Hugh Durrant-Whyte received the B.Sc. in Nuclear Engineering from the University of London, U.K., in 1983, and the M.S.E. and Ph.D. degrees, both in Systems Engineering, from the University of Pennsylvania, U.S.A., in 1985 and 1986, respectively. From 1987 to 1995, he was a University Lecturer in Engineering Science at the University of Oxford, and a fellow of Oriel College Oxford. From 1995-2010 he was Professor of Mechatronic Engineering at University of Sydney where he led the Australian Centre for Field Robotics (ACFR) and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Autonomous Systems (CAS). In December 2010 Hugh took up the role of CEO of NICTA.

Hugh has been awarded two Australian Research Council (ARC) Federation Fellowships; in 2002 and in 2007. His research work focuses on robotics and distributed sensor networks and he has published over 350 papers. His work with industry includes major robotics and automation projects in cargo handling, surface and underground mining, defence, unmanned flight vehicles and autonomous sub-sea vehicles. He has also co-founded three successful start-up companies. Hugh has won numerous awards and prizes for his work including the ATSE Clunies Ross Award, IFR/IEEE Invention and Entrepreneurship Award, the NSW Pearcey Award, and four IEEE Best Paper prizes. He was named Professional Engineer of the year (2008) by the Institute of Engineers Australia Sydney Division and NSW Scientist of the Year (2010). He is an IEEE Robotics and Automation Society Distinguished Lecturer (2006-10). He is a Fellow of the Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (FTSE), a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (FIEEE), a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science (FAA), and a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS).