Lynda Gilby is a PhD Researcher in Global Health and Development at Tampere University in Finland. She specializes in the cross-border lobbying efforts of right-wing populist opposition to sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) between the EU and in the US and their mobilizing structures. Currently, under the context of the COVID-19 global pandemic, she is analyzing the way in which conservative actors are using the pandemic to further place restrictions on access to sexual and reproductive health services. Her research also incorporates the wider impact of right-wing populism on global health governance more broadly.

Before embarking on her PhD, Lynda completed a Master’s in Public and Global Health with a thesis on the challenges to an agreed language on SRHR at the UN negotiations. This research demonstrated how opposition to SRHR has dramatically shifted from the usual stalling points over abortion access, to increasingly vocal attempts by the US Trump Administration to disrupt the negotiations and reject any mention at all of previously agreed references to SRHR in global forums.

Specialist research areas:

Right-wing populism; sexual and reproductive health and rights; universal health coverage; global health politics.