Kerstin Vesna Petrič is Head of the Office for Cooperation with the World Health Organization (WHO) at the Ministry of Health of Slovenia. She previously served as Director-General of Public Health from 2019 to 2022 and, before that, as Head of the Division for Health Promotion and Prevention of Noncommunicable Diseases at the Ministry of Health (2004–2019). She holds a Master’s degree in Public Health and Clinical Aspects of Addiction and has contributed to the development and implementation of policies on alcohol and tobacco control, as well as illicit drugs, at both national and international levels.

From 1998 to 2004, she served as a WHO Liaison Officer, and from 2016 to 2019, she was a member of the Standing Committee of the WHO Regional Committee for Europe (SCRC). Since 2021, she has been a member of the WHO Executive Board and served as its Chair from May 2022.

Dr. Octavian Mihai Machidon is an Assistant Professor at the University of Ljubljana and a researcher in human-centred and ethical AI. His work explores how AI systems and recommender algorithms shape attention, behaviour, decision-making, and digital experiences, with important implications for wellbeing and autonomy. He also researches the wider societal effects of generative AI, including its impact on learning, creativity, identity, and critical thinking. His work is especially relevant for understanding what happens behind the digital platforms young people use every day and how technologies designed to capture attention can influence their health and wellbeing.

Dr. Peter Rice is a Scottish addiction psychiatrist with many years of experience in alcohol treatment and public health. He worked as a Consultant Psychiatrist with NHS Tayside and has held several leadership roles, including Chair of Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems (SHAAP), a project of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh which provided a focus for health organizations work on alcohol in Scotland and President of the European Alcohol Policy Alliance (EUROCARE). His work focuses on improving alcohol policy, prevention, and treatment, and he has advised governments and the World Health Organization on evidence-based approaches to reducing alcohol-related harm.

Dr. Laura Fenton is a Research Fellow at the University of Sheffield whose research focuses on alcohol, youth, gender, and social change. Her work explores how drinking practices and perspectives on alcohol change across different generations and throughout different stages of life. She has led qualitative research on youth drinking cultures and is an editor of a collection examining the role of alcohol across the life course. Her work contributes to a better understanding of how social and cultural changes shape alcohol use and its meaning in people’s lives.

Stig Erik Sørheim is the Head of the International Department of Actis (Norwegian Policy Network on Alcohol and Drugs). He monitors international alcohol and drug policy at the European and global levels. Additionally, he held the position of vice-chair at the European Civil Society Forum on Drugs. Prior to this, he served as a senior advisor at the Norwegian Directorate of Health, specializing in alcohol and drug matters alongside public health concerns.