Linda joined the University of Edinburgh in November 2018 from the University of Stirling where she was Professor of Health Policy, Director of the Institute for Social Marketing and Dean of Research Impact. Since 2014 she has combined her academic roles with serving as Cancer Research UK's cancer prevention champion, the CRUK/BUPA Chair in Behavioural Research for Cancer Prevention.

Professor Bauld is a behavioural scientist with a PhD in social policy. Her research focuses on two main areas: the evaluation of complex public health interventions; and the use of evidence to inform health policy. She has conducted studies on drug and alcohol use, inequalities in health, overweight and obesity and, most notably, on smoking cessation and tobacco control. She undertook 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.