Early career researchers: meet Dr Anthony K J Smith

Dr Anthony K J Smith is a researcher at the Centre for Social Research in Health, where he works in HIV prevention and inclusive healthcare. His commitment to LGBTQ+ health was sparked while working at WAAC’s sexual health clinic in Perth supporting people living with HIV and seeing the impact of PrEP firsthand.

Can you tell us a bit about your research interests?

My research interests include understanding how new biomedical innovations in HIV/STI prevention are being practiced and promoted; identifying how to promote inclusive and stigma-free care in healthcare; and addressing how to solve social justice issues raised by increasingly data-driven health systems, such as threats to privacy and trust.

 I was fortunate to secure a postdoctoral position after completing my PhD in 2022. In addition to my research projects, I’m an associate editor of the journals Research Ethics, and Sexual Health, and a co-chair of the Social, Political and Cultural Aspects Track Committee for the Australasian HIV&AIDS Conference. I also contribute to ACON’s Research Ethics Review Committee, WAAC’s LGBTQIA+ Advisory Committee, and the NSW Ministry of Health’s LGBTIQ+ Health Strategy Implementation Committee.

What sparked your interest in this area?

After my Bachelor of Arts, I felt compelled to put my feminist and queer theory reading into practice and worked as a peer educator at WAAC’s sexual health clinic, M Clinic. I dedicated myself to promoting sexual health and supporting people with HIV to enjoy improved quality of life. It was there that I witnessed the implementation of a new HIV prevention drug, PrEP, which enabled gay, bi+, and queer men to have sex without fear or anxiety about HIV — representing a profound transformation. 

Drawing on my experiences in the clinic, I started my PhD at UNSW in 2018, with Martin Holt, Christy Newman and Bridget Haire, who continue to be close collaborators. While my research career is now longer than my time in the clinic, that formative period at WAAC ignited my commitments to HIV and LGBTQ+ health research.

What are you working on right now?

I’m currently analysing interviews with bi+ and straight-identifying men who have sex with men to understand how they negotiate openness or discretion about their identity and practices, as well as their experiences engaging with health services and seeking HIV/STI testing and prevention. 

Bi+ men have often been inadequately included in HIV research — not through deliberate exclusion, but because researchers have often focused on sex between men as a site of HIV risk and spent less time trying to understand a fuller sense of what it means to be bisexual, pansexual, or other identities under the umbrella of ‘bi+’.

This research is exciting because it centres the experiences of a diverse range of bi+ and straight-identifying men who have sex with men. The finidings will inform recommendations we can make to policy, health promotion, and health services to improve the inclusivity and reach of services, thereby improving healthcare.

What do you find most rewarding about being a researcher?

I love working with people who challenge me to think and feel differently, but who share similar core values grounded in human rights. For example, the research teams and committees I contribute to involve a collective commitment to promote high-quality and inclusive health and social care from a variety of different perspectives, including lived experience, clinical, and policymaking.  

As a qualitative researcher I enjoy the privilege of deep listening afforded through interviews, where participants trust me enough to confidentially share intimate and personal experiences related to health, gender, and sexuality.

Interviews challenge me to understand problems from different perspectives, and the sensitivity and creative thinking required to meaningfully and sensitively communicate these accounts is an ongoing challenge I enjoy.

What advice would you give someone who's thinking about an academic research career?

A successful (academic) career requires good planning. Set goals for yourself, monitor your growth, and measure your success against your own goals. This last point is hard, but you should avoid measuring your success against other people. Others’ success has nothing to do with the goals you’ve set for yourself.

Be gentle with yourself about what is possible with the resources and support systems you have access to and remember that growth always involves both success and failure.

Good planning also involves considering your values and principles as an academic (I recommend this book!), e.g. what resonates with your moral compass and the type of academic you want to become? The values that underpin who you are and what you are striving to become is what will sustain the trajectory of your career. I also recommend developing clear work/life boundaries and protecting, cultivating, and enjoying an identity outside of your career.

To learn more about Dr Anthony K J Smith’s research, projects and achievements, visit his Researcher Profile.