Scott Naysmith

Scott studied history at the University of Victoria, graduating with a BA in 2004. In 2007, Scott graduated with an MSc in Global Politics from the London School of Economics and Political Science. Upon completion of his masters, Scott was selected for a one-year visiting fellowship in an inaugural collaboration between the LSE and the Health Economics and HIV/AIDS Research Division (HEARD) in Durban, South Africa. There, he completed research projects on the social and economic impacts of HIV/AIDS in southern Africa and presented findings at the International AIDS Conference in Mexico City in August 2008 and the International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa in Dakar, Senegal in December 2008.

Prior to beginning his PhD, Scott co-designed a qualitative project to understand the experiences of female truck drivers in South Africa – an industry that is both male dominated and disproportionately HIV-affected. Findings from this qualitative study have been published widely, and inspired a photographer and a filmmaker to document the lives of a few of these women.

Scott has written for both academic and public mediums, most notably discussing the relationship between food insecurity and HIV/AIDS, the participation of marginalized populations in disease containment programs, and emerging infectious diseases.

In September 2008 Scott began a PhD in the Department of Social Policy at the LSE. Along with the Trudeau Foundation, Scott's PhD research has been supported by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) and the University of London. Scott’s doctoral research looks at community perceptions of avian influenza in Indonesia, focusing primarily on people who work at the animal-human interface in live poultry markets. This multi-site, qualitative study seeks to understand the challenges and opportunities that exist in containing avian influenza in epidemiologically at-risk environments.

In 2009 Scott co-designed and taught HIV/AIDS: Human Responses and the Politics of Aid at the University of Victoria. More recently, Scott worked with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in developing policy responses to the outbreak of avian influenza H7N9 in China.