Professor Linda Bauld:
Scot of the Year 2021
Since 1993, the Scottish Studies Society has been recognizing individuals who have achieved distinction through their contribution to Canadian society or the international community at large by presenting them with its Annual Scot of the Year Award and we were delighted when Professor Linda Bauld received the award at an online event on November 8th this year.
During the event, Professor Bauld gave a talk which she titled, "Why messaging matters: what I've learnt about science communication during the Covid-19 pandemic" and her PowerPoint presentation can be downloaded here:
211108-prof-linda-bauld-talk.pptx
Linda (pictured above) is a Canadian now living in Edinburgh. She holds the Chair of Public Health at the University of Edinburgh and the CRUK/BUPA Chair in Behavioural Research for Cancer Prevention at Cancer Research UK. She has previously worked at the Universities of Stirling, Kent, Glasgow and Bath. From 2014 to 2021 she combined her academic roles with serving as Cancer Research UK's cancer prevention adviser.
She is Co-Director, along with Professor David Weller, of the Centre for Population Health Sciences within the Usher Institute. She is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the Academy of Social Sciences and the UK Faculty of Public Health. Linda is also a Trustee of Diabetes UK and the Institute of Alcohol Studies, as well as a Board member of the Canadian Institutes for Health Research Institute of Population and Public Health. In 2021 she was awarded an OBE for her services to guiding public health responses to and public understanding of Covid-19.
Her current focus is on aligning communicable and non-communicable disease responses within public health which includes leading the 10 University SPECTRUM Consortium. In September 2021 she was appointed as chief social policy adviser to the Scottish government.
Linda was born in Edinburgh in 1970. Her parents emigrated to Canada from Scotland in 1979 when she was a child and she spent her teenage years on Vancouver Island and attended Glenlyon Norfolk School in Victoria. She completed high school at the top of her graduating class (dux) in 1987 and was awarded a Governor General's Medal by the Province of British Columbia. She spent a year in Grenoble, France as an exchange student between 1987 and 1988. She completed her Bachelor's degree in Political Science at the University of Toronto in 1993. During her time as an undergraduate she was involved in the Hart House Debating Society and competed in public speaking and debating competitions in the USA and Canada. In 1991 she was awarded best individual debater at the North American Debating Championship. She earned her PhD in social policy at the University of Edinburgh. Linda is among most searched celebrities in Scotland and has been a constant presence on TV and other media since the outbreak of Covid. She has become one of Scotland's best known voices and faces speaking to the media on Covid-related issues. She jokes that her trademark vase of fresh flowers on video links gets as much fan mail as she does!
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