Our Team
ATOM is managed by a team of volunteers drawn from the science, education and business community in and around Abingdon-on-Thames, Oxfordshire.
Stephen Clarke
The Principal of Cherwell College, Stephen is a former British Diplomat and First Secretary for the UK Government responsible for education and social development in Southern Africa, Eastern Europe, South Caucasus and Central Asia. He also acted as a policy analyst on Education Skills and Conflict Resolution for intergovernmental relations. Stephen also has extensive experience on advising businesses and NGOs on democracy, education and human rights issues.
Stephen is Chair of both the ATOM Society and ATOM Festival committees.
Stephen holds a BA (Hons) in Politics and Sociology from the University of Southampton. He is a member of Mensa, the Institute of Directors, Royal Overseas League, the Oxford Union, the University Club and a former member of World Bank Supervisory Board and Regional Development Agencies.
Dr. Peter Williams
Peter ended his 40-year career as a development scientist in the pharmaceutical industry in 2020 (three weeks into first lockdown).
Since then he has come closer to the nucleus of ATOM. Now, Peter is happy to be a Trustee of the ATOM Festival and Secretary of the ATOM Society.
He loves living close to the centre of Abingdon.
Will Selby
After studying Physics at the University of Southampton, Will started a career in IT support. In 2014 he transitioned to working in web development and now works for a London-based web consultancy.
Suma Setty
Suma Setty received her MEng degree in Electrical/Electronic Engineering from Imperial College, London in 1993. She went on to work as a Research Assistant and began a PhD at Imperial before working as an analogue RF design engineer at Ericsson Microelectronics and Phyworks. After taking time out of her career to raise her children, she took on a very different challenge – joining her husband in running their farm, which they have managed together since 2010. Alongside her professional journey, Suma has played a leading role in the local amateur youth music community, running Thames Vale Youth Orchestra and also volunteering with Oxford Concerto Orchestra and Abingdon Music Festival.
Jade Bartolo
Jade moved to the UK from Malta in 2016 and is passionate about STEM and education. Her initiative with Fame Lab Academy provides students with a unique opportunity to showcase their love of science and communication skills, through a science communication competition and training programme.
When Jade isn't volunteering for ATOM or working at Oxford Nanopore Technologies, a leading DNA sequencing company, you'll likely find her scuba diving or exploring the great outdoors, immersed in nature and mountain adventures.
Professor Frank Close OBE FRS
Frank Close lives in Abingdon and is one of the founders of ATOM. He is Emeritus Professor of Physics at the University of Oxford and a former head of the theoretical physics division at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory.
He is the author of several bestselling books including 'Half Life' (the true story of Harwell physicist Bruno Pontecorvo), 'Trinity: The treachery and Pursuit of the Most Dangerous Spy in History' about the life of Klaus Fuchs and “Elusive”, the story of the Higgs boson which was selected as a science book of 2022 by The Times and Sunday Times, The Guardian, Economist, Nature and Times Literary Supplement.
He has won the Association of British Science Writers award three times, was vice president of the British Association for Advancement of Science and won the Royal Society Michael Faraday Prize for
Science Communication. He is also an experienced eclipse-chaser who has seen over a dozen eclipses - and in 2016 wrote 'Eclipse' published by Oxford University Press.”
Dr Jen Shelton
Jeremy Thomas
After many years supporting ATOM Festival and organising collaborative events with Abingdon School, Jeremy Thomas has moved to Portsmouth and continues to help us reach out beyond the confines of Oxfordshire. Before becoming a teacher he was involved in ocean wave forecasting research at The Met Office and was a remote sensing scientist at the British Antarctic Survey. He is an IOP Physics Coach, a member of the Education Group of the Association for Science Education and sits on the Education Committee of the Royal Meteorological Society.
Abingdon Events Partnership
Abingdon Events Partnership provide event management services, equipment and logistical and health and safety support to ATOM Festival.
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