Dr Nelson Torto

STINT Senior Science Fellow, Africa

Dr Nelson Torto has been STINT Senior Science Fellow for Africa since August 2025. From 1992 he has had a distinguished career in academia, government and non-governmental organisations. Dr Torto graduated with a PhD in Analytical Chemistry from Lund University in 1999.

Dr Torto was the Founding Secretary General for the African Network of Analytical Chemists (SEANAC), Director of the Centre for Scientific Research Indigenous Knowledge and Innovation (CeSriKi) at the University of Botswana, and Chief Executive Officer of the Botswana Institute for Technology Research and Innovation (BITRI).  He has been an USHEPiA Fellow at the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa, was Professor and Head of the Department of Chemistry at Rhodes University, South Africa, and is currently Visiting Professor at Rhodes University and Nelson Mandela University, South Africa.

Dr Torto is the former Chancellor of ABM University College in Botswana, Executive Director of the African Academy of Sciences, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Tertiary Education, Research, Science and Technology, founding Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Communications, Knowledge and Technology, and founding Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Higher Education in Botswana.

Dr Torto is a fellow of several academies including an International Fellow of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences. He has had several advisory responsibilities globally, including for Falling Walls, journal editorial boards, Member of IUPAC’s Division V,  Jury President for the UNESCO – L’Oreal For Women in Science Program for Sub-Saharan Africa, Grand Challenges Africa, Science Granting Council Initiative, Wellcome Global Monitor, Jury Chair African Union Commission, Next Einstein Forum, World Meteorological Organization, Botswana’s National Transformation Strategy Team, the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Commonwealth Secretariat, UNESCO, Schmidt Futures, and as Jury Member for Agropolis Louis Malassis International Scientific Prize.

For contact with Dr Nelson Torto:
nelson.torto@stint.se