Professor Howell was previously Deputy Pro Vice Chancellor (DPVC) and holds the Chair of Governance in the Faculty of Business and Law at Northumbria University. Through his research Professor Howell has generated scholarly expertise in areas relating to methodology, governance, leadership, EU policy and regulation as well as written texts with Nova Science Press, Palgrave McMillan Press, Beijing Scientific Press and Sage Publications. He has recently edited a research text regarding corporate governance with Palgrave McMillan Press and is currently writing a monograph analysing leadership, culture, identity and path-dependency with Cambridge Scholars Publishers.

Professor Howell has taught diverse areas including philosophy of research, methodology, governance and ethics, he has also supervised over thirty research degree completions. He has produced numerous refereed journal articles and managed consultancy and funded research projects for various public and private sector institutions. Professor Howell acted as Chair of the Public Administration Committee (PAC), Chair of the practitioner committee for the University Association for Contemporary European Studies (UACES) as well as been a member of the Joint University Council (JUC) and the Chartered Association of Business Schools (CABS) Research Committee.

As Director of Research for Plymouth Business School Professor Howell developed the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE2008) and Research Excellence Framework (REF2013) submissions for Business and Management; when Associate Dean Research and Innovation at Teesside University Business School gave advice and guidance regarding the ongoing development of the submission for (REF2021).