Prof Torto is the Executive Director of The African Academy of Sciences.

Prior to joining The AAS, Prof Torto was the founding Chief Executive Officer of the Botswana Institute for Technology Research and Innovation (BITRI), a national research institution. At BITRI he promoted co-creation and ensured that empathy was the value that drove the organisation’s initiatives. His other appointments include Full Professor in Analytical Chemistry and Head of the Chemistry Department at Rhodes University; and Associate Professor at the University of Botswana where he undertook several responsibilities covering Coordinator of Analytical Chemistry, Founding Director of the Centre for Scientific Research Indigenous Knowledge and Innovation (CesriKi), which is credited with the establishment of the indigenous knowledge policy for Botswana.

He has had an illustrious research career, which has seen him publish over 130 papers, graduate 19 PhDs and several MSc students, being cited more than 2000 times since 2012, have an H-index of 25 and successfully apply for patents for his research in material chemistry where his group employed electrospun fibres for various applications.

Prof Torto is a recipient of several international awards, including the American Chemical Society’s Young Investigators in Separation Science Award, the Award for Collaboration in Analytical Chemistry from the Nigerian Chemical Society, Osuni Chapter and is an internationally recognised speaker. He has also served in various capacities in pan African and international networks and organisations including being the Founding Secretary General for the African Network of Analytical Chemists (SEANAC); the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry’s Division V; and South African institutions, such as iThemba Labs, the Materials Division Advisory for the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, the Nanotechnology Forum for the Department of Science and Technology, the Analytical Division of the South African Chemical Institute (SACI). He was Analytical Editor of the South African Journal of Chemistry and a SASOL Professor of Analytical Chemistry.

Prof Torto is currently a panel member of the Research Council UK, an editorial board member for the international journal Chromatographia and has given master class sessions in evidence-driven policy for the European Union. He is a qualified and accredited Time to Think Coach as well as Time to Think Facilitator and is currently enrolled for the Certified Ontological Coaching Programme.

He is a Fellow of the following science academies: the Botswana Academy of Sciences, the African Academy of Sciences and the Royal Society of Chemistry. He has a PhD in analytical chemistry from Lund University in Sweden, an MSc from the University of Botswana and a BSc (Hons) Chemistry from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology in the United Kingdom.