Director Emeritus of the Regional Economics Applications Laboratory (REAL) and Emeritus Professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Prior to joining the University of Illinois, he served on the faculties of the University of Kent (UK) and the University of Toronto.

He has served as a visiting professor at universities in Australia, Israel, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Spain and China. Professor Hewings main research areas are in the fields of urban and regional analysis, with a strong emphasis on the development and application of large- scale models. His research activities were centered in the Regional Economics Applications Laboratory (REAL), a unit he co-founded in 1989 and directed until 2016.

He has served as President of the Regional Science Association International and the International Input-Output Association. He has received the Award for Service to Regional Science (1995), the Walter Isard Award for distinguished scholarly achievements in the field of Regional Science (2003) and numerous other awards from different sections of the Regional Science Association International. His publications include 16 books, 93 book chapters and 268 articles in major academic journals. His work has received 16,549 citations.