AQMRC visiting staff

AQMRC has established relationships with visiting scholars and professionals so we can draw upon their expertise in environmental regulation, consultancy and business.

Duncan Laxen is a Professor of Air Quality Management and Assessment and is currently an Associate of Air Quality Consultants Ltd.

Duncan's area of expertise is in the assessment of ambient air quality. This includes modelling, monitoring and assessment of a wide range of pollutants and sources, including roads, shipping, railways, aircraft and industry. He has been closely involved in the development of air quality management in the UK.

Duncan has both a Degree and a Masters in Environmental Sciences and obtained a PhD in Air Pollution Chemistry, all from Lancaster University. He undertook three Postdoctoral Fellowships at Lancaster and Edinburgh Universities before starting work with the Greater London Council air quality section in 1983. In 1993, he set up 'Air Quality Consultants Ltd'. During the 1980s he became the Environmental Advisor to the Edinburgh Lead Study - a Medical Research Council project to look at the effects of lead on children's development.

Duncan has been a member of various Government air quality advisory groups, as well as European Commission air quality committees. He has published over 70 scientific papers and has presented papers to numerous conferences.

Duncan has been a supervisor to several UWE PhD students and jointly fulfilled the Review and Assessment contract for Defra and the Devolved Administrations with AQMRC. He is a member of the UWE Bristol team that is supporting the European Commission in its review of the EU air quality strategy. His company has taken on graduates from the UWE MSc course in Environmental Consultancy, and the undergraduate courses in Environmental Health and Environmental Sciences.

Email: duncanlaxen@aqconsultants.co.uk
Tel: +44 (0)117 974 1086

Professor William Pope has a wealth of experience, leadership and expertise gained from senior roles within industry, the NHS and academia, including at chairman and chief executive level. He has significant experience of working with world-leading companies and organisations including BAE Systems, BBC, BIS, BP, Ford, GlaxoSmithKline, Huawei, the NHS and Unilever, and was Chief Executive Officer of the UK's largest integrated health, safety and environmental business for 10 years. He has been one of the UK's leaders in managing and developing environmental technology companies over the last 35 years, and is a four time winner of the Technology Fast 50 awards for the fastest growing companies. He has won numerous business, environmental excellence, bioscience and innovative biotechnology awards, such as the Oxford Innovation & Science Oxford M&AW Excellence in Business and Innovation Award (2009), Best Early-Stage Biotech Company Award (2010) with Oxford Bioscience Network, and the national Edie Environmental Excellence Award (2011). He was awarded Business Innovation Support Person of the Year (2008) by the SPARC Technology Network.

Some would categorise him as a serial entrepreneur, having started up, developed or grown and then successfully exited 6 businesses so far (1995-2014), and remaining invested currently in a further two start-ups (one being an Oxford University science area spin-out for which he has raised £5m from investors, and with a third currently in the development pipeline). The total exits valuation achieved currently exceeds £80m at an average multiplier of x5.

Amongst other appointments, he was previously Director and Chairman of the East of England Regional Development Agency (2006-2012) and Northamptonshire & Milton Keynes Primary Care Trusts (2006-2013), and is now Chairman of the Board at Yorkshire & Humber Academic Health Science Partners (2014-date), a Board member (and now Chairman) at University Campus Suffolk (2014-date), Chairman of Healthwatch Northamptonshire (2013-date) and is a Board member (now Vice Chairman) of East Midlands Pathology (2012-date).

He is a Professor of Bioenterprise and Health at UCS. Amongst other interests, he was a co-founder of the Centre for Health and Wellbeing Research at the University of Northampton (2008-2013), is current Chairman of the Environmental Policy Forum (2011-date), a board member of the Technology Strategy Board's Sustainability and Resource Efficiency KTN (2012-date) and Unity Leisure (2011-date). He is a past member of the Advisory Board of the Institute for Sustainability, Health and Environment (2009-2014), and a past Chairman of the Society for the Environment and the Institution of Environmental Sciences, where he is currently Vice President. He was a member of SEEDA's MK Enterprise Hub steering board (2005-2008) and as a SEEDA Merlin Mentor focussed on the developing of health, safety and environmental technologies and companies, and also mentoring those in the process of developing companies in these and other industrial sectors including communications, media, manufacturing, distribution and retail.

He was Chairman of the MSc Environmental Consulting Steering Group at UWE Bristol (2004-2008) where he was also a member of the Vice Chancellor's Review Group on Employer Engagement (2005-2006) and continues to teach a Business Module to MSc students (2004-date). A member of the Postgraduate Programme Advisory Group for the Integrated Waste Management Programme at Cranfield University (2005-2008) in the past, he has also has taught at Imperial College, City University, University of Plymouth, Middlesex University and the Open University, as well as UWE Bristol, and has lectured on environmental business issues at overseas institutions throughout Europe, the USA, South Africa, Malaysia, China, Singapore and Hong Kong.

In parallel with his business activities, Will is also a leader in the professional arena; he was a founder director of The Society for the Environment (1999), and became the Society's first Chairman (2001-2005), remaining a director today. Under his leadership, the Society gained the support of senior politicians, civil servants and the regulators, and petitioned Her Majesty the Queen and the Privy Council for a Royal Charter (2003, granted 2004). The Society now has constituent bodies with an international professional membership approaching 500,000 individuals, and has issued the new qualification Chartered Environmentalist (CEnv) to over 8,000 individually scrutinised and qualified chartered professionals in the environmental industries both in the UK and internationally.

Will is Vice President (2005-date) of the charity, the Institution of Environmental Sciences, having been a Council Member and Trustee of the Institution (1992-date) and was Chairman of the Institution (1999-2002). He is a former member of the Board of the Science Council (2000-2003) and the DEFRA/DTI Environmental Innovations Advisory Group (2003-2008), and was a member of the IUCN Commission on Education and Communication (2005-2008) and the Science and Industry Council of the East of England (2007-2010).

Will was educated at St. Mary's College, the University of Plymouth - where he was awarded the honour of Best Student by Prince Charles (1976) - and Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, University of London; he has a first class honours degree in Environmental Science (1976), and is a Chartered Environmentalist (CEnv 2004). He is a Fellow of the Institution of Environmental Sciences.

He has acted as an expert witness, appearing in both the High Court and at Public Enquiry, and he has also appeared on TV and radio commenting on environmental affairs, the most notable being on ITV's TV Eye, and an appearance on the BBC's Newsnight during the dioxins from incinerators debate.

Email: aqmrc@uwe.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (0)117 32 81626