a PhD from the University of Sydney and has taught in both undergraduate and postgraduate architecture courses, with a focus on global and social themes. She has written two books and more than 30 articles and book chapters, and is a world expert on the art, architecture and design of the Italian Fascist and post-war periods. 

She is a Director of Synergy3 Consulting. Some of her past clients include the Design Institute of Australia, Heide Museum of Modern Art, the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, the Florey Institute, the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, and the ASTRO 3D ARC Centre of Excellence.

Now an Affiliate Professor in the Italian Studies Department at the University of Sydney, she facilitates a historical fiction group at Writing NSW and is a trained and accredited mentor in the Academic Navigation process developed by Ethos Consulting.