Dr Brendan J. Howlin joined the University of Surrey in September 1987 to teach on the new computer aided chemistry degree course. He currently teaches IT skills, advanced mathematics, molecular modelling and DNA profiling.

He graduated with BSc and PhD from the University of Essex, having studied the inorganic chemistry of microbial iron transport compounds, using Mossbauer spectroscopy and X-ray crystallography. He also carried out postdoctoral pharmaceutical and protein modelling studies at Birkbeck College in the University of London and Pfizer Ltd.