Howell Edwards was born in Skewen, South Wales, and is Professor Emeritus of Molecular Spectroscopy at the University of Bradford. He read Chemistry at Jesus College in the University of Oxford and after completing his B.A. and B.Sc. degrees he studied for his doctorate in Raman spectroscopy at Oxford with Dr Leonard Woodward and then became a Research Fellow at Jesus College, University of Cambridge, where he worked with Dr Jeremy Jones. He joined the University of Bradford as a Lecturer in Structural and Inorganic Chemistry, becoming Head of the Department of Chemical and Forensic Sciences and he was awarded a Personal Chair in Molecular Spectroscopy in 1996. He has received several international awards (Sir Harold Thompson Award; Charles Mann Award; Emanuel Boricky Medal; Norman Sheppard Award) in a spectroscopic career which has resulted in the publication of over 1320 research papers in Raman spectroscopy and the characterisation of materials, along with six books on the application of this analytical technique to art, archaeology and forensic science.

He has had a lifelong interest in the porcelains of William Billingsley, especially those from the Derby, Nantgarw and Swansea china factories. He has authored five major books on Nantgarw and Swansea Porcelains : Swansea and Nantgarw Porcelains: A Scientific Reappraisal , Nantgarw and Swansea Porcelains: An Analytical Perspective , Porcelain to Silica Bricks: The Extreme Ceramics of William Weston Young, 1776-1847 , 18th and 19th Century Porcelain Analysis: A Forensic Provenancing Assessment and Porcelain Analysis and Its Role in the Forensic Attribution of Ceramic Specimens , all published by Springer-Nature Publishing , Dordrecht, The Netherlands . He has also produced several monographs on these manufactories: William Billingsley - The Enigmatic Porcelain Artist, Decorator and Manufacturer;Nantgarw Porcelain - The Pursuit of Perfection ; Swansea Porcelain - the Duck-Egg Translucent Vision of Lewis Dillwyn and Derby Porcelain: The Golden Years,1780-1830. He is currently preparing a text for publication in 2021 on Raman Spectroscopy in the Preservation of Cultural Heritage , for which porcelain artefacts will feature as artworks and a vital part of a nation's heritage, as does the industrial archaeology, excavation and the preservation of early porcelain manufactory sites. Howell Edwards is Honorary Scientific Adviser to the de Brecy Trust on the scientific evaluation of their artworks and paintings and is a Friend of the Nantgarw China Works Museum Trust.