Marisol Lopez

Dr Marisol Lopez is a social researcher with an interdisciplinary background, combining elements of human geography, sociology and economics to research economic inequality, gender inequality and socioeconomic health determinants. She is passionate about social justice and keen to produce research with impact. Prior to her current role, Dr Lopez completed her PhD in Human Geography at the University of Dundee. Her thesis focused on the impact of service partnerships on local experiences of poverty and social exclusion. This was researched using a novel systems methodology, which integrated a social network analysis with longitudinal interviews. Her findings were adopted by the Dundee City Council to increase funding for drop-in services. Throughout her PhD, she also taught modules on SPSS and R, and developed a summer school module on global inequality and sustainable development. She also worked on a project with Dundee Women’s Aid, which was funded by the Scottish Government. The findings of her research were adopted by the Violence Against Women partnership in Dundee to provide best practice guidelines for Gender-Based Violence, homelessness, and substance use support services.

She is currently a research fellow at the School of Medicine and working on the Government Revenue and Development Estimation (GRADE) project. The GRADE project looks at the impact of changes in government revenue (e.g. through tax abuses or external debt service) on the determinants of health and mortality rates. Marisol’s research involves using the GRADE to analyse the impact of tax abuses or external debt service on maternal health and women’s right to health. Marisol is currently working with the GRADE-Malawi project and is seeking to collaborate with other sub-Saharan African countries to secure women’s rights.