Special Recognition Award
Award for BINDT members
Award criteria
Purpose: To recognise a significant contribution to various activities of the British Institute of NDT. This award is presented on an
ad-hoc basis.
Details of the award: The award will consist of an invitation to the NDT Annual Conference Dinner with one night’s accommodation, together with an engraved gift and a framed certificate signed by the President and the Chief Executive Officer.
Committee: Council and Croxson Committee.
Winners
2026 winners: Alan Parsons and Professor Ian Cooper
The Special Recognition Award for 2026 is awarded to Alan Parsons and Professor Ian Cooper.
Alan Parson’s journey into non-destructive testing (NDT) was somewhat accidental. After leaving Dudley Grammar School in 1975, he initially worked in retail, becoming a supermarket manager by the age of 20. However, encouragement from a friend led him into the NDT industry in 1978, joining BIX in Cradley Heath as a trainee NDT technician.During seven years at BIX, Alan qualified in multiple NDT methods, specialising in radiography, and progressed to a supervisory role. He managed inspection contracts in the North Sea and worldwide, including a year in Norway working on the Condeep oil platform project. It was also during this time that he became one of the earliest candidates to achieve PCN certification following the scheme’s launch.
Alan later joined Quality Established Ltd, where he became a shareholder and gained his first four PCN Level 3 certifications. In 1988, he was appointed NDT Engineer at GKN Defence, taking responsibility for all NDT activities on the Warrior armoured vehicle programme.
After moving to OIS, first in Gloucester and later back to Cradley Heath, he rewrote the laboratory quality management system to meet the increasingly demanding aerospace requirements. Under his leadership, the facility became one of the first in the UK to achieve Nadcap NDT accreditation while maintaining UKAS ISO 17025 accreditation.
In 2001, Alan joined Bodycote Testing as Group Quality Manager, where he successfully harmonised the quality systems across six UKAS-accredited laboratories and secured Nadcap accreditation for each site. During his time with Bodycote, later Exova, he also served on the Nadcap NDT Task Group as a supplier representative and managed EN 4179 training, examination and certification programmes. He was subsequently promoted to Compliance Director for Europe, with responsibility for quality, health, safety and environmental compliance across 47 testing laboratories.
Following roles with Goodwin Steel Castings and Aerotech Plus, where he developed the systems required for the British Institute of Non-Destructive Testing (BINDT)/UK National Aerospace Non-Destructive Testing Board (NANDTB) Outside Agency approval, Alan spent a period in Western Australia as Quality and Technical Manager for Stork Technical Services before returning to the UK.
In 2014, he joined BINDT as a Lead Auditor, travelling extensively across the globe before moving into his current role as Technical and Certification Engineer. Alongside colleagues, he has played a leading role in the redevelopment of the PCN certification scheme into PCN24, ensuring it continues to evolve in line with the latest edition of ISO 9712. Alan was honoured to be elected a Fellow of BINDT in 2021.
As he approaches 50 years in the NDT profession, Alan reflects on a career that has provided far more than technical experience. It has offered opportunities to travel the world, work across a wide range of industries and, most importantly, build lasting friendships with exceptional colleagues. Throughout his career he has sought to maintain strong ethical and professional standards and he remains grateful to everyone who has contributed to his journey. Looking back, Alan can honestly say that NDT has given him far more than he could ever have given in return.
Ian Cooper worked at TWI for 20 years before recently taking retirement. During this time, he achieved the highest technical position of Technology Fellow and was NDT Group Technology Strategy Lead.
Most notably, Ian secured the IntACOM programme, which was a multi-million-pound programme that was foundational in the growth of the TWI Wales facility. It ran for over a decade, developing capability for aerospace and other industry sectors on robotic non-destructive testing (NDT) inspection of complex-geometry composite and metallic structures. Ian was also a mentor, leader and PhD supervisor for many employees within the NDT Group and more broadly within TWI.
Due to collaboration with Welsh universities, Ian earned the prestigious position of Honorary Professor at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David.
Alongside this, Ian has been incredibly active within the British Institute of Non-Destructive Testing (BINDT), serving on Council for many years and taking on the roles of Vice President and then President.
