Professor Chris Howls is Professor of Mathematics at the University of Southampton and former Director of its Doctoral College.

He obtained a First Class degree in Joint Honours Mathematics and Physics from the University of Bristol and completed a PhD in Mathematical Physics under Professor Sir Michael Berry FRS. He was subsequently awarded one of only six national SERC (now EPSRC) Postdoctoral Fellowships in the UK. After lectureships at the University of Manchester and Brunel University, he joined Southampton, where he is now Professor of Mathematics.

His research is in asymptotic analysis, particularly the development of exponentially accurate methods. Author of over 80 research publications, he has applied these techniques to reveal new physical phenomena across areas including quantum mechanics, general relativity, nonlinear wave formation and, most recently, upstream beaming of aeroacoustic engine noise in work co-sponsored by Rolls-Royce. He has supervised doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers across mathematics, physics and engineering.

As Principal Investigator he has secured more than £69 million in research and doctoral training funding. Among these awards he co-led an EPSRC Defence and Security doctoral mobility pilot programme that is now cited by EPSRC as a model for widening participation in research careers, particularly for returners, carers, mature entrants and those transitioning from industry.

At Southampton he has held several senior leadership roles. He served as Head of the ~50-member Applied Mathematics group, leading research strategy and overseeing preparation of RAE and REF submissions. He also established and directed the Faculty Graduate School within the former Faculty of Social, Human and Mathematical Sciences, and steered an EPSRC Doctoral Training Partnership through its mid-term review.

From 2017–2025 he served as Director of the University Doctoral College, responsible for policy, training and development for around 3,000 postgraduate researchers across the University’s five faculties. In this role he chaired the Doctoral College Board and served ex-officio on most University-level research and education committees.

During this period he implemented a doctoral training strategy that significantly expanded institutional support for postgraduate researchers. This included establishing a six-person PGR training team delivering more than 400 courses annually, creating an award-winning PGR Research Culture programme, introducing an EU doctoral fee-waiver scheme to support the UK’s return to Horizon Europe, and developing institutional support structures for major doctoral training bids that secured £86 million in just over two years. In 2025 Southampton achieved a top-10 position in the national Postgraduate Research Experience Survey for the first time, ranking first in the Russell Group in seven of eleven categories, including Overall Experience.

Professor Howls has delivered more than 80 invited lectures worldwide and held visiting professorships or research appointments at institutions including RIMS Kyoto, CERN, the University of British Columbia, TU Berlin, Université Côte d’Azur (Nice) and Macquarie University. He has organised numerous international research programmes and conferences, including extended programmes at the Isaac Newton Institute in Cambridge and the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics in Santa Barbara, and serves as an Associate Editor of the US Government’s Digital Library of Mathematical Functions.

He chairs the Standing Committee of the British Applied Mathematics Colloquium, the largest annual mathematics conference in the UK, and previously served two full terms on the editorial board of Proceedings of the Royal Society A. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications, a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, a Chartered Physicist, and a member of the London Mathematical Society and the Institute of Physics.

In 2026 he was appointed to the EPSRC Mathematical Sciences Strategic Advisory Team, advising EPSRC on the national strategy and future direction of the UK mathematical sciences.