The New Diplomacy Project’s Advisory Board includes experienced foreign policy practitioners across multiple generations committed to a progressive foreign policy in the UK.

Sir David Manning, served as the UK Ambassador to the United States of America (2003-2007), the UK Permanent Representative to NATO (2001), UK Ambassador to Israel (1995-1998), and was the principal Foreign Policy Advisor to the UK Prime Minister (2001-2003).

Lord David Owen, served as the UK Foreign Secretary (1977-1979), UK Minister of State for Health (1974-76), and UK Minister of State at the Foreign Office (1976-77), Leader of the Social Democratic Party (1983-1987), and the EU Co--Chairman of the Conference for the Former Yugoslavia (1992-1995).

Isabelle Younane is the Head of External Affairs at Women’s Aid.  Isabelle previously served as an Executive Committee Member of the New Diplomacy Project (2021-2023), Senior Advocacy Manager at ActionAid UK, Policy and External Relations Manager at the British Council, and Campaigns and Communications Officer at the United Nations Association.

James Ball is an award-winning journalist, broadcaster and author, fellow of the think-tank Demos, and the political editor of The New European. He has worked as the global editor of TBIJ, a special correspondent at BuzzFeed UK, and special projects editor at The Guardian, where he played a key role in the Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of the NSA leaks by Edward Snowden, as well as the offshore leaks, HSBC Files, Reading the Riots and Keep it in the Ground projects.  

James is the author of multiple books, including "Post-Truth and "The Tangled Web We Weave: Inside The Shadow System That Shapes the Internet”. His most recent book, “The Other Pandemic: How Qanon Contaminated The World” was published by Bloomsbury in July 2023.

Mohamed Cassimjee is a geopolitical consultant at Global Compass in the UK. He was a senior diplomat for South Africa for over 26 years’ and served as Deputy Ambassador to Germany from 2016-2020. Prior to that he served abroad in Washington DC, Uganda, and Senegal and worked as a Director at the foreign ministry, covering both multilateral (African Union) and bilateral relations. Before joining the foreign ministry, he practiced as a barrister in South Africa.

He attended the Netherlands Institute for International Relations (Clingendael) as part of his diplomatic training. He was also part of the anti-apartheid movement and a member of the African National Congress (ANC). He is on the advisory board of the SA Chamber (UK). He is also a research associate at the Centre for African Studies (ASC) and a guest lecture on African diplomacy, as well as a mentor at the Blavatnik School of Government, both at Oxford University. He is an associate fellow at the British Foreign Policy Group (BFPG). He has served as the deputy chair of a political party in Banbury/North Oxfordshire (2022/23). He also works in local government in Oxfordshire.

He has presented to governments entities, policy and research institutes and the private sector, and written on South African foreign and domestic policy, the Global South, UK foreign policy as well as on global affairs for institutions in the UK and SA. He has appeared on South African and British television /radio and on podcasts. He lives in North Oxfordshire with his family.

Yuan Yang is the Labour Member of Parliament for Earley and Woodley. She previously served as the Deputy-Bureau Chief in Beijing for the Financial Times and the UK-China correspondent.  She is co-founder of the campaign, Rethinking Economics, that calls for a more relevant curriculum that reflects the real world. Her first book, Private Revolutions, explores inequality in China through the lives of five women, will be published by Bloomsbury this year.

Isabella Wilkinson is a Research Fellow in the Digital Society Initiative at Chatham House. She previously served as a Research Associate in Chatham House’s International Security Programme and part of the Journal of Cyber Policy’s editorial team. Isabella co-leads Women in International Security UK and was part of CIDOB-Santander’s ‘35 Under 35 List’ Future Leaders Forum 2022. In 2023, she was a Visiting Fellow at The Hague Program for International Cybersecurity.

Sir Ciaran Devane served as Chief Executive of the British Council (2015-2021), is the Director of the Centre for Trust, Peace, and Social Relations at Coventry University, Chair of the Irish Health Service, (the HSE), and a trustee of Friends of Europe and of the British-Irish Association.

Edward Elliott is one of the founding members of the NDP, having sat on the executive committee from 2020-2024. He is a specialist in UK foreign policy, with a focus on soft power and sports diplomacy. He helped found the British Foreign Policy Group in 2016 and worked there as Head of Research and Operations and subsequently as Senior Associate.

He has contributed to numerous outlets, including The Spectator, The Times, RUSI, and LSE Politics and Policy, and is also the Director of SportsDiplomacy.org, a consultancy that has worked on sports diplomacy strategies for the UK and the United States. He currently works in marketing for the multinational renewable energy company, Iberdrola.