Cowley had a visiting Scholarship at the University of Colorado in 1972–73 before returning to Imperial, where was appointed a Lecturer in 1982, Reader in 1985 and Professor in 1988. He was appointed Head of the Space and Atmospheric Physics Group at Imperial in 1990 before moving in 1996 to the University of Leicester as Head of the Radio and Space Plasma Physics group.[11]
Cowley's primary research interest is the physical processes that shape the outer plasma environments of Earth and the magnetised planets.[1][11]