Linda Bauld PhD, FRCPE, FRSE, FAcSS, FFPH

Linda joined the University of Edinburgh in November 2018. She previously worked at the Universities of Stirling, Bath, Glasgow and Kent. From 2014 to 2021 she combined her academic roles with serving as Cancer Research UK's cancer prevention advisor.

Linda conducts behavioral research within public health, with a particular focus on the prevention of non-communicable diseases and how research evidence informs policy. She has led studies on drug and alcohol use, inequalities in health, overweight and obesity, smoking cessation, and more recently COVID-19. She led the first study of the UK's national stop-smoking services when they were established in 1998. She has also played a significant role in the monitoring and evaluation of a range of tobacco control policies and served as the UK government's scientific adviser on tobacco control from 2006 to 2010.

From 2017-2022 she led a Global Challenges Research Fund programme to address tobacco use in Africa and South Asia involving researchers in six UK and eight overseas research organisations. She is currently the Director of the SPECTRUM Consortium funded by the UK Prevention Research Partnership which includes ten Universities and multiple partners from public health agencies and alliances.

In September 2021 she was appointed as Chief Social Policy Adviser to the Scottish Government. This is a part-time secondment until 2025.