Orsola Torrisi, assistant professor in the Department of Sociology and member of 91社区鈥檚 Centre for Population Dynamics, was awarded the Anne Shepherd New Investigator Award from the British Society for Population Studies, a non-profitable society affiliated with the London School of Economics in the United Kingdom.听听
For Torrisi, who obtained her PhD from the London School of Economics, this award is particularly meaningful having become a demographer in the UK and she hopes that it will help foster ongoing academic connections between Canadian and British institutions.听听
In conjunction with the award, Torissi will be invited to deliver a plenary talk at the association's annual conference in September 2025.听听
鈥淢y talk will be entitled 鈥楩amily, reproductive health and global violence鈥� and will focus on my past, current and future research agenda focused on understanding how exposure to violence, in its different forms (from war, armed conflict, gang or organised criminal violence) influences reproductive health and family dynamics,鈥� says Torrisi.听听
The talk covers topics ranging from consequences for maternal mortality and morbidity, exposure to obstetric violence and contraceptive use and access, to fertility patterns and the emergence/amplification of violence against women within the home.听听
Professor Torrisi鈥檚 research highlights that these outcomes have been largely understudied in the past by demographers and sociologists because they tend to be less visible and harder to measure, and emerge in the longer-run, compared to the evident and immediate consequences violence has on mortality and migration.听听
鈥淭hese outcomes are nevertheless essential to study if we want to understand the full range of implications war and violence have on civilians, as well as their long-term, intergenerational consequences,鈥� says Torrisi.听
鈥淚t is particularly important to me to see my research recognised, especially at a time when the demographic direct and indirect consequences of war and violence are unfolding before our eyes,鈥� says Torrisi. 鈥� The continuing and escalating brutal invasions of Ukraine by Russia and of Gaza by Israel, the protracted displacement crises in Sudan, Myanmar, and Yemen, and the persistently high levels of violent crime and gun violence in the Americas are far from peripheral to the field of Demography.鈥澨�
鈥淲hile the discipline has long overlooked these issues, I am grateful and proud that through my research, it is becoming clear that conflict and violence must be integral to all analyses and interpretations of population dynamics,鈥� she adds.听听
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