Summary
Dr Torres-Vitolas holds a PhD in Sociology and a MSc in Social Research Methods by the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). He is originally from Peru, where he obtained a BSc in Sociology from the Pontiff Catholic University of Peru. He has been affilited to the School of Public Health since 2017.
At Imperial College, he has has been studying populations living in the wetlands of Sub-Saharan Africa, examining adults' and children's perceptions and understandings of schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminths as well as socio-cultural determinants of treatment uptake. He designed and led mixed-methods research projects on the subject in Malawi, Madagascar and Niger.
He also possesses expertise in food secury debates. Previously, at the University of Southampton, he studied the interconnections between indeginous communities' socio-cultural adaptations to forests and their food in/security status. He led local teams of researchers to conduct participatory enquiries in the Peruvian and Colombian Amazon as well as the Zomba Plateau in Malawi. .
As an avid mixed-methods researcher, Carlos' expertise includes designing and analysing health and demographic surveys aligned with international protocols (DHS and UNICEF’s MICS) as well as LSMS-type household surveys (Living Standard Measurement Studies). On the qualitative side, he has used traditional techniques (e.g., focus groups, in-depth interviews, and ethnographies) as well as participatory (e.g., seasonal calendars, participatory GIS mapping) and creative methodologies (e.g., children drawings).
He currently acts as ocassional lecturer on qualitative methods for global health research as part of the BSc Global Health and small group tutor for undergraduate students from this programme. He supervises undegraduate student disserations on ad-hoc basis.
Selected Publications
Journal Articles
Torres-Vitolas CA, Dhanani N, Fleming FM, 2021, Factors affecting the uptake of preventive chemotherapy treatment for schistosomiasis in Sub-Saharan Africa: a systematic review, PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Vol:15, ISSN:1935-2727
Torres-Vitolas CA, Harvey CA, Cruz-Garcia GS, et al., 2019, The socio-ecological dynamics of food insecurity among subsistence-oriented indigenous communities in Amazonia: a qualitative examination of coping strategies among riverine communities along the Caquetá River, Colombia, Human Ecology, Vol:47, ISSN:0300-7839, Pages:355-368
Cruz-Garcia GS, Vanegas Cubillos M, Torres-Vitolas C, et al., 2019, He says, she says: ecosystem services and gender among indigenous communities in the Colombian Amazon, Ecosystem Services, Vol:37, ISSN:2212-0416
Torres Vitolas C, 2018, Effects of social capital building on social network formation among the rural poor: a case-study from Peru, Oxford Development Studies, Vol:46, ISSN:1469-9966, Pages:184-198
Ramirez-Gomez SOI, Torres-Vitolas CA, Schreckenberg K, et al., 2015, Analysis of ecosystem services provision in the Colombian Amazon using participatory research and mapping techniques, Ecosystem Services, Vol:13, ISSN:2212-0416, Pages:93-107
Reports
Schreckenberg K, Torres Vitolas C, Willcock S, et al., 2016, Participatory Data Collection for Ecosystem Services Research A Practitioner’s Manual, Participatory Data Collection for Ecosystem Services Research A Practitioner’s Manual, No: 003 / June 2016, Edinburgh, Ecosystem Services for Poverty Alleviation (ESPA)