Prof Helder Marques obtained his BScHons (1979) and Diploma in Education (1979) at the University of the Witwatersrand (WITS), South Africa, and taught at high school for five years before returning to read for his PhD in bioinorganic chemistry, awarded in 1986.
He did post-doctoral work at the University of Texas, USA, before returning to WITS on a permanent appointment. Prof Marques' principal research interests are in aspects of the function of metal ions in biological systems, and the use of computational methods to probe chemistry problems.
He was Head of the School of Chemistry (1999-2007), held the DST-funded SA Research Chairs Initiative Research Chair in Bioinorganic Chemistry (2007-2013) and was Dean of the Faculty of Science at Wits between 2013 and 2017.
Prof Marques is the Author of over 160 research publications and has Supervised some 30 MSc and PhD students. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of South Africa (2005), a Fellow of the SA Chemical Institute (2013), is the recipient of the Vice Chancellor’s Research Award (1989) and the Vice Chancellor’s Teaching Award (1992) of his university, and the Raikes Medal (1989) and Merck Medal (2006) of the SA Chemical Institute.
