David has worked in various aspects of drug and alcohol policy for many years and held posts in  national, regional and local government sectors.  He also has considerable experience of the voluntary sector.  He has a particular interest in prevention and harm reduction approaches.  He has been a witness to some successes as well as some unintended consequences of well-intentioned policy and law- making.  He finds the issues surrounding tobacco harm reduction fascinating but also, occasionally, frustrating.

Knowledge•Action•Change

A public health sociologist with over 40 years’ experience of public health research and advocacy in the field of psychoactive substance use, and with over 220 scientific publications and several books. Gerry Stimson is committed to working to reduce the harms from psychoactive substance use, improving public health through social and health policy and working internationally to reduce harms from drugs, alcohol and tobacco. He was one of the founders of harm reduction and instrumental in the development and evaluation of harm reduction in the UK as a response to HIV/AIDS. He has advised the UK Government, World Health Organization, UNAIDS, UNODC, World Bank and numerous working groups on issues relating to drugs, hepatitis, HIV infection and AIDS, alcohol and tobacco.

He is Honorary Professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Emeritus Professor at Imperial College London, and the Editor of the International Journal of Drug Policy. From 1990 to 2004, he was Director of the Centre for Research on Drugs and Health Behaviour. He founded the Department of Social Science and Medicine at Imperial College, delivering postgraduate courses in the UK and internationally, and a programme of social science and public health research. He was Executive Director of the International Harm Reduction Association from 2004 to 2010.

Since leaving school 'a very long time ago' Sarah Jakes has worked in the shipping industry, the foreign exchange market and now runs her own business in property management.

A smoker of some 35 years Sarah switched to vaping in April 2013, only to find that the choice of this safer alternative for smokers was under threat from excessive and ill founded regulation. Having joined forces with other consumers in the battle against over regulation in the EU parliament Sarah is convinced that a better understanding of e-cigarettes and other harm reduced products among key influencers and decision makers is required if these products are ever to reach their full potential for public health gains.

Paul Barnes is Technical Manager at a family-run technology company. For twenty years he was also a smoker, until he decided it was time to make a change. Thanks to the advice of a friend and his enthusiasm for technology, he was able to switch to vaping in June 2014. Like many others he then discovered that the innovation that had done so much for his health was under threat from misguided health activists.

Since then, Paul has been actively campaigning to keep e-cigarettes widely available. He now spends much of his spare time reviewing scientific literature and legislative proposals that relate to vaping. Sometimes he’s even been known to write about the topic, usually in a lively manner.

On the rare occasions Paul isn’t reading or writing about vaping he takes a break from his computer by playing games. On his computer.

Knowledge•Action•Change

Since graduating with a degree in Politics and Government in 1978, Paddy Costall has worked within the social care sector, mainly for NGOs, spent four years working in the probation service and is a qualified social work practice teacher. As Director of Services for Cranstoun Drug Services (1995-2005) he developed and directed community and prison-based substance misuse treatment services. In addition he developed and delivered a programme of national and international conferences and events, and managed international networks supported through funding from the European Commission. He has directed over 70 conferences, ranging from 50 to 1,500 delegates, including in Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Lebanon, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Thailand and the UK.

Paddy has also worked as an independent consultant and trainer and has produced a number of reports on substance misuse treatment within criminal justice systems in Europe. He was the founder and Managing Director of the Conference Consortium, until May 2011, where he directed five editions of the International Conference on the Reduction of Drug Related Harm, as well as many other national and European events.

Vaper of over five years who presents and researches on ecigs for one of the most popular ecig-centric televisual services on the Internet.

Lorien Jollye is a mother of 3, an ex smoker of 23 years and a Vaper since 2012. After numerous, unsuccessful, quit attempts utilising most all the market had to offer, and smoking through two pregnancies, she found that e-cigarettes enabled her to switch her habit entirely, in one day. Since then, she has been a vocal advocate, volunteering with the Consumer Association and latterly, The New Nicotine Alliance, along with other passionate vapers. It has become a simple message, Nothing About Us Without Us.

Heather is a social scientist and health services researcher, based at the Health Services Research Unit, University of Aberdeen. She specialises in research on the social meanings of technologies (broadly defined) for individuals and public services, now with a particular emphasis on health and wellbeing and the delivery of health and social care. Since 2012, she has undertaken research on smoking cessation across a number of projects and developed an interest in e-cigarettes as a result. She can often be found engaging with the vaping community on Twitter (@hm_morgan) and contributing to public discussions around smoking and vaping.

Scottish vaping enthusiast who is determined to help smokers who WANT to switch away from lit tobacco.

Technical Consultant to the IT industry and father of 2 with no financial ties to industry other than my direct employers, I quit my 26 year 30-a-day smoking habit the moment I opened my 2nd generation e-cig starter kit back in May 2013. I haven't had a single draw on a cigarette since, and haven't felt the urge to. I consider the switch to vaping to have been an upgrade. Soon after switching I was introduced to the EU's Tobacco Products Directive and the unconscionable consequences of what was planned, the shoddy science on which it was based, and the extraordinary position of many of the public health groups, and started down the road of fighting for the right for smokers to have safer alternatives. I am now a passionate, unpaid, advocate who still doesn't enjoy being called a shill.

Simon works in the IT industry as a Security Architect. He has been vaping for three years and became an advocate for ecigarettes as a result of the Welsh Government proposals to ban vaping in public enclosed spaces. He has been actively engaging politicians in Wales with a view to stopping the draconian measures proposed by the Welsh Government, attempting to open their eyes to public health prize that can be achieved through vaping.

Jessica became NNA’s first administrator in December 2016.  She is passionate about the potential for tobacco harm reduction products to improve lives and has devoted much her time and energy to vaping consumer activism. She helped establish Vapers in Power, and helped to get ViP registered as a political party. Her primary role in NNA is fundraising, external communications, helping NNA campaigns, and supporting the work and development of NNA.  Before having children she worked as an English teacher, in the UK and abroad.