Owen is a Principal Scientist at the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), the UK regulator for health and safety at work. An analytical chemist by training wherein his main role is the provision of air measurement advice and services to HSE colleagues and other stakeholders. Development of new and revised air measurement methods under the auspices of International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) is another key endeavour. He is a long-standing member of the Eurachem Proficiency Testing (PT) Working Group and has been involved in PT activities relating to air pollution monitoring for over 25 years.