Edward Tiekink is a graduate of The University of Melbourne (1985) where he obtained his Ph.D. in Inorganic Chemistry/X-ray Crystallography under the supervision of Dr B.F. Hoskins and Dr G. Winter.  A research position in chemical crystallography with Dr M.R. Snow followed at The University of Adelaide (1985-1988).  Tiekink joined academic staff at Adelaide in 1989 and was promoted to Senior Lecturer, with tenure, in 1995.  In mid-2001, he moved to the National University of Singapore as a contract Associate Professor.  After completing his contract in Singapore, he has held a visiting position at Deakin University (Victoria, Australia) and a prestigious Smart Returns Fellowship sponsored by the State Government of Queensland tenurable at Griffith University (Queensland, Australia).  In September 2005, Tiekink commenced an appointment in the Department of Chemistry at The University of Texas at San Antonio where he was a full Professor (with tenure) and Associate Dean (Graduate Studies).  For family reasons, in 2009 Tiekink made his way back to Asia after a three months stint in Brazil (Universidade Saõ Carlos). He spent four months (two secondments) at Nanyang Technological University and then joined the University of Malaya in November 2009 and is currently Professor (VK5) in the Department of Chemistry.

During his career, substantial teaching experience has been gained in areas such as course/curriculum development, student counselling and formal delivery of academic material (general chemistry, introductory physical chemistry, inorganic chemistry, metal-based drugs, and X-ray crystallography); teaching awards have been gained in both Adelaide and Singapore.  Research interests include metal-based drugs (especially those of bismuth and gold) and crystal engineering.  These interests are reflected in his active membership of the Editorial Boards of Acta Crystallographica E, Zeitschrift für Kristallographie, and Applied Organometallic Chemistry.  He is the author/co-author of over 1300 scientific papers, crystallographic reports, book chapters, reviews and patents, and has co-edited four books, one in Metal-Based Drugs, two in Crystal Engineering, and one in Tin Chemistry; a third volume in Crystal Engineering has been commissioned recently.  In 2006, Tiekink was awarded a D.Sc. from the University of Melbourne in recognition of his work in main group element and gold chemistry.  The thesis encompassed his published work in main group element and gold chemistry incorporating their structural and pharmaceutical properties.