Mrs Maria Camila Garcia Duran

María Camila García Durán is a PhD student at the Health Service & Population Research Department (KCL). She was awarded a LISS DTP Scholarship (ESRC) to undertake her PhD on the impact of peacebuilding public programmes on the mental health of victims of the Colombian armed conflict.

María Camila holds a BSc in Psychology from the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (Bogotá, Colombia) and an MSc in Clinical Mental Health Sciences from University College London (UCL). Her MSc thesis was on "Social Cohesion and Mental Health in the Context of the Armed Conflict in Colombia".

Since 2019, she has been working at the Population Health Department of Fundación Santa Fe de Bogotá as a co-researcher and coordinator of projects on i) the impact of forgiveness and reconciliation on the mental health, social capital and life trajectories of populations affected by the Colombian armed conflict, and ii) the prevalence of electronic cigarette use among young university students in Bogotá, and iii) the co-design of a mental health intervention for the Jóvenes en Acción programme in post-conflict areas in Colombia and the evaluation of its impact. She also worked at the School of Government of the University of Los Andes (Colombia).