My reflections from a Public Affairs Internship at ASH

After a fantastic six months, I have completed my Public Affairs Internship at Action on Smoking and Health. The internship has taught me so much, and I have been reflecting on what I have learned from the wonderful team at ASH, and the opportunities I have been able to be involved in.

I started my internship at ASH in June, having previously worked in an MP’s office. I was looking for an opportunity to develop the political and Parliamentary knowledge I had gained in my previous position. I was really excited to work for a leading health charity whilst the Tobacco and Vapes Bill moved through Parliament. 

I was on the hunt for a role that allowed me to contribute to real projects and learn from senior staff members. I knew it was a small team at ASH which means I have been able to work alongside both the CEO and Deputy CEO and have met and worked collaboratively with leading stakeholders from other organisations.

ASH is a small team and that means that I jumped straight in at the deep end, assisting with report designs and social media outputs in my very first week. Another essential task is drafting ASH’s daily news roundup that goes out to over 2,000 stakeholders. This has been a great opportunity to see how tobacco and vaping are presented in the media. There are always tobacco industry placed pieces, often found in the retail press, and I’ve found it so interesting to see how they attempt to present themselves as a partner in the ‘smokefree’ mission. Pull the other one! 

I’ve also been busy working on our briefings and resources to assist peers debating the Tobacco and Vapes Bill in Committee stage. Attending a Committee session in the Lords was a real highlight and it was great to see our evidence summaries and data being used by peers. Being able to work so closely on legislation has taught me so much about legislative processes, as well as learning about public affairs and engaging with Parliamentarians. 

During my internship I helped to organise, and attended, two Parliamentary events. One was an ASH presentation on our latest youth vaping statistics, and the other was an APPG on Smoking and Health event on cigarette filters. Both of these events were really engaging and provided the opportunity to listen to experts speaking on these topics, but also to meet Parliamentarians and discuss these topics with them. I always feel very lucky when I am able to attend Parliament, and this internship has provided me with lots of opportunities to do this!

The final thing that attracted me to an internship at ASH was the chance to lead on my own research project that spanned the six months. I came up with some options to pitch to our Chief Executive and decided to focus on communications around the ‘smokefree generation policy’ which is the flagship policy of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill. To do this, I researched previous tobacco control campaigns and how they were communicated and held meetings and interviews with key stakeholders who were involved in those campaigns. I wrote a Report that was published on the ASH website, and I presented my findings to our Chief Executive and external stakeholders. As an intern this was an amazing outcome for my project. 

I am delighted to have now moved into a new role as Public Affairs and Communications Assistant. I’ll be using all the skills that I’ve built throughout my internship but taking on more responsibility on ASH’s social media and leading on our political monitoring activities. I am so pleased to be able to continue contributing to the important work that ASH does to end the harms cause by tobacco.