Getting to know Bill Atkinson, Chief Scientific Advisor

Meet the people behind our success as we unveil the stories, passions, and expertise of our dedicated team. Discover how their experience enables us to become a trusted environmental services partner for clients across the UK. This time, let's get to know Bill Atkinson, Chief Scientific Advisor.

How did you get involved with our environmental team?

I joined OHES Environmental nearly 10 years ago as their Chief Scientific Advisor. OHES was acquired by Adler and Allan in 2017 and since then I’ve been a lot more involved with the wider group by heading the team that offers 24/7 chemical advice and technical support to over 3,000 pollution events annually.

What are the significant environmental issues of our time?

Quite rightly, the public and our customers are increasingly concerned by the negative effects of pollution on humans and the wider environment. This has also led to greater interest in emerging contaminants, such as PFAS, microplastics and heavy metals.

Over the past couple of years, Adler and Allan has responded to increasingly complex and varied pollution incidents involving these substances, leading to the development of new and innovative solutions to successfully manage them.

To better meet the pollution prevention needs of our customers, evolve the way in which we respond to pollution events, and to effectively contribute to the thinking around emerging pollutants, I decided to form the Adler and Allan Pollutants Advisory Group.

What has been your biggest achievement to date?

I am most proud of the team that we have built here and what we achieve every day, from designing bespoke and innovative solutions through to helping our clients navigate increasingly complex regulatory rules.

Everyone has different backgrounds and varied levels of expertise, but we all work closely together to effectively meet the needs of our customers while also enabling the delivery of better environmental outcomes. The job is multi-faceted and can be stressful at times, but we all get huge satisfaction from the good work that we do.

What are your hobbies and interests?

I run a fantasy football league providing weekly commentary and updates, and am an avid follower of Liverpool FC. I try to attend as many games as I can, which is not many these days - especially as I also work as an on-call scientific advisor for the fire service.

I have continued to bake sourdough bread (having honed my skills during lockdown) and hope to return to STEM ambassador work in schools very soon, which is something I very much enjoyed pre-Covid.

What's next for Bill in 2024?

My main objective this year is to really establish and build upon the early work of the Pollutants Advisory Group at Adler and Allan, adding to our knowledge base and sharing lessons learned with our customers, regulators and interested industry bodies.

Keeping up-to-date with changes in chemical regulations in Great Britain and the EU (especially post-Brexit) and what impact they have will continue to be a challenge.